Fun day with @jasmillo @JayB @alpinetrout @Nick Clayton
We boated 18 fish all good size.
This one broke my 10 wt Meridian.
We boated 18 fish all good size.
This one broke my 10 wt Meridian.
Tuna 2023
- Thread starter SilverFly
- Start date
Short clips when we encountered those birds and I got hooked up. This is how you break a 10wt
That bend scared me! You were getting after it, good shit!
Looks like their dorado was also caught on a black and purple spreader bar. I try to keep at least one of those in the spread while trolling. I know you like to drag one too.
Dragged one allllll day Saturday
JayB
Life of the Party
Funny but not surprising that I was so preoccupied with everything else going on that I had no idea that anyone was taking pictures. I'm pretty sure there could have been a marching band performing on the foredeck right at that moment and I wouldn't have heard a single note....
JayB
Life of the Party
I'll chime in with some semi-coherent ramblings from my first trip.
-I was equal parts excited and apprehensive about the trip. Excited by the prospect of finally heading offshore and connecting with albacore on the 12 weight outfit that been gathering dust in my garage for the past two years, but apprehensive because in the past I've been extremely sensitive to swell-induced sea-sickness on larger boats. The sort of waves and irregular chop I run into on the Sound has never been a problem, but swells have fully incapacitated me in short order.
In order to keep that at bay, I started the scopalamine patch on Friday afternoon, and followed it with a half-tab of phernergan at around 5AM on Sunday. My up-close vision was pretty well shot when I was on the boat (side effect I'd been told to expect), but between the meds and trying to stay outside the cabin as much as possible I never felt more than a touch of queasiness. The only other side effect was finding it nearly impossible to take a whiz over the side of the boat - to the point it felt like my kidneys would explode - which I attributed solely to trying to keep my balance on a rocking boat, but my wife side can be a side-effect of the drug combo. Unpleasant but still light years better than sea-sickness.
-The "tug" from an albacore is totally unlike anything I've ever experienced. When we were back at the dock I said it felt less like a strike and more like someone'd tied the end of your line to a passing moped. I've only had a handful of fish take me into my backing in my life, and even then it was in fits and starts. Ever since I was about 7 I've read accounts of line "screaming" off a reel and heading deep into the backing, but seeing it happen right in front of my eyes was something else entirely.
-Back when all of this madness got started I saw the flies that people had made using the Spawn heads, and ordered up a variety. I like the looks of one of the heads called "The Boss" (I think) but didn't pay much attention to the size. Once I got them my first thought was "These are just waaay too big," but then I saw some of Randall's creations and figured I had nothing to lose by cranking out a few big monstrosities made from wads of streamer material. The result was El Jefe, and after going what seemed like a long time without a strike I succumbed to the temptation to changed from what had worked earlier to something else, I decided I had nothing to lose by pulling El Jefe out of his tomb and tying him on.
My line management wasn't the best on this trip, and more than once when it was time to move off of the foredeck I'd just gather it up in a loose tangle and make my way forwards. Often when I've got a line tangle on a boat, I'll just fling my fly over the side and let the current take out the slack over the while I work my way through the tangles. That turned out to be a mistake on this trip. I tied El Jefe on, flipped him over the side, and had been working through the tangle for about 53 seconds when my line came tight. I watched the tangle wedge itself in the nearest ferrule for about half a second before I felt the line give and go slack. I reeled up expecting to take a look at my leader to see which knot failed, but in this case it wasn't the leader - the fly line itself had been ripped in half! I was slightly bummed to have lost the fly - and the working end of my fly line - but that was tempered by the fact that they'd both died a warriors death instead of languishing unused in my gear closet.
Lou graciously offered to let me use the reel from his broken rod, and I proceeded to lose the next fish after responding to getting freight-trained and watching the backing start to vanish by ratcheting the drag forward until the line stopped peeling off the reel instead of just slowing it down enough to slow it down. Live and learn...
-I think I went two for 7, or 8, or 9 - easy to lose track. The first two fish I had on stayed buttoned, but I lost every other fish after that. Some due to obvious mistakes, some for who knows what reason. Having insufficient width between the point of my hooks and the Spawn heads might have been part of the problem, so in the future I'll probably tie the majority on a hook with longer shank, a tube, or stinger-style. Probably won't make all that much difference in practice but at least I won't be wondering "Is it the gap?" when a fish comes unbuttoned. Having said that - I tied El Jefe's extra-sexy cousin, El Guapo on a tube and also had a fish come off...
-Here are three of the surviving flies that worked on this trip. FWIW the greyish fly a actually got a take on the strip while the boat was parked, which was cool but sadly it too got away.
-I was super impressed with everyone at All Rivers, and thought it was super cool that Nick invested all the time and effort it takes to get out to Westport to come along and share all of his know-how with the our captain and make sure that we had the best odds of having a successful trip.
-It took about two and a half hours for my wife and I to finish processing all of the fish and get them into the freezer. We had just enough space set aside in our stand-up freezer to accommodate all of the tuna, and I finished the final bit of clean-up in the kitchen at around 1AM. My wife is an outstanding cook and thankfully had enough energy to cook up the first round of steaks the next evening, and the results were superb. Thankfully we learned that the Tuna caught off of the west coast tend to be younger and have much lower levels of mercury, so we'll be able to work our way through the stash without having to worry too much about our own bio-accumulation of mercury. https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2004/aug/local-albacore-found-be-mercury-safe
-I was equal parts excited and apprehensive about the trip. Excited by the prospect of finally heading offshore and connecting with albacore on the 12 weight outfit that been gathering dust in my garage for the past two years, but apprehensive because in the past I've been extremely sensitive to swell-induced sea-sickness on larger boats. The sort of waves and irregular chop I run into on the Sound has never been a problem, but swells have fully incapacitated me in short order.
In order to keep that at bay, I started the scopalamine patch on Friday afternoon, and followed it with a half-tab of phernergan at around 5AM on Sunday. My up-close vision was pretty well shot when I was on the boat (side effect I'd been told to expect), but between the meds and trying to stay outside the cabin as much as possible I never felt more than a touch of queasiness. The only other side effect was finding it nearly impossible to take a whiz over the side of the boat - to the point it felt like my kidneys would explode - which I attributed solely to trying to keep my balance on a rocking boat, but my wife side can be a side-effect of the drug combo. Unpleasant but still light years better than sea-sickness.
-The "tug" from an albacore is totally unlike anything I've ever experienced. When we were back at the dock I said it felt less like a strike and more like someone'd tied the end of your line to a passing moped. I've only had a handful of fish take me into my backing in my life, and even then it was in fits and starts. Ever since I was about 7 I've read accounts of line "screaming" off a reel and heading deep into the backing, but seeing it happen right in front of my eyes was something else entirely.
-Back when all of this madness got started I saw the flies that people had made using the Spawn heads, and ordered up a variety. I like the looks of one of the heads called "The Boss" (I think) but didn't pay much attention to the size. Once I got them my first thought was "These are just waaay too big," but then I saw some of Randall's creations and figured I had nothing to lose by cranking out a few big monstrosities made from wads of streamer material. The result was El Jefe, and after going what seemed like a long time without a strike I succumbed to the temptation to changed from what had worked earlier to something else, I decided I had nothing to lose by pulling El Jefe out of his tomb and tying him on.
My line management wasn't the best on this trip, and more than once when it was time to move off of the foredeck I'd just gather it up in a loose tangle and make my way forwards. Often when I've got a line tangle on a boat, I'll just fling my fly over the side and let the current take out the slack over the while I work my way through the tangles. That turned out to be a mistake on this trip. I tied El Jefe on, flipped him over the side, and had been working through the tangle for about 53 seconds when my line came tight. I watched the tangle wedge itself in the nearest ferrule for about half a second before I felt the line give and go slack. I reeled up expecting to take a look at my leader to see which knot failed, but in this case it wasn't the leader - the fly line itself had been ripped in half! I was slightly bummed to have lost the fly - and the working end of my fly line - but that was tempered by the fact that they'd both died a warriors death instead of languishing unused in my gear closet.
Lou graciously offered to let me use the reel from his broken rod, and I proceeded to lose the next fish after responding to getting freight-trained and watching the backing start to vanish by ratcheting the drag forward until the line stopped peeling off the reel instead of just slowing it down enough to slow it down. Live and learn...
-I think I went two for 7, or 8, or 9 - easy to lose track. The first two fish I had on stayed buttoned, but I lost every other fish after that. Some due to obvious mistakes, some for who knows what reason. Having insufficient width between the point of my hooks and the Spawn heads might have been part of the problem, so in the future I'll probably tie the majority on a hook with longer shank, a tube, or stinger-style. Probably won't make all that much difference in practice but at least I won't be wondering "Is it the gap?" when a fish comes unbuttoned. Having said that - I tied El Jefe's extra-sexy cousin, El Guapo on a tube and also had a fish come off...
-Here are three of the surviving flies that worked on this trip. FWIW the greyish fly a actually got a take on the strip while the boat was parked, which was cool but sadly it too got away.
-I was super impressed with everyone at All Rivers, and thought it was super cool that Nick invested all the time and effort it takes to get out to Westport to come along and share all of his know-how with the our captain and make sure that we had the best odds of having a successful trip.
-It took about two and a half hours for my wife and I to finish processing all of the fish and get them into the freezer. We had just enough space set aside in our stand-up freezer to accommodate all of the tuna, and I finished the final bit of clean-up in the kitchen at around 1AM. My wife is an outstanding cook and thankfully had enough energy to cook up the first round of steaks the next evening, and the results were superb. Thankfully we learned that the Tuna caught off of the west coast tend to be younger and have much lower levels of mercury, so we'll be able to work our way through the stash without having to worry too much about our own bio-accumulation of mercury. https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2004/aug/local-albacore-found-be-mercury-safe
No experience of actually doing it, I was advised that if the blank was not designed for a foregrip then you shouldn’t add one.
Just got word that they caught a dorado on today's fly trip.
I have no details, but I know the group who is out today so its likely it was a troll fish.
I have no details, but I know the group who is out today so its likely it was a troll fish.
It was a fun trip for sure. It sounded like Indiana Jones snapped his whip in my ear when your line snapped
.The other cool thing about this trip was the size of the fish. Much larger on average than my previous tuna trips. Not sure if we just caught smaller fish on previous trips or fish are just bigger on average this year. Here is a belly from a fish this year compared to the two I still have from last year. There were a number of fish that really dogged us for quite a while this time out.
Paige
Wishing I was fishing the Sauk
PHOTOS: New Washington state record mahi mahi caught
New Washington State record mahi mahi (also known as dolphinfish or dorado) caught on Aug. 25, 2023
www.kiro7.com
Saw some more dorado pics as well as a bluefin post on the Westport fishing FB page. Hopefully @SilverFly is sitting down when he reads this.
Marlin or wahoo got to be next, right?
SF
Marlin or wahoo got to be next, right?
SF
speedbird
Life of the Party
One of the Far Corners boats right? Their Insta page is good eye candyPHOTOS: New Washington state record mahi mahi caught
New Washington State record mahi mahi (also known as dolphinfish or dorado) caught on Aug. 25, 2023
wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
This showed up in email. Pardon me if this is deemed rude. Only trying to share. Sorry, images were redacted.
Dates are 10/2, 10/4, 10/6, and 10/9
$766 per person If you missed your chance to book a 2-day albacore trip this season before they all filled up, now is the perfect opportunity. We have added 4 trips on the Fury in early October (10 spots on each trip). These trips will book out fast, so make sure to make your reservations ASAP. Call 800-562-0151 or visit www.deepseacharters.com to book now!
Dates are 10/2, 10/4, 10/6, and 10/9
$766 per person If you missed your chance to book a 2-day albacore trip this season before they all filled up, now is the perfect opportunity. We have added 4 trips on the Fury in early October (10 spots on each trip). These trips will book out fast, so make sure to make your reservations ASAP. Call 800-562-0151 or visit www.deepseacharters.com to book now!
SilverFly
Legend
Thanks for posting this.
I did one of these overnighter trips on the Fury about 10 years ago. Definitely a conventional gear trip. Although Capt Mike did let me bring a 12wt on board after I explained I'd only use it when it seemed the right time, and after we'd caught a bunch. The accommodations were Spartan to say the least, but I did manage a few hours sleep. Was actually glad I couldn't sleep at 2AM. The night sky 40 miles offshore, is something I'll never forget. Was like being in a planetarium, with the water around the boat even more amazing, floating in a galaxy of bioluminescence.
It's also a great bargain if you want to load up on tuna. Think my buddy and I brought home 150# of loins each. And that was after 3 Orcas crashed one of the biggest bait stops I've been on. If anyone books this I'd plan on full conventional. That said, you might have a better chance to get in some bug flicking given the successes of @Nick Clayton and PNWFF crews. Attitudes towards tuna fly fishing have changed significantly.