2012 TUNA trips

[Sculpin]

Really? I was out with Tofinoguy which will likely be my only trip of the year.....between FOUR guys we bonk 22 and we're greedy? I know in my household that fish will be consumed as I already have picked up my portion and yet to get some smoked now that I am back in Vancouver. I have the meat from just over 5 tuna which is less than TONS of people take for springs in a season.

The window for getting into these fish is a pretty small one and needs a number of variables to line up to make it happen.......in other words it very well may NOT happen again this season for guys sitting and waiting. If you read this thread you will see there are TONS of "ifs" even in the past page or so as to whether or not they can get out there this weekend. It's not quite like chasing salmon where you can keep running out....OVER and OVER and bonking fish after fish after fish....day after day after day.

So what if on Sunday there were maybe 120 tuna bonked between 5 boats....that also did represent from what I can tell as split up between roughly 15 and 20 people.

I would say if you were going to ***** about numbers of fish being taken you may want to look at the numbers of salmon taken over a LONG season as opposed to this very small window to which very, very few ever get to run out 50 miles to give er' a whirl.

Very well said.

Some people just don't look at the big picture and get all emotional when they see a picture of the dock or deck covered in fish. I am starting to follow some of the information out there on other sites in regards to numbers caught and sports fishing for albacore tuna isn't even a factor because the numbers are so low. The ones you have to watch are the international fishing fleets that take the majority chunk. Even with the commercial fishing it is a very sustainable fishery and quite healthy.

I sure hope more sport fisherman get involved and get to experience this fishery. Even if you can only get out once or twice (which is the case with most), it gives you something to look forward to every year.

If we couldn't get out again after last Saturday 3 of us would be splitting one very expensive albacore!

 

[Birdsnest]

i think you guys are getting a little hoggish; sure its a lot of fun to get into the albies but i think you should consider getting a commercial licence as that is almost what your doing ; soon it will be like the halibut fishery you will want them all ; take it easy have a self imposed limit like areal sportman

The post lacks content other that sharing some feelings. If you have an issue with it then please provide some information that supports any lack of ethics here. Otherwise thanks for sharing your feelings.

 

[harper44]

....but i think you should consider getting a commercial licence as that is almost what your doing ; soon it will be like the halibut fishery you will want them all ; take it easy have a self imposed limit like areal sportman

How would any of us getting a commercial licence do anything positive for the fishery? Using Halibut as an example, this highly pressured fishery with an annual limit of 7.1 million pounds total allows sporties to catch 15% of that or over 1M lb. Using a 30lb average for argument sake, thats 33,333 sport caught Halibut allowed. Even if the boat average for Albies was 30 (which would be impressive to say the least) and there are maybe 30 days in the year that would qualify as tuna fishing days. You would need a BC tuna sport fleet of 35+ to hit the grounds on every possible opportunity to match Halibut catch numbers. This doesnt even consider the fact that Pacific Albacore Tuna is one of the most abundant species of fish on the planet with a highly sustainable commercial fishery. I only use Halibut here as comparison because it was brought up in the initial argument. This fishery doesnt compare to Halibut in any way.

Unless the tuna fishing fleet in BC grows exponentially in the future, there is no way that sport fishing is going to put any pressure on this fishery and the 20/person daily limit is addequate regulation. A real sportsman follows the rules (which we are) and only takes what won't go to waste.

There are far more overpressured, unsustainable fisheries to pick on than this one thats for sure.


Cheers,

 

[Sculpin]

How would any of us getting a commercial licence do anything positive for the fishery? Using Halibut as an example, this highly pressured fishery with an annual limit of 7.1 million pounds total allows sporties to catch 15% of that or over 1M lb. Using a 30lb average for argument sake, thats 33,333 sport caught Halibut allowed. Even if the boat average for Albies was 30 (which would be impressive to say the least) and there are maybe 30 days in the year that would qualify as tuna fishing days. You would need a BC tuna sport fleet of 35+ to hit the grounds on every possible opportunity to match Halibut catch numbers. This doesnt even consider the fact that Pacific Albacore Tuna is one of the most abundant species of fish on the planet with a highly sustainable commercial fishery. I only use Halibut here as comparison because it was brought up in the initial argument. This fishery doesnt compare to Halibut in any way.

Unless the tuna fishing fleet in BC grows exponentially in the future, there is no way that sport fishing is going to put any pressure on this fishery and the 20/person daily limit is addequate regulation. A real sportsman follows the rules (which we are) and only takes what won't go to waste.

There are far more overpressured, unsustainable fisheries to pick on than this one thats for sure.


Cheers,

I like your math even better when in reality when you average it out (good trips, bad trips, etc.) it works out to like 4. Just from what I have read on other sites.

Did you get any pic's yet from your buddies?

Cheers,
John

 

[mikep]

So it looks like I am returning to tofino to head offshore on saturday...........Just need to make sure the weather and chloro are good.

 

[Sculpin]

So it looks like I am returning to tofino to head offshore on saturday...........Just need to make sure the weather and chloro are good.

I've got a crew together as well and just waiting for everything to line up. Fingers crossed.

 

[GDW]

I saw the pictures of the shimano but generally speaking how come none of you west coast boys are getting out there with your G Loomis salmon rods and islanders?

It sounds like they fight like hell I think if it was me I would want to try to get them on my salmon gear opposed to a halibut set up.

I do understand the limited season/high cost etc. etc. We all know you guys who go out there are not doing to because you save money on meat your doing it for the adventure so why not try Tuna on light tackle? Somebody get Gary Cooper out there with his fly rod that's an episode of Nice Fish (Or Nice Fish Jr.) I would not want to miss.

 

[Sculpin]

I saw the pictures of the shimano but generally speaking how come none of you west coast boys are getting out there with your G Loomis salmon rods and islanders?

It sounds like they fight like hell I think if it was me I would want to try to get them on my salmon gear opposed to a halibut set up.

I do understand the limited season/high cost etc. etc. We all know you guys who go out there are not doing to because you save money on meat your doing it for the adventure so why not try Tuna on light tackle? Somebody get Gary Cooper out there with his fly rod that's an episode of Nice Fish (Or Nice Fish Jr.) I would not want to miss.

You mean like this................

These were from last years trip that turned me to the dark side ha ha. Fishtofino's boat and Islanders using heavy backboned mooching rods. Yeah it was a total blast. The Washington guys were like " leave it to the Canadians to use knucklebuster's and downriggers out there" lol.

 

[GDW]

Yeehaw nice pics Sculpin.

 

[Pippen]

CRAP!!!! I just looked back at my camera and almost all of my pics aren't on the card for some reason!!! There are only about a half dozen which are nothing of real consequence except for a shot or two of the mighty Sculpin off our port side....and 2 pics of tuna head first in the bucket bleeding out!!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sculpin]

CRAP!!!! I just looked back at my camera and almost all of my pics aren't on the card for some reason!!! There are only about a half dozen which are nothing of real consequence except for a shot or two of the mighty Sculpin off our port side....and 2 pics of tuna head first in the bucket bleeding out!!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well that blows!!

Post up or send me the shots of my gal Scott. I don't really have any on the water shots of her since I have owned her. It would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
John

 

[Birdsnest]

CRAP!!!! I just looked back at my camera and almost all of my pics aren't on the card for some reason!!! There are only about a half dozen which are nothing of real consequence except for a shot or two of the mighty Sculpin off our port side....and 2 pics of tuna head first in the bucket bleeding out!!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That does suck!!! you better get out there again soon to replace those!

 

[Sculpin]

That does suck!!! you better get out there again soon to replace those!

That's some solid advice right there.

 

[Pippen]

That does suck!!! you better get out there again soon to replace those!

That's some solid advice right there.

No kidding!! I had some great shots/footage of the Rossi's we saw first thing in the morning.....I had some (what I THOUGHT) good shots of the lures bouncing around behind the boat, some bonking, some just general pics out there and our crew!!!

 

[finaddict]

CRAP!!!! I just looked back at my camera and almost all of my pics aren't on the card for some reason!!! There are only about a half dozen which are nothing of real consequence except for a shot or two of the mighty Sculpin off our port side....and 2 pics of tuna head first in the bucket bleeding out!!

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Said in the best possibly crusty old guy voice "Yeah.........dem dijit all foto thingy's ain't all dey's cracked up to be heh heh heh.. Why I remembers back in my time when we had dem old "Brownie" kamraz. Yessiree, now ders a camera you could rely on! heh heh heh"

 

[harper44]

Got a few pictures from my crew after loosing my camera. We ended up with 11 for 15 strikes. The first few fish were peanuts at 15 and 18 lbs. the others were around 20 lbs with two at 24 lbs thrown in. In the morning, all strikes were far back and the afternoon was pretty scattered throught. lost the first two hits that we had on the outrigger lines, We were using downrigger clips because my outrigger clips didnt come in. Proper outrigger clips should increase the efficiency here for sure. We started out with a veriety of Zuker clones but narrowed it down to all green by noon as we had no action on the others. Also ran one X-Rap 20 magnum in the blue mac color which worked great until we killed a couple of fish on it, after that it wouldn't dive and kept swimming into our spread. I looked at the lure when I got home and noticed it was full of water, this might have something to do with it not diving, any thoughts? The X-rap was on a light power 10'6" Shimano Technium rod with a trophy Tyee QR spooled with 30# mono. we killed two fish on that setup but had to completely stop the boat to land them. If you are content on stopping the boat on every hookup there is no reason why you couldnt fish that kind of gear and it was great fun. Here are a couple of shots my buddy took with his Iphone. theres also a short video from my GoPro of us trolling but no hookups or fights caught on the camera, I think my battery is pooched as it only took about 10 mins of footage and turned off.

Running out past the cloudline. Sculpin following in the wake. Thanks again to John and his crew for Joining us on saturday.

My first Albie.

Nolan with a double.

Money shot.

Short Trolling Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHQL9WvSKg

Cheers,

 

[Sculpin]

Nice pic's Andrew. I really liked that video. I had my gopro on board and totally forgot about it. I like that view of the back deck and I bet if you left it on you could get some great footage of hit's and fight's etc. Thank you too for being in contact and running out together. Great time on the water except maybe the water conditions on the run out lol. Congrats on popping your tuna cherry! Welcome to the dark side .

 

[Pippen]

Hey Guys,

While we're on the topic of "tuna" .....damnfish who is new to the board but was out with us on Sunday asked me about mercury count in these albies.

Anyone ever had the meat tested for mercury levels? I wouldn't think too much about it as someone I know ate tuna about 4-5 times per week for close to 20 years before he had his levels counted and at that point his were high. Not sure if these smaller guys would be anything to be concerned about or if it's more of a concern in the larger yellow/blue fin fish?

 

[harper44]

I'm thinking about hard wiring that gopro in. I seem to always forget to turn it on or forget to charge the battery. My NSS12 plotter has HD video input also so I could hook that up for playback. I took some footage of the last 10 mins of a fight with 56" hali earlier this year. The camera dies just as I stick it with the harpoon. What you don't get to see is the Chaos that insues as the Hali drags the float under and dissapears into the abyss. Would have been cool to replay our reaction as we drive around waiting for the thing to re-surface and then stick it with the gaffs and drag it over the side.

 

[harper44]

Hey Guys,

While we're on the topic of "tuna" .....damnfish who is new to the board but was out with us on Sunday asked me about mercury count in these albies.

Anyone ever had the meat tested for mercury levels? I wouldn't think too much about it as someone I know ate tuna about 4-5 times per week for close to 20 years before he had his levels counted and at that point his were high. Not sure if these smaller guys would be anything to be concerned about or if it's more of a concern in the larger yellow/blue fin fish?

I read an article a while back about mercury levels in Albacore tuna. IIRC there was some talk about the fish from oregon through BC being prefered over SoCal Albacore due to higher levels of Mercury in the fish down south. I don't remember the source of the article nor the levels of Mercury found in any of the fish, just that the fish up north had lower levels then those down south.