Barring bad weather, Oct 5th with Nick. Maybe sooner if I get another buddy invite that lines up with time off. I can do Ilwaco, other CR ports, or Garibaldi down and back same day.
Coldest PDO since 1955. Good for salmon/bad for tuna?
- Thread starter SilverFly
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Barring bad weather, Oct 5th with Nick. Maybe sooner if I get another buddy invite that lines up with time off. I can do Ilwaco, other CR ports, or Garibaldi down and back same day.
The exotic weirdness gets weirder. A very surprising (if true) big tuna catch from Northern Cali out of Fort Bragg last week.
I can't ID for sure but supposedly this is a 200# Bigeye tuna. There are also reports of large Bluefin being seen and caught (seems to becoming an annual thing in Nor Cal) and Yellowfin tuna. The latter I have a hard time believing but suspect (again, if true) the YFT (thunnus albacares) are mis-identified Bigeye (thunnus obesus) which can be difficult to discriminate.
I can't ID for sure but supposedly this is a 200# Bigeye tuna. There are also reports of large Bluefin being seen and caught (seems to becoming an annual thing in Nor Cal) and Yellowfin tuna. The latter I have a hard time believing but suspect (again, if true) the YFT (thunnus albacares) are mis-identified Bigeye (thunnus obesus) which can be difficult to discriminate.
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I've been chasing this down as well. I too am a little skeptical of yellowfin off Fort Bragg and would love to see a pic (there must be one somewhere). There are records of bigeye as well as skipjack off the Northern California coast so while this is quite rare, it's not unheard of.
Water Temps off The Fort Bragg coast are pretty similar to OR/WA. Although they are closer to a huge mass of much warmer water further offshore. For reference, the medium orange is about 68F.
EDIT: BTW, following those discussions, it was interesting reading about the NorCal guys associating the "two tone" dolphins with the BFT showing up. The day I was spooled in 2015, we drove through THOUSANDS of Pacific White Sided dolphin. Both on the way out and in. There were numerous spoolings that day, but the only BFT I'm aware that was landed was a 52# fish caught near us.
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"two tone" dolphins = ???
Could be PWSD, which are a more temperate water species and common along the Central California coast and up into BC.
Or it could be common dolphins, which dabble in Northern CA and Oregon waters but are more likely to be found south of Pt. Conception, CA. I'd associate common dolphins more with exotic warmer water species of fish than I would PWSD.
With the exception of body length, the two species are wildly different looking in almost every way so with a tiny bit of effort it's nearly impossible to confuse the two. However, the marine mammal layperson (and I'm including the generic salty lifelong fisherman in this based on my experience - present company excepted of course) will be guaranteed to get them mixed up and/or call them "porpoise"!
Take photos people!
Agreed photos would be nice, but I'm going with PWSD just because of the two tone comment."two tone" dolphins = ???
Could be PWSD, which are a more temperate water species and common along the Central California coast and up into BC.
Or it could be common dolphins, which dabble in Northern CA and Oregon waters but are more likely to be found south of Pt. Conception, CA. I'd associate common dolphins more with exotic warmer water species of fish than I would PWSD.
With the exception of body length, the two species are wildly different looking in almost every way so with a tiny bit of effort it's nearly impossible to confuse the two. However, the marine mammal layperson (and I'm including the generic salty lifelong fisherman in this based on my experience - present company excepted of course) will be guaranteed to get them mixed up and/or call them "porpoise"!
Take photos people!
Love the paint jobs on these guys. Took these last week 30 miles WNW of Ilwaco.
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Common dolphins are also "two tone"! If the NorCal fishers mean that some interesting two tone dolphins showed up with the alleged BFT, then I'd think they're referring to something slightly more exotic like common dolphins. If they're referring to the more likely candidates and dolphin presence is just a coincidence, then maybe they're referring to PWSD. Or maybe I'm way off. NorCal is the overlap zone for both species so a photo is worth a million speculation posts on the internet.
I took this photo of common dolphins from a NOAA ship in 2006 somewhere in between San Diego and Malpelo, Colombia.
I took this photo of common dolphins from a NOAA ship in 2006 somewhere in between San Diego and Malpelo, Colombia.
Common dolphins are also "two tone"! If the NorCal fishers mean that some interesting two tone dolphins showed up with the alleged BFT, then I'd think they're referring to something slightly more exotic like common dolphins. If they're referring to the more likely candidates and dolphin presence is just a coincidence, then maybe they're referring to PWSD. Or maybe I'm way off. NorCal is the overlap zone for both species so a photo is worth a million speculation posts on the internet.
I took this photo of common dolphins from a NOAA ship in 2006 somewhere in between San Diego and Malpelo, Colombia.
See, that's why it's awesome having actual experts on this forum!
Definitely nothing "common" about those paint jobs either.
I see one yellowfin and one bigeye
I see a YFT but don't believe it. Trying to come up with a fitting explicative expression, but drawing a blank.
Bigeye tuna in NorCal I get. Hell, pretty sure that was tossed around as a PNW possibility in the offshore exotic discussions on WFF.
But a sickle-finned cow ahi, north of San Fran?!!! That blows even my over-active imagination.
What's next, somebody picking up a bonefish casting for surfperch. I'll eat my tuna hat if that happens.... just before I grab a 7wt and a box of crazy charlies..
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just wait for those San Diego bones to start working their way north...
It’s going to happen
I hear you - I'm skeptical about the YFT as well. I'm not certain that there are any records of YFT north of Point Conception. I know and have fished alongside a lot of Humboldt Area Tuna Club members - I will see if anyone has first hand information. I am indirectly acquainted with one of the bigeye catchers so I know at least one is legit.
Then I think, okay - if you can catch skipjack off Eureka, why not a YFT? Here's a friend of mine's skippy from about 15 years ago - off Eureka. Several were caught that day.
I can say from experience that Skipjack and Yellowfin associate.
The one time I have seen YFT in person was a live bait boil we had going off the SE side of Cerralvo Island. We had 60 -100+ pound YF eating within casting range long enough for two of us to each land a couple of the 10# skippies that kept intercepting our flies. Probably a good thing but didn't feel like it at the time. Wouldve been a couple hours of torture, even with a 13wt.
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BTW, our very own @Nick Clayton caught a Bonito of all things several years ago on a commercial albacore trip. On a fly rod no less!
Here's confirmation: The YFT weighed 151 pounds and was caught off Shelter Cove which is south of Cape Mendocino. https://www.norcalfishreports.com/f...ariety-of-tuna-caught-off-the-north-coast.php
Six pack boats currently running to the 65 degree water about 45 nm off Crescent City are averaging two or three dorado a day. Crazy!
Six pack boats currently running to the 65 degree water about 45 nm off Crescent City are averaging two or three dorado a day. Crazy!
I always wondered why we don't encounter more bonito while fishing for albacore off the PNW. We used to troll for them in Monterey Bay when I was a kid. I know nothing about their life history - aren't they more of a nearshore species?
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