adanac
Well-Known Member
Haha didn’t even notice that , but yes the boys are fired up at getting another shot and that close to boot !
2024 Tuna Adventures
- Thread starter SFBC
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Maxpri
Well-Known Member
Post some updates that’s sick
carpeweekend
Crew Member
adanac
Well-Known Member
Any yellowtail / bluefin ?
carpeweekend
Crew Member
Nope, and the albacore variety were tough to find. The weather didn't cooperate and most boats only got out on Tuesday and Friday. In recent years we had found some solid numbers and filled the boat but the derby boats were searching far and wide. There wasn't really a consistent hard edge to the Satellite shots that would indicate a prime area for the tuna. Boats were fishing from Barkley near the US border to north of the ammo dump in Clayoquot canyon.
We all burned a lot of gas. Our crew ran out to Loudon on Monday night and over 75 miles (from Bamfield) to the ammo dump on Thursday night to be there for the morning bite. In total we caught 21 tuna for the 2 days and most boats had similar numbers although a few guys piled them in.. It was strange as the bite would come on and you thought that you were on them and despite circling around the area for several more hours, it would go cold. The afternoons were really dead. We did have a sextuple header on Tuesday which was a lot of fun and we managed to boat all 6 of them. Pure mayhem.
Anyways, a great time and a great event as always. Thanks to Gerry and his crew at Mills Landing for hosting. We managed to get out fishing for other fish on the days that we couldn't fish for tuna and got limits of Coho, halibut, and a pile of rock fish, sablefish, etc. so never a dull moment. Highly recommend attending if you are new to tuna fishing as everyone is very helpful in sharing intel plus the ability to go offshore with multiple buddy boats.
adanac
Well-Known Member
Interesting , totally different story out of winter Sunday - Tuesday . No further than 22nm and as close as 16nm from kains . We plugged easy every day in three hours max . Some really hard breaks and rips
Charter Tofino
Well-Known Member
The water just broke down in the southern canyons a bit earlier this season. It’s been ongoing for the last 3 weeks. A month ago we had short runs and piles of fish when WH had their water push out. Now it’s flipped.
The ever changing water variable is what keeps Albacore fun as it’s less predictable than other fisheries. It can feel too easy some days and then others you’re studying the charts and running 70+ miles just to scratch up a handful of fish.
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Game Changer
Well-Known Member
Just returned from another great WH trip. Traveled from Vernon to Campbell River sept 9th, and looking at Windy, the 10th was the day! 4am lift off out of Campbell, had the boat in the water by 7:30 in coal. We headed to Oli’s to unload the gear out of the boat and check in. Over to Quallicum rivers to ice up, and headed for the grounds by 11.
We ran 22 NM out to the pencil, lines in the water by noon. Several boats were headed back in with there fish as we arrived. We met up with Sarengettie, and Epic Tails.
We scratched around for the first hour and a half as things had slowed down out there for everyone. 1:30 hook up! Then we were on them, fished for another 2.5 hours, putting 35 long fins on ice! Great first afternoon.
Wednesday was a NE blow up, so we went and got our limits of coho, as well as 6 springs. Thursdays weather was looking good again, so we iced and fueled Wednesday evening, and made a plan with our buddy boats for morning lift off. Off the dock at 6:30 am, we ran a bit more south to the bottom end of the pencil, before we reached the pencil, there was a large school of jumpers in 58 degree green water so we deployed, threw out a couple bags of Hawkins, and figure 8 back and forth with no love. Pulled the gear in and ran 5 miles beyond the pencil till we ran into 62 degree blue water. The first fish hit while we were getting gear in the water, and then picked away all day. A few doubles, some quads, and a Seven Up! Chaos for sure, and great memories! Headed back to the harbour by 3:30 with 28 long fins! All really good grade, 18 to 28 lbs. the next couple days we cleaned up our limits of coho, springs, and lings, with a few hali in the mix.
All in all, another great adventure with great buddy boats as we worked together to hunt them down. All Smiles, Serengeti, HLV 2, and Epic Tails. Looking forward to next years adventures already. Tight Lines.
We ran 22 NM out to the pencil, lines in the water by noon. Several boats were headed back in with there fish as we arrived. We met up with Sarengettie, and Epic Tails.
We scratched around for the first hour and a half as things had slowed down out there for everyone. 1:30 hook up! Then we were on them, fished for another 2.5 hours, putting 35 long fins on ice! Great first afternoon.
Wednesday was a NE blow up, so we went and got our limits of coho, as well as 6 springs. Thursdays weather was looking good again, so we iced and fueled Wednesday evening, and made a plan with our buddy boats for morning lift off. Off the dock at 6:30 am, we ran a bit more south to the bottom end of the pencil, before we reached the pencil, there was a large school of jumpers in 58 degree green water so we deployed, threw out a couple bags of Hawkins, and figure 8 back and forth with no love. Pulled the gear in and ran 5 miles beyond the pencil till we ran into 62 degree blue water. The first fish hit while we were getting gear in the water, and then picked away all day. A few doubles, some quads, and a Seven Up! Chaos for sure, and great memories! Headed back to the harbour by 3:30 with 28 long fins! All really good grade, 18 to 28 lbs. the next couple days we cleaned up our limits of coho, springs, and lings, with a few hali in the mix.
All in all, another great adventure with great buddy boats as we worked together to hunt them down. All Smiles, Serengeti, HLV 2, and Epic Tails. Looking forward to next years adventures already. Tight Lines.
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I apologize that this is not directly related to the BC tuna fishery but WA state is close enough that many could make a trip down for good fishing....
Report from Sunday 9/22 - I went down to visit a friend in Ilwaco for a tuna fishing trip on his 34' Rampage. We left the dock as the sun was coming up (a bit after 6AM) and loaded up with 3 scoops of live bait. We motored to about 32miles due W (plus or minus a little) and started trolling around 8:30. By 10:20 we had 16 albies and a ~20# bluefin in the boat. We fished hard (3 of us total) until around 2:30 and wound up with 52 albacore and the bluefin. My buddy has a commercial license so most of the fish were sold. I was able to keep what I wanted and the fish that were sold helped offset the cost of the trip.
Needless to say, fishing was red-hot. Only about 6-8 fish were caught on the troll and the rest were caught on the bait stops. I even got one on a jack pole and when we ran out of bait, I jigged one up for fun. Pretty much every boat around us had 20 plus fish and we could see about a dozen boats within a mile or two most of the day.
While the ocean is blown up for the next few days, when it calms down, those who can might want to drive down while the fish are still here.
Report from Sunday 9/22 - I went down to visit a friend in Ilwaco for a tuna fishing trip on his 34' Rampage. We left the dock as the sun was coming up (a bit after 6AM) and loaded up with 3 scoops of live bait. We motored to about 32miles due W (plus or minus a little) and started trolling around 8:30. By 10:20 we had 16 albies and a ~20# bluefin in the boat. We fished hard (3 of us total) until around 2:30 and wound up with 52 albacore and the bluefin. My buddy has a commercial license so most of the fish were sold. I was able to keep what I wanted and the fish that were sold helped offset the cost of the trip.
Needless to say, fishing was red-hot. Only about 6-8 fish were caught on the troll and the rest were caught on the bait stops. I even got one on a jack pole and when we ran out of bait, I jigged one up for fun. Pretty much every boat around us had 20 plus fish and we could see about a dozen boats within a mile or two most of the day.
While the ocean is blown up for the next few days, when it calms down, those who can might want to drive down while the fish are still here.
adanac
Well-Known Member
Now that the seasons wound down , anyone see / catch anything cool out there this year ? For us it was a massive pod of rissos dolphins , and a pacific pomfret on the jig . Heard of quite a few juvenile bluefin / yellowtail from sporties and commercial friends . A confirmed report from a commercial guy that has his port boat ripped off by a lit up striped marlin offshore Haida gwaii aswell .
CBsqrd
Well-Known Member
We saw Risso dolphins as well a couple years ago and that was pretty cool.
Tuna was slow for us this year, but the highlight was coming across a massive group of humpback whales near Father Charles Canyon. Well over 100 and it very well could have been 200+. There were time when there were 20 - 30 spouts blowing at a time. We see lots of humpbacks every year on the Central Coast (our usual response is AFW - Another F’ing Whale), but we stopped the boat for about three hours and it was non stop whales coming by, with some close encounters by the boat and lots of breaches. Didn’t see the beginning or end of them either.
Saw a sperm whale at the edge of the canyons on the way back in another day.
Tuna was slow for us this year, but the highlight was coming across a massive group of humpback whales near Father Charles Canyon. Well over 100 and it very well could have been 200+. There were time when there were 20 - 30 spouts blowing at a time. We see lots of humpbacks every year on the Central Coast (our usual response is AFW - Another F’ing Whale), but we stopped the boat for about three hours and it was non stop whales coming by, with some close encounters by the boat and lots of breaches. Didn’t see the beginning or end of them either.
Saw a sperm whale at the edge of the canyons on the way back in another day.
adanac
Well-Known Member
Massive bluefin tuna caught off Oregon coast
George Stavrakis of Sherwood caught the massive tuna on Sunday about 25 miles west of Garibaldi.
Not too far from us ! 164 lb bluefin caught trolling nomad tackle mad Mac’s the same way we get yellowfin sometimes out of PV . Said he caught it in cold green water 58 degrees I think . Another was caught last week 70 lbs . Same temps we have off our coast no reason they aren’t out there mid sept / October . Different water than we fish for albies .
Rain City
Crew Member
What would they be targeting? I didn't read it...Massive bluefin tuna caught off Oregon coast
George Stavrakis of Sherwood caught the massive tuna on Sunday about 25 miles west of Garibaldi.www.oregonlive.com
Not too far from us ! 164 lb bluefin caught trolling nomad tackle mad Mac’s the same way we get yellowfin sometimes out of PV . Said he caught it in cold green water 58 degrees I think . Another was caught last week 70 lbs . Same temps we have off our coast no reason they aren’t out there mid sept / October . Different water than we fish for albies .
adanac
Well-Known Member
Specifically bluefin , there is a whole fishery Northern California that’s started in the last 5 years that never existed before . They fish them October/november . This guy tried a few days the last few seasons out of garibaldi on the Washington Oregon border . Hooked and lost a few and finally found one and landed it . They fish the lipless madmanc plugs way back 500’ - 800’ and at 9 - 12kts covering ground. I have a few kicking around from fishing tuna down south that I will be dragging around winter next season .
Old Blue
Well-Known Member
Because they never targeted them in the past in NorCal but they've been there periodically since the 20's/30's but with the volume of fish they've been seeing in SoCal there's more and more venturing further north following the food.
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