Tuna 06

[A Reel Deal]

I'm looking into moving my boat further north (fished out of Banfield 05) to Ucluelet or Tofino for the 06 season Aug/Sept and looking to hook up with other boats who fish Tuna. I recall there was some talk of fish brought in at Tofino last August. The more boats out there the less searching.

 

[Brokenrod]

The word is that there were tuna off Winter Harbour in Sept. I plan to research it for 06. Would be glad to have others in on the info gathering and some planed trips
Brokenrod

 

[kronic_fisherguy]

I would like to get into the tuna loop as well for next summer!!!!The more the merrier in that game and safer as well!!!

 

[Brokenrod]

Lets keep something going.
Brokenrod

 

[kronic_fisherguy]

Just found this site for a little informative reading!!!
http://www.swimbait.com/techniques/tuna.htm

 

[baddogg]

I knew you had to troll at a fast pace, but 7-9 mph, wow, that's quick.

 

[Brokenrod]

Hey Kronic, that web site has some good stuff. The deal is, what works in Florida should work here. I really like the idea of having chum & bait ready to fish the rest of the school.I have fished tuna at the East Cape in Baja, and thats exactly how they do it there. The schools move very fast. As far as getting water tempatures from on line any ideas?

BROKENROD
WEST COAST FREEK

 

[lpaulcarter]

This site appears to give water temperature if you subsribe:

http://buoyweather.com/

Paul

 

[kronic_fisherguy]

Here is another great site for information on Tuna fishing just south of the border in Washington and Oregon!These people have there act together check out some of the videos great job !!



http://www.ifish.net/forum/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB21

 

[A Reel Deal]

I put up a written pre-view and introduction to fishing tuna from information that I have gather along with personal experience for a couple die-hard salmon fishermen which I intend to convert to tuna fishing this summer ----- if anyone is interested I will post however the supporting photos may not be posted to this site - my understanding.

 

[Brokenrod]

This site looks good for water temp.clik on marine.
http://www.wunderground.com/

BROKENROD
WEST COAST FREEK

Edited by - BROKENROD on 01/01/2006 14:47:30

 

[Dogbreath]

A Tuna is relatively easy to catch-all you do is find them and then drag something through the school (without running directly over the school thus causing them to sound).
Of course you might not see breaking/feeding fish they may be 100+ feet down and just come up and slam what you're draggin'.
Live bait is great but something of a pain they also really go for jigs like the Deadly Dick in the long sizes.
Not jigged though just cast out count to 5 then retrieve at a moderate fast rate.
Forget the net a 6' gaff is what you'll need, that and a lotta ice-no ice no Tuna they go bad in a helluva hurry.

The Ifish.net site is the best for Pacific NW Albacore info hands down.

 

[5-Salt Fever]

www.terrafin.com has SST and Chlorophyll images for Vancouver Island near shore and off shore. The annual subscription fee is USD 99.00.

Good stuff for finding tuna water and bait fish for Salmon as well.

 

[5-Salt Fever]

quote:
We are absolutely Tuna addicted here in Oregon.

You will find plenty of good information about ORE/WASH and B.C. Albacore fishing by monitoring and posting at the following Saltwater board on ifish.net. Boardlink - http://www.ifish.net/forum/ubbthreads.php?Cat=0 - see the Salty Dogs Board.

These guys are serious about tuna and you will find tons of good information about lures, water temps, rigging, timing, and other general information. The "Salty Dogs" as they are known, have an annual convention every Feb which is 80% tuna focused with a trade show, Vendor and Manufacture displays, lure and rigging demos, swap meet, and offshore safety seminars .

Monitor the board between now thru September and you will see just how crazy we are for Albacore fishing. In the interim check out the video at the below link for a taste what you will find out in the 62degree water off of the British Columbia shores.

186MB download - http://www.justkeepfishing.com/media/Tuna_2005.wmv

 

[kronic_fisherguy]

Awsome job on the video !!!! thanks for sharing it!!!!!!!!Looking forward to my first Tuna heart just have a ton to learn new gear to get and add some more fuel capacity!!!!!!!!

 

[Brokenrod]

Fever WOW !!! You guys have got it together. What agreat download. question for you, I recently recieved acouple of bags of commercial tackle from a retired fisherman they are all weighted hoochy type lures, bullet heads, big eyes,various colours 5-6 inches long,some are rigged with 200lb test leaders,some are feathers. Will these work? Are you useing weighted gear?

BROKENROD
WEST COAST FREEK

 

[5-Salt Fever]

I am no expert but Tuna Clones, Tuna Feathers, Fish Trap, Cedar Plugs, and Live bait are used. We search fish on the troll and once found, will continue to troll or if spooky go on the drift throwing Fish Traps, or live bait into the school. Sign up to the board so you can search posts and ask questions.

Good Searches would be: Clones, Feathers, Tuna Feathers, Cedar Plugs, Zuckers, Svenstand, etc... Introduce yourself and post questions - many will answer or post a link to your answer. They are a friendly group. Almost forgot - your First post on Salty Dog traditionally is a story about you and fishing. Can be your best trip, hair raising experience, a resume of you fishing/boating experience, or what you enjoy about fishing or anything really...mine was a post about fishing with my grandfather when I was young. Does need to be novel just friend introduction kind of thing

A good tuna articles and posts can be found at:

http://www.ifish.net/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=213605&an=0&page=0#213605
http://www.ifish.net/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=884196&an=0&page=1#884196
http://www.ifish.net/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=601283&an=0&page=1#601283

See also Tech Tips Section for other posts:
http://www.ifish.net/forum/postlist.php?Cat=0&Board=UBB36&page=1

Like I said, I am no expert but you will find all the information to get a strong start into the Tunaholic Club between now and the start of season. look forward to seeing you on the Salt Dogs board.

Cheers - 5-Salt Fever

The below artical is a post by the number one member on the Salty Dogs board - he is man who began the Tuna fishery from small boats off the Oregon coast. His Moniker is Pilar

Tuna Post:
]Ok Dan .. about TUNA! First let me say that my name is John and that I am a tunaholic.

The fish are juvenile Albacore and they range in size from 4 to 40 lbs. Very few over 35 and not many under 10 are caught by the sport guys. These fish come within 20 miles of our coast most years and several times have been caught less than 10 miles out. Mixed in with the schools of Albacore are Big eye and Bluefin. From what I have read the Big eye is almost never caught on hook and line and only a few bluefin have been landed. Albacore feed all night near the surface and can be found there at 1st and last light and for short times during the day. There is some research on telemetrically tagged fish that show an all night feeding behavior near the surface and a diving and rising behavior believed to be sleep during the day. The fish rise to within 30 meters of the surface and then glide back to depths approaching 300 meters before rising back up again.

The mostly albacore fishery might change this year as we have some new Salty dogs who have done the Big eye and Bluefin on the East coast. The technique they use back east is deep water jigging and bait at night.

What we do here is mostly trolling during daylight hours. Handlines and rod/reel with feather jigs, cedar plugs and also some casting plastic swimbaits with light tackle. The wolf pack is made up of boats of various sizes from the small (19') but tough 'Pilar' to the luxurious 'Julie Rose III' at 47' and all sizes and types in between. We hunt in groups and use this website to hook up for trips all summer on most any day of the week. Weather conditions and the infrared satellite photos on Terrafin determine the best days to fish. Trips start in early July and go through September and sometimes even into October. Many believe that the fish arrive before then and stay till after the effort ceases.

A typical trip lasts 12 hours. We leave before 1st light (0500) and run out 30 plus miles to seamounts and other known locations near the continental slope and look for blue, clear water at 60 degrees or better. 62 is about ideal. Fish can be found near sudden temperature changes called 'breaks', near floating debris and I believe they habituate bottom structure like pinnacles and seamounts even hundreds of feet down. Trips end due to the boat overloaded with fish, the ice all used up or fuel use or weather changing for the worse.

The pack arrives on the fishing grounds at 0800 or so and the hunt begins. Usually scattered over many square miles until the deal goes down. Once fish are located the radio starts squawking and we converge on the location. Nothing can adequately describe the chaos of a full on TUNA! bite but many fishers here on this website and others have made good tries at describing it.

I typically drive at cruise speed until I see birds sitting or working bait, cobalt blue 62 degree water or a temperature break of a 1/2 degree or more. Sometimes you will see airborne albacore, 'jumpers' in cooler water and getting them to bite can be a real challenge.

When the location is fishy enough we deploy our gear and troll at a fairly high rate of 6 to 10 mph. Most boats use a combination of handlines, divers and rod/reel aka standup gear. Some use all of one or the other. Standup gear is a 4/0 sized reel with four or five hundred yards of 80# spectra line and a 30 to 50 lb rod, typical. Many other combinations are used but that is pretty common. A handline or meatline is a line tied to the boat with a bungee shock absorber on the boat end. Most handlines are made of Ashaway 200# TUNA! cord which is about 1/8" and bright blue when new. Handlines come in various lengths from 30 to 100 feet and have a heavy duty swivel on the end for easy rig changeout. A diver is an orange surfboard like contraption about 10 inches long (Yo-Zuri 9.0) that runs on a short length of TUNA! cord and dives down 10 or 15 feet below the boat. The big line does not seem to bother the fish and albacore are in my experience not the least bit leader shy.

I use 200#, 7 foot mono leaders on all my feather jigs so that they can be used on handline or standup gear. Cedar plugs are on 7 foot, 100# or 150# mono leaders. I only use cedar plugs on standup gear because the fish will break the leader on the handline.

Whatever you fish you deploy in either a mass at the same (50' or so) distance from the boat or in a vee pattern with the lines at the corners of the boat farther out than the middle. I use diver boards, handlines and standup gear all together and deploy 5 to 8 lines total. And I use the vee setup with the corners at 150' for standup gear, 100 feet for the corner handlines, 30 feet for the corner diver boards and 50 feet for the middle handline. Some guys on the larger boats also use outriggers for standup gear.

Ok, so you are fishing now and there is no need to watch the standup rods at all. Just set the drag pretty loose and the clicker on. There will be no doubt at all when you get slammed. Handlines need to be watched at all times because they make little or no noise. Divers pop up in your wake and thrash around so a bite there is pretty easy to spot. In any case multiples are common and there have been days when everything gets slammed at once. 8 lines and three fishers quickly turns into a one legged man at an *** kicking festival.

These fish are nuclear powered and can swim at speeds approaching 40 mph. Nothing sounds like a 4/0 with 30 lbs of albacore peeling the line off of it. They do not tire very quickly and often sound in water that is over 1500 feet deep. Once we start getting slammed, the trick is to keep the boat moving and haul fish to the boat. I often throw handfulls of chunked herring into the wake and pump the blood over with the bilge pump on a strike to encourage more strikes.

TUNA! bleed like crazy and if not handled properly can trash around in the boat at blinding speeds, flinging blood and scales everywhere.

It is a very primal experience and will bring out the cave man in you in short order.

Sound like fun?

But wait there is more .... you quit at 14:00 and run in, bloody and sore armed. The boat looks like a tuna suicide bomber exploded inside the cockpit. You get back to Dopey bay at 16:00 or even 17:00. It is pretty hard not to have a huge S.E.G. painted on your face and you then spend 4 to 6 hours cleaning your 20 plus fish at the cleaning station. Much story telling, consumption of cactus juice and gear swapping goes on all evening. Someone fires up the barbq and the wasabi makes an appearance. Crews drag boats off for a refuel and ice stop. Some go home and some come back to the parking lot to spend the night.

About midnight you find a shower and a place to sleep. Some of you will overcome your common sense and fatigue and go again the very next morning.

My name is John and I am a tunaholic. I admit I am helpless with my addiction and there are only 120 or so days to go before the rodeo begins again.

 

[Brokenrod]

Hey Fever, thanks for the the web address you'll see me soon on salty dogs.It would be great if we could get something going here in BC like you Dogs do down there.

BROKENROD
WEST COAST FREEK

 

[5-Salt Fever]

quote:
Fever WOW !!! You guys have got it together. What agreat download. question for you, I recently recieved acouple of bags of commercial tackle from a retired fisherman they are all weighted hoochy type lures, bullet heads, big eyes,various colours 5-6 inches long,some are rigged with 200lb test leaders,some are feathers. Will these work? Are you useing weighted gear?

BROKENROD
WEST COAST FREEK

Broken Rod,

Glad you like the movie - those guys really put together a good one.

Like you, I am just beginning my tuna quest. Join the Salty Dogs on ifish.net and post some picture of your gear. Pic posting is easy and the members tell it to you straight once the pics of your newly aquired gear. Let me know if you need help posting pics - you can PM me on ifish.net - my user name is same as here: 5-Salt Fever.

ifish.net boards: http://www.ifish.net/forum/ubbthreads.php

Other good links to cruise for Lure types:

Zuckers Tuna Feathers: http://www.charkbait.com/cs/cst2a.htm
Mexican Flag, Purple/Black, Zuchini, Rootbeer, are popular colors.

Svenstrand Tuna Feathers;
http://www.charkbait.com/cs/cst2a.htm

Cedar Plugs:
http://www.charkbait.com/cs/csStrikeMaster.htm



6-7" Lures seem to be the prefered size. See turtorial at http://www.ifish.net/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=884196&an=0&page=1#884196 for rigging instructions - no need to buy pre-rigged lures when you can rig them youself.

 

[5-Salt Fever]

quote:
Hey Fever, thanks for the the web address you'll see me soon on salty dogs.It would be great if we could get something going here in BC like you Dogs do down there.

BROKENROD
WEST COAST FREEK

We look forward to seeing you on the board. Always room for our brothers from the north.

Getting something going - looks like you have a great group right here on this board. This group is very supportive of eachother and there is lot of great knowledge shared back and forth. That is secret to a great board in my book.

See you over at Ifish.net.

Cheers - 5-Salt Fever