Polaris Supreme 9/18/22 - 9/21/-22 Report

[Cubeye]

No sleeping on the PS 3 day trips until boat limits. Just how it is. I prefer this style though.

Sounds like the 1980s mentality. The only thing that counts is the boats fish count.

That's what filled the boat with people in those days.

 

[vegasandre]

There is a reason that the PS is sold out for the next 2 years "in BFT season" and chartered to the max..
for BFT..they are easily top dog..
It is amazing what Aliyar has done in under 2 years -even the Man is blown away by it.
Hardcore is not for everyone..

just got back from a 3 day on another LR boat during this time frame with not similar results.. a Zig when Zag situation..

 

[ZZZZZ]

Epic trip becoming known as a horse power boat of anglers (beware ) . I know what boat I'm booking a BFT trip with. Need a few more of those hardcores with motivational speaches attract some younger fishers also. New BFT sheriff in town

Very thoughtful skipper to come in 3 hours early towards the very end of a trip before. Because a passengers wife had a stroke and is in the wheel house frantic. Think the boat issued a $250 credit to each angler

 

[Scott McPherson]

I’ve heard nothing but great things about that boat with Aliyar running it. Frank sure knows how to find talented folks. It’s up to them to make it happen. It seams that his boats consistently make good fishing decisions. I know the boss won’t tolerate any bs. Sounds like it is instilled in all his Captains. That’s what I’ve experienced.
Regards
Scott

 

[Hawgboy]

Sounds like a captain that wants all to catch limits when the ocean provides. Going on a 3 day and big BFT are the draw and the magic happens at night you might want to map during the long boring day after you catch some Dorados. If you can’t get up or stay up to fish BFTi, then I suggest you don’t go on a longer trip as you will be expected to be woke up at night and fish bait

 

[Cubeye]

There is a reason that the PS is sold out for the next 2 years "in BFT season" and chartered to the max..
for BFT..they are easily top dog..
It is amazing what Aliyar has done in under 2 years -even the Man is blown away by it.
Hardcore is not for everyone..

just got back from a 3 day on another LR boat during this time frame with not similar results.. a Zig when Zag situation..

I'm not trying to dispute your above statements. Just like to add additional information.

If you look at the schedules of all the long range boats you will notice that all trips are full. Not just the PS.

Comparing ones boat trip to another during the same time frame is a little misleading, as even one day can change fishing conditions. Even the area can change things drastically.

Fish reports can also be misleading. I have seem photos on their website of previous trips posted on current trips.......leading one to believe that they are photos of the current trip.

Another note: Most long range boats don't give fish counts, so how can data be gathered to say one boat is better than another.

Another note: SERVICE is key to a long range operation. I recently talked to a long time CM on that boat. After his last trip, is will no longer charter it.

I could go on, but I think I'll stop here and wait for a few bashing comments.

 

[terryc.]

i've been on enough of these bluefin trips to come to the opinion that it should be announced over the PA at night that there biting. If you happen to get woken up and dont want to fish it oh well at least you have the option. Not sure how a Captains gonna force you to get up and fish.

 

[MichaelJ]

I just want it to be known, Captiain Aliyar is an amazing captain. Ive fished with him back on the Pacifica when he was the Co-Captain to Captain Andrew. Honestly, he helped me catch my very first tuna. Hes super chill, Was standing beside me after he just had woken up mid day, as he was captaining at night and Captain Andrew was doing the daytime, he absolutely walked me through my very first tuna from bite to end game. I like the guy myself. And Tanner who is now a deckhand on the PS was a deckhand at the time on Pacifica. Gaff'd my very first tuna. Love both these guys.

 

[ZZZZZ]

Maybe on the Eddie bomb next time

Courteous captain for a 3 day trip. Almost exclusively a night bite with tough day time fishing and smaller grade day time. Don't want anyone sleeping and not catching BFT on a BFT trip. Want everyone to catch one

It does happen. People sleeping and inviting other anglers to catch fish for them and do all the work. Make other people catch their fish for them while they sleep

Then come back here complaining they didn't catch a BFT before fishing kelps

I think 95% of anglers on a 3 day in September. Aboard the Polaris Supreme. Definitely want to get their BFT licks in and capatalize on the opportunity on a 3 day.

Those that are already tired and do not find huge BFT exciting and would rather sleep through the BFT fishing part of the trip . Should bring ear plugs and Tylenol PM to sleep through the bite because most everyone else. Wants to be woken up to capture a BFT and a shot at a three or four hundred pounder

 

[MJ73]

Sleep when your dead. If you are on the boat fish!!

 

[Fish Assassin]

I was just on a RR3 6 day returning home on 9-22-22, I wish the captain and crew could have only grown a set and fished like your crew. I personally love the fact this captain took charge and made this an absolute bucket list adventure that you had paid to accomplish.

You want sleep, join the crew of the RR3. I’ll sleep when I am dead.

 

[Docholiday]

Tim, it was good seeing you since our last Polaris trip. I only caught one 100lb+ tuna, yet satisfied with the whole trip. DOC

 

[ZZZZZ]

I wonder if a passenger has ever complained and asked a captain. To please stop finding so many schools of BFT. Trying to get some beauty sleep here

 

[MichaelJ]

I wonder if a passenger has ever asked a captain before. To please stop finding so many schools of BFT. Trying to get some beauty sleep here

........

 

[Rimack]

I just want it to be known, Captiain Aliyar is an amazing captain. Ive fished with him back on the Pacifica when he was the Co-Captain to Captain Andrew. Honestly, he helped me catch my very first tuna. Hes super chill, Was standing beside me after he just had woken up mid day, as he was captaining at night and Captain Andrew was doing the daytime, he absolutely walked me through my very first tuna from bite to end game. I like the guy myself. And Tanner who is now a deckhand on the PS was a deckhand at the time on Pacifica. Gaff'd my very first tuna. Love both these guys.

He sounds totally chill.

 

[Tunahead]

Just got back, it was one of the top few fishing trips of my life.

I personally caught 12 bluefin tuna in the first two days, which is legal thanks to boat limits. We only fished in CA waters. I gave away 6 of the bluefin to others who didn't catch their limit.

The deal was the Captain said we had to catch bluefin boat limits first, then we could go for other fish like mahi. I and a few other passengers took that as a challenge to catch bluefin limits ASAP.

The Captain is so hard core, during the speech he gave at the start of the trip he said we weren't allowed to sleep at night when the boat was stopped until we had limits of bluefin. He said he'd send a deckhand down to wake people up. He said if someone didn't want to hand over the rod during a tangle he'd rip it out of their hands.

One thing the Captain did I really liked is that during the intro meeting he stressed the importance of marking lines, and making sure to get the lures to the right depths at night. He said deckhands would mark passengers lines for free on the drive out to the grounds, if they did not already have them marked every 100 feet for the first four hundred feet, and he offered heavy loaner gear with pre-marked lines to anyone who wanted for only $20 for the whole trip.

He found the fish, and put us on top of school after school.

As is often the case, during the daytime the bluefin were very picky and it was a "scratch bite" meaning it was usually just a hook up or two here and there.

I managed to get two school sized ones in the daytime by flylining live sardines on 30lb mono, using my spinning gear to cast out the sardine away from the boat, and then reeling it back in to "fire" it if it didn't quickly start to swim good. Owner 2/0 live bait ringed hooks worked good for me, I went 2 for 2 on the daytime tuna.

At night we occasionally got above a school that went into a feeding frenzy, and chaos would ensure with lots of simultaneous hookups, people running all over, yelling for gaffs simultaneously, etc. Every kind of heavy knife or buffalo type jig worked during those times if you got it moving fast in the target zone.

I did not see anyone using torpedo sinkers with hooks on this trip. I thought about trying it, but decided to stick with the lures that were working during the rush to help the boat get limits.

I brought different 4 rod/reel combos with me, and decided to try to catch a bluefin one each one of them, and succeeded. I got two on the light 30lb spinner in the daytime flylining live bait, and a couple more on the heavier spinner spooled with 100lb braid using a short 100lb mono bite leader, one on my old school penn senator on a bass pro shop's house brand trolling rod(jigging not trolling, I trolled a lot during the daytime in between stops for nothing but seaweed) spooled with 100lb mono, and the rest on my Penn VISX 16 spooled with 100lb braid tried to a short bite leader of usually 200lb.

I had one real disappointment when I finally hooked a really big tuna on my heavy spinning gear, despite my Penn Carnage III jigging rod stating that it was rated for 80-200lb braid, I feel it bottomed out during the fight on 100lb braid on a Penn Slammer IV DX reel that was not tightened all the way to its max 50lb drag, and when the tuna did some violent head shakes the swivel in between the bite leader and the mainline snapped.

I have used the same swivel on my conventional gear to catch jumbo tuna before without any problem. I think, though do not know for sure, that I could have landed that big bluefin if the rod had not bottomed out and lost the ability to absorb the shock of the head shakes. Maybe mono instead of braid would also have helped with shock absorption.

Obviously heavy conventional gear is the better choice for vertically jigging for big fish on a sport boat, but I wanted to try to at least once to bring in a big one on a spinner.

We got boat limits of bluefin (6x19 since there were 19 passengers on this trip) the second night, and so the last day we got to go paddy hopping for mahi-mahi.

A lot of the kelps we stopped on were dry, but some were holding a few to several hungry mahi. The first few stops I tried a variety of lures for no bites. I then switched to the same 30lb mono spinning set up to use live bait with the same 2/0 Owner live bait ringed hook that had worked well for daytime tuna, and it also worked well for the mahi, I went 2 for 2 on them.

I was having too much fun fishing to remember to take hardly any pics, maybe someone else can post some more pics. I only have two pics.

The group on the George Henderson Celebration charter was great, mostly very seasoned anglers, and the few who were relatively green were eager to learn and seemed to quickly get the hang of things. I was wondering how it would be to join a previously private charter to fill in an opening, but it was cool, the group was friendly.

Of course a limited load on the Polaris Supreme is very, very nice. A few less people really makes the boat feel more spacious. And of course the food was great, prime rib dinner the last night, etc.

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NICE TUNA...Glad you had a good score and passed some off to others. Great trip!

 

[Tunahead]

Asshole Invitational...now that's funny.

Excellent report!

that's an EPIC trip name!