Tuna 2024

[mcswny]

This pic is a perfect example of what I was poorly attempting to describe in my earlier post. By not bringing the lower half of the rod any higher than Randy has it here one can fight the fish with the butt of the rod where all the strength is, and avoid risking a snapped tip. Not only is this better for the life of the rod, it's also a much more effective method of landing these fish relatively quickly. The key is a short lift up to about the level he has in the pic, then a quick reel down till the tip touches the water, and repeat....quickly. Using this technique you can avoid risking the rod, but just as importantly it keeps the fish's head just tipped up. They are constantly circling, due to hook pressure in one side of their head or the other, and their inability to stop kicking their tail. By keeping their head tipped up just a bit with those short, quick pumps, you can kinda use their momentum against them and they'll basically circle up to the surface where they can be stuck with a gaff. The other disadvantage of a high lift with the tip in the air is that when an albacores head gets too high, nearing vertical, they tend to freak out and fight even harder.

A lot of rod breakages I've seen happen when the fish gets close. It's easy to get aggressive and get that tip too high in the air trying to pull it towards the boat, but the best way to go about it is to keep that lower half of the rod at a flatter angle, and always reel down to the fish rather than lift it up and pull towards the gaff. With fly rods the fish tend to be a bit tougher to reach with the gaff, but this can be compensated for by swinging the rod more parallel to the boat while reeling down to the fish.

All of this is easy to say for someone who catches albacore every day of the week, so I'm not trying to cast judgement on anyone. Albacore are different than any other species we fish for in the PNW so most people are going to try to fight them in the manner they are used to. I totally get it. Just trying to add some thoughts to the thread.

So cool, thanks for writing this up Nick.

 

[PhilR]

This pic is a perfect example of what I was poorly attempting to describe in my earlier post. By not bringing the lower half of the rod any higher than Randy has it here one can fight the fish with the butt of the rod where all the strength is, and avoid risking a snapped tip. Not only is this better for the life of the rod, it's also a much more effective method of landing these fish relatively quickly. The key is a short lift up to about the level he has in the pic, then a quick reel down till the tip touches the water, and repeat....quickly. Using this technique you can avoid risking the rod, but just as importantly it keeps the fish's head just tipped up. They are constantly circling, due to hook pressure in one side of their head or the other, and their inability to stop kicking their tail. By keeping their head tipped up just a bit with those short, quick pumps, you can kinda use their momentum against them and they'll basically circle up to the surface where they can be stuck with a gaff. The other disadvantage of a high lift with the tip in the air is that when an albacores head gets too high, nearing vertical, they tend to freak out and fight even harder.

A lot of rod breakages I've seen happen when the fish gets close. It's easy to get aggressive and get that tip too high in the air trying to pull it towards the boat, but the best way to go about it is to keep that lower half of the rod at a flatter angle, and always reel down to the fish rather than lift it up and pull towards the gaff. With fly rods the fish tend to be a bit tougher to reach with the gaff, but this can be compensated for by swinging the rod more parallel to the boat while reeling down to the fish.

All of this is easy to say for someone who catches albacore every day of the week, so I'm not trying to cast judgement on anyone. Albacore are different than any other species we fish for in the PNW so most people are going to try to fight them in the manner they are used to. I totally get it. Just trying to add some thoughts to the thread.

And I think there’s an element of buck fever to it. All the sense and plans go out the window.

 

[Shad]

Been out of the discussion a while, but I see the forecast for the coast this weekend is for crazy warm temperatures. That will destroy the salmon bite, but you guys will probably getting albacore a lot closer in than usual.

Git em!

 

[Evan B]

Been out of the discussion a while, but I see the forecast for the coast this weekend is for crazy warm temperatures. That will destroy the salmon bite, but you guys will probably getting albacore a lot closer in than usual.

Git em!

The water temps are already tuna-friendly all the way in as far as the Astoria Canyon areas go. The chloro is even about right. We hit "tuna water" all of like 10mi out on Monday. But I don't think there's a whole lot of tuna in it. We prospected a bit, but didn't hit anything until we got to the usual 40mi or so out there.

 

[JayB]

Saturday, August 24th, tuna report: In my experience, the All Rivers boats generally head west or west southwest from Westport and troll over the continental slope about 30 miles from Westport. But today, we skirted Ocean Shores and headed north. The ride at the start was promising, but the offshore swell soon made it a very lumpy ride (and wet for those of us in the “vomit-comet” seats outside the cabin). We blasted past flocks of rhinoceros auklets and sooty shearwaters; flying shearwaters will often keep pace with the boat for many minutes for unknown reasons. We passed a humpback whale that was about to dive – nice fluke salute. And still we plowed / pounded on. I figured that we were close when we saw several commercial tuna trollers on the horizon. But we still continued motoring until we were almost 50 miles west northwest of Westport.
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With four experienced fly anglers, it didn’t take long to have our lines in the water as we trolled at 3-5 knots. About 20 minutes later @dbaken sang out “fish on” and Nick put the boat into neutral. The other two anglers and I began to retrieve our flies on the “slide” and Cal, the mate, threw out a handful of anchovies in the hopes of keeping the school of tuna by the boat. We didn’t have any hits on the slide (a theme for this day) but Nick could see on the fish finder that the school was still with the boat. So, while @dbaken was deep in the task of pulling his fish into gaff range, we cast our flies around the boat and Cal kept them interested with the occasional anchovy. It didn’t take long before a freight-train slammed my fly and disappeared toward the horizon. And shortly after, one of the other anglers was hooked up too. Cal efficiently gaffed @dbaken's fish, then mine,
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then the last. So, we had three albacore on the deck
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which were transferred to the iced holding tanks. My fish came on a shock-and-awe tube fly which I fished all day. The hook was right in the corner of its mouth.
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We made a few more casts but the school moved on and we started in on the troll again.
As Cal was cleaning up the carnage, he noted that one of the fish had regurgitated at least some of its breakfast. There was one 5”ish thin fish (saury?), a 2.5” squid, and a 5” squid. [And in light of the squid that I saw in some fish while they were being carked, perhaps someone should have switched to a squid pattern.]
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None of the three prey items had any skin, reflecting the rapid pace of digestion in the endothermic digestive tract of tunas, such as albacore (along with endothermic swimming muscles).
Back on the troll, we went with a stretch with just a single fish at a time and relatively ineffective stops. At one point, a pod of what appeared to be pilot whales crossed our wake. We were all quite pleased that they weren’t interested in our flies as we were not sure that a 12 wt. was enough stick…
By late morning, the weather had dramatically improved. The forecast 5' waves and 10 knot winds were a fiction. The wind died, the swell laid down to almost glass, and the sun came out. After a mass divestment of excess clothing and application of sunscreen, we were ready for the rest of the day.
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After a dry stretch, we hit a very productive stop. I was bit on the troll. With most of my fly line out and the boat at least initially moving, the first explosive run just burnt line off my reel deep into my backing. All tuna are work; tuna on the troll are even harder. Again, there may have been a nip or two on flies during the “slide” but no firm hookup. Cal kept up a periodic rain of anchovies and soon there were albacore rocketing around the boat picking them off. Cal gaffed my fish and I posed for a hero shot.
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The other guys had picked up more fish casting and the back deck was just red with tuna blood. Blood dripping through the bilges attracted the attention of a 5-6’ blue shark.
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He kept probing the blood trail. And he picked off some anchovies that had sought refuge near the boat. We had some concerns that he might grab a fly but that didn’t happen. However, the presence of the blue shark did spook the albacore in the end game when they were close to the boat. If the blue shark cruised by, a tuna that was almost in gaff range would dive down another 20-30’, lengthening the fight. In addition to the troll fish, I picked up another fish while casting on this stop.
Back on the troll, we had another dry spell where there were no birds to be seen and nothing messed with our flies. Periodically, each of us would retrieve our fly to ensure that it hadn’t been fouled. But there was surprisingly little debris in the water, likely reflecting the downwelling winds from the south that brought warm offshore water to the coast. [Versus upwelling winds from the north that would drive nearshore water (and debris) offshore to where we were and draw up cooler, nutrient-rich water along the coast.]
Suddenly, @Matt B and I had near simultaneous strikes on the troll. Once stopped, @Nick Clayton and @dbaken / @PhilR hooked up albacore from casts. With four hooked fish with minds of their own on where they wanted to go, there was huge potential for flyline macramé. But we managed to do the right “up and overs” or “down and unders” synchronized dancing to keep the lines from tangling. Cal was busy with his gaff.
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He even managed to eventually gaff Nick’s fish (note his blue and green Seahawks fly).
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As Nick pointed out in his earlier post, the fish appeared to become more lethargic/selective the longer the stop lasted. I wish that I had seen the fish that tried to “sip” Phil’s fly but I was on the other side of the boat at the time. The live-bait boats were having slower days and came over to fish in our area because we had active fish.
By mid-afternoon, our action slowed down. We would pick up a single fish on the troll but the stop would be fruitless. Finally, after staying out as late as we could, it was time to head back to the barn. But not before a group shot.
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Per usual, it was a long ride back to the dock at Westport. Doug and I helped Cal bag up the 20 tuna that we had caught as he converted them to bellies and loins. All in all, a great trip with wonderful people.
Steve

Awesome report!

I've had a very eventful year - my Mom came down with Sarcoma (thankfully survived with clean reports ~9 months out) and had to take the helm when it came time to settle two very complicated estates in another state (one was a nice but extremely eccentric and reclusive uncle who'd spent the past ~40+ years hoarding the family residence into oblivion). Glad to be able to do useful things for my family, but on top of the usual demands of my time I had to forego time-luxuries like logging into this site.

My only fishing thus far this year has been playing bait jockey for my daughters on a dock in Hood Canal, which ranks right up there as one of my top fishing experiences ( "Daddy! I caught another flounder! He totally jacked my bait! I need a re-load!") and gear-caddy for a few kids on the Lower Main Salmon (also very fun) but after sending in the 578th triple-notarized form to the XYZ agency I finally felt like I could indulge in a bit of off-topic scrolling and I have to tell you that reading through this trip was definitely a stoke-inducing tonic for the soul, and has me looking forward to dusting off the fly rods and getting after it again.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share this TR. We've just about eaten all of the tuna from last year's trip and I'm already feeling excited about firing up another tuna trip in 2025...

 

[Phil K]

I'll post up some more pics later today, but meanwhile.....

 

[Matt B]

I'll post up some more pics later today, but meanwhile.....

Looks like the Cap'n restocked the ol' tuna slider stash as well...

 

[Phil K]

Well alrighty; that was fun. Being a total newb I wasn't sure quite what to expect, and was concerned that I'd get seasick or totally beat up. The ride out was fairly bumpy with swells to maybe 6'. The Cap'n did a good job, but we had a few hard landings that rattled my bones, and I managed one good head butt of the cabin roof. The day started out gray and a bit misty but ended up sunny and blue.
Shortly after we started trolling @Cabezon hooked up and it was game on. I quickly figured out that I liked the bow pulpit, and none of my fellow dudes seemed inclined to scramble out there, so that became my perch whenever we stopped. I really liked having that 270 degree casting range and watching fish from up high. Refusals were just about as much or more fun than takes. There were slow periods, but overall a fine day. Kudos to the crew, Nick and Cal, for a great job, and to Steve for organizing this! I gave away a bunch of fish and spent all afternoon prepping fish for the freezer.

Nick did some fishing and won the bycatch of the day award for this Blue Shark. They had big fun unhooking and releasing it.



I've got to work on my fish posing skills.



Cal had a Lot of fish to process on the run in!

 

[Bagman]

Well alrighty; that was fun. Being a total newb I wasn't sure quite what to expect, and was concerned that I'd get seasick or totally beat up. The ride out was fairly bumpy with swells to maybe 6'. The Cap'n did a good job, but we had a few hard landings that rattled my bones, and I managed one good head butt of the cabin roof. The day started out gray and a bit misty but ended up sunny and blue.
Shortly after we started trolling @Cabezon hooked up and it was game on. I quickly figured out that I liked the bow pulpit, and none of my fellow dudes seemed inclined to scramble out there, so that became my perch whenever we stopped. I really liked having that 270 degree casting range and watching fish from up high. Refusals were just about as much or more fun than takes. There were slow periods, but overall a fine day. Kudos to the crew, Nick and Cal, for a great job, and to Steve for organizing this! I gave away a bunch of fish and spent all afternoon prepping fish for the freezer.

Nick did some fishing and won the bycatch of the day award for this Blue Shark. They had big fun unhooking and releasing it.

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I've got to work on my fish posing skills.

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Cal had a Lot of fish to process on the run in!

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So how many tuna were put in the boat? What was the hot colors on the flys? Those seem to be in the 10 to 15 pound range or is that just the was the pic was taken? Sounds like you guys had a good day on the tuna grounds.

 

[SpawnFlyFish]

Over 20? This shit is getting popular

Boats out of Ilwaco want us to start heavily promoting it and helping book deals! It is happening!! haha

 

[Matt B]

Boats out of Ilwaco want us to start heavily promoting it and helping book deals! It is happening!! haha

What outfits are running fly trips out of Ilwaco? Have they been doing fly trips very long? It sure doesn't hurt to have more options for this stuff, even if it is accompanied by more competition for slots from fellow fishers.

 

[Cabezon]

So how many tuna were put in the boat? What was the hot colors on the flys? Those seem to be in the 10 to 15 pound range or is that just the was the pic was taken? Sounds like you guys had a good day on the tuna grounds.

We (Nick plus 4 anglers) put 32 in the boat. The size distribution in the picture was very representative, all nice fish. The fishing was hot early with several successful bait stops. The fishing died down about noonish and then starting picking up again in the hour before we needed to head back. On the troll and on stops, baitfish flies (anchovy / saury-style) were fishing well. One of my friends and his son also fished some live bait and did very well too.
Steve

 

[SilverFly]

Boats out of Ilwaco want us to start heavily promoting it and helping book deals! It is happening!! haha

Never thought I'd see the day this was happening! What a change from only a few years ago.

 

[Matt B]

We (Nick plus 4 anglers) put 32 in the boat. The size distribution in the picture was very representative, all nice fish. The fishing was hot early with several successful bait stops. The fishing died down about noonish and then starting picking up again in the hour before we needed to head back. On the troll and on stops, baitfish flies (anchovy / saury-style) were fishing well. One of my friends and his son also fished some live bait and did very well too.
Steve

Sounds like another killer trip. And, I am glad to hear you accepted the live bait use on the fly trip, and it worked out! See, the combo can be done!

 

[SilverFly]

What outfits are running fly trips out of Ilwaco? Have they been doing fly trips very long? It sure doesn't hurt to have more options for this stuff, even if it is accompanied by more competition for slots from fellow fishers.

I know Shake 'n' Bake does some FF, and usually has a bug stick on board. Also @Blackdogfishing out of Warrenton is on PNWFF and has done at least one fly trip.

 

[Evan B]

Sounds like another killer trip. And, I am glad to hear you accepted the live bait use on the fly trip, and it worked out! See, the combo can be done!

I mean, I think live bait is kind of essential to a good fly trip.

Sometimes I can get them going at the boat with dead bait, but live bait is king in that regards. It's part of why I like my jigs so much. I can cover a LOT of water with them, not relying so much on getting them circling my boat.

One of my winter projects is going to be getting my bait tanks functional again. The pumps on both aren't working anymore, so need to pull a bunch of stuff out and get access to them.

 

[SilverFly]

I mean, I think live bait is kind of essential to a good fly trip.

Sometimes I can get them going at the boat with dead bait, but live bait is king in that regards. It's part of why I like my jigs so much. I can cover a LOT of water with them, not relying so much on getting them circling my boat.

It's definitely a huge help. I've had a few good proper FF trips with IQF, but those were the exception. Been several years but I seem to remember those trips were more mixed iron, swimbait, dead bait, with some FF mixed in. Where flies often came in handy was on the troll. I didn't get a lot of cast/retrieve FF in those days (partly because I also liked jigging) but started more than one party with a trolled fly. I also recall one with Nick a few years ago when the live bait was scarce and mostly small herring. IIRC, it didn't really hurt us since we had plenty of troll hits and a stellar slide hookup day.

 

[Cabezon]

Sounds like another killer trip. And, I am glad to hear you accepted the live bait use on the fly trip, and it worked out! See, the combo can be done!

Yes, but the anglers have to be hypervigilent that fly lines and live bait lines don't cross when fighting fish. The braid on the latter is VERY unforgiving if wrapped around a fly line. There goes a $120 fly line... We were given very strong warnings by Nick to avoid this issue (and we largely did). At one point, we were fighting four hooked fish in the stern. It was barely-managed chaos...
Steve

 

[Matt B]

I mean, I think live bait is kind of essential to a good fly trip.

Sometimes I can get them going at the boat with dead bait, but live bait is king in that regards. It's part of why I like my jigs so much. I can cover a LOT of water with them, not relying so much on getting them circling my boat.

One of my winter projects is going to be getting my bait tanks functional again. The pumps on both aren't working anymore, so need to pull a bunch of stuff out and get access to them.

That's bait as chum, which is sure nice to have. Essential? Maybe some of the time. Maybe a lot of the time. I have not tried it enough without live bait to say. But I see where you're going.

I was more referring to Cabezon mentioning his friend and friend's son *fished* live bait on this ostensibly fly charter trip and did well doing so. I have been tempted to grab a bait rod on our fly charters in the past, but have never done it, even though you can see a couple rigs just sitting there ready to go, and some bait stops the fish are just begging for a live anchovy and are being assholes about flies. I have mentioned the concept to the crew and trip planner and got lukewarm responses, so I'm somewhat gratified to know some of them have now seen it done and maybe it is not a trip-killing conflict. I always thought it would be fine. A bait rod can just take one of the forward corners of the dance floor, no big backcast room needed or anything, and as long as the 'chovy swims mostly down and/our out and more or less keeps up with the drift of the boat, the bait rod/line should be able to stay out of fly flingers' way, mostly. It's always going to be a little tight back there requiring some awareness and coordination if you have more than one person fly fishing.

 

[Evan B]

That's bait as chum, which is sure nice to have. Essential? Maybe some of the time. Maybe a lot of the time. I have not tried it enough without live bait to say. But I see where you're going.

I was more referring to Cabezon mentioning his friend and friend's son *fished* live bait on this ostensibly fly charter trip and did well doing so. I have been tempted to grab a bait rod on our fly charters in the past, but have never done it, even though you can see a couple rigs just sitting there ready to go, and some bait stops the fish are just begging for a live anchovy and are being assholes about flies. I have mentioned the concept to the crew and trip planner and got lukewarm responses, so I'm somewhat gratified to know some of them have now seen it done and maybe it is not a trip-killing conflict. I always thought it would be fine. A bait rod can just take one of the forward corners of the dance floor, no big backcast room needed or anything, and as long as the 'chovy swims mostly down and/our out and more or less keeps up with the drift of the boat, the bait rod/line should be able to stay out of fly flingers' way, mostly. It's always going to be a little tight back there requiring some awareness and coordination if you have more than one person fly fishing.

I'd personally run a jig rod 10 out of 10 times vs a live bait rod. Can't say for sure it has the same effect, but it's a moving fish-like thing that gets them all riled up.