Tuna fishing: Weather and Sea State/ Forecasting/Planning

[seadna]

I use the Swell Watch website for most of my forecasts. I look for swell conditions in which the heigh in feet is at least 3 larger than the swell period in seconds. I also want winds of <=15kts. This rule works for for swells up to about 5' after which I want a period greater that is 4-5 larger. In late July through early Sept. I would say that 60-80% of the days meet this criteria (especially in August). I look for times when Swell Watch has predicted 2-3 good days in a row and plan my trips to hit the center of their predictions. So far that has worked quite well and I haven't been too surprised by anything (other than the wind coming up a bit one night when I was overnighting offshore).

 

[seadna]

This comment is a tackle and weather thread combo:

One of the advantages of using a noisemakers that have allot of drag is it keeps the lines from crossing. Commies use chains in rough weather to keep the clones down. This year I am thinking of doing a splasher/chain combo where the main line splits where one line has a splash bird chain above and the other has a piece of chain with the clone behind that. Just to get that extra few inches of depth on the clone. Might just have a high potential for tangles tho. Maybe just have 4 lengths of chain in the arsenal for a day where you may want to use them.

I think the tuna do not like the rough weather but they do like a slight chop. I could care less about having chop, I like the glassy days and thats what I am looking for.

John - why chain as opposed to the std. trolling weights? Seems like change would make the tangles worse.

 

[Birdsnest]

I look for swell conditions in which the heigh in feet is at least 3 larger than the swell period in seconds.

Don't you mean a period in seconds that is three time the hight in feet? IE: 3 foot swell at 9 seconds.

I used to use similar "formulas" for surf forecasting at certain spots. Can be a useful tool but you must have an understanding of what it all means.

 

[Birdsnest]

John - why chain as opposed to the std. trolling weights? Seems like change would make the tangles worse.

The chain makes a noise that the fish like I hear and probably makes a good bubble trail if it ever comes out of the water.

 

[seadna]

Don't you mean a period in seconds that is three time the hight in feet? IE: 3 foot swell at 9 seconds.

I used to use similar "formulas" for surf forecasting at certain spots. Can be a useful tool but you must have an understanding of what it all means.

No. 3' @ 6s is quite nice and is 4' at 7 or 8s. I think 3x is too much. Once the swells are in the 6'+ range I like periods of about 11+s. Agree you need to have an understanding of what it all means. In particular, you need to have been offshore enough times to be able to correlate those numbers with a mental picture of what the water will look like. I've been in very long period 9-10' swells that were no problem at all even with 15kt winds. I've been in 3' short period washing machine waves that were very unpleasant. Also, in my experience, the average guy's estimate of wave height tends to be a bit on the high side.