Tuna 2023

SilverFly · Oct 2, 2023

Evan B said:
Bought some gear off an acquaintance who sold his boat recently. He threw in this pile of tuna fly gear that "some blowhard fly fisherman left behind." Was thinking about turning it for a profit. Maybe put it in the freebie forum. Haven't decided yet.

"Blowhard" ? ... . . . OK, I guess that's a fair cop.

So Randy actually charged you for my crap? I'll be talking with him later. IIRC, in my defense my brain was melting by the time we were unloading due to extreme sleep deprivation. Tuna fishing and working nightshift doesn't mix well. So glad to be on days now.

Evan B · Oct 2, 2023

SilverFly said:
"Blowhard" ? ... . . . OK, I guess that's a fair cop.

So Randy actually charged you for my crap? I'll be talking with him later. IIRC, in my defense my brain was melting by the time we were unloading due to extreme sleep deprivation. Tuna fishing and working nightshift doesn't mix well. So glad to be on days now.

I like that you're gullible

SilverFly · Oct 2, 2023

Evan B said:
I like that you're gullible

You and all my work buddies. "I tell ya, I can't get no respect." (insert Rodney Dangerfield GIF here)

Ichthyoid · Oct 2, 2023

SilverFly said:
You and all my work buddies. "I tell ya, I can't get no respect." (insert Rodney Dangerfield GIF here)

Told you it would be on EBay.

Bagman · Oct 3, 2023

Evan B said:
Bought some gear off an acquaintance who sold his boat recently. He threw in this pile of tuna fly gear that "some blowhard fly fisherman left behind." Was thinkinge about turning it for a profit. Maybe put it in the freebie forum. Haven't decided yet.

I have a friend that is down in Santa Cruz, that is trying to catch a White Sea Bass. I would like to pick up the two squib flys in the top pic. Let me know what you want for them.

Evan B · Oct 3, 2023

Bagman said:
I have a friend that is down in Santa Cruz, that is trying to catch a White Sea Bass. I would like to pick up the two squib flys in the top pic. Let me know what you want for them.

I think the "messing with @SilverFly " part of this wasn't quite so obvious

Bagman · Oct 4, 2023

Anyone make it out today?

Cabezon · Oct 4, 2023

Bagman said:
Anyone make it out today?

Yes, summary under development...
Steve

ThatGuyRyRy · Oct 4, 2023

Cabezon said:
Yes, summary under development...
Steve

Waiting with baited breath!

adamcu280 · Oct 4, 2023

Chance had some bent rods on IG...

Matt B · Oct 5, 2023

@Cabezon @SteelHeadDave @jasmillo @SilverFly I need to know what the effective fly was, like in the next hour ideally. Hope it was something like this:

What's in your vise?

pnwflyfishing.com

Cabezon · Oct 5, 2023

Matt B said:
@Cabezon @SteelHeadDave @jasmillo @SilverFly I need to know what the effective fly was, like in the next hour ideally. Hope it was something like this:

What's in your vise?

pnwflyfishing.com

Yes, that resembles @jasmillo hot fly. It was a consistent producer all day. But the fly also appeared to be spinning as his leader was twisted after each fish landed (minor problem when it is catching fish).
Steve

jasmillo · Oct 5, 2023

Here is the actual fly. It appeared to be spinning based on how twisted my fly line and leader was after each fish. It might actually be worth a shot using a swivel to encourage spinning on these types of flies as a test while saving your leader line. The spin was working yesterday.

PhilR · Oct 5, 2023

Good luck out there. Glad you guys are getting out.

NRC · Oct 5, 2023

jasmillo said:
Here is the actual fly. It appeared to be spinning based on how twisted my fly line and leader was after each fish. It might actually be worth a shot using a swivel to encourage spinning on these types of flies as a test while saving your leader line. The spin was working yesterday.

View attachment 84746

“Just like I drew it up!”

Matt B · Oct 5, 2023

jasmillo said:
Here is the actual fly. It appeared to be spinning based on how twisted my fly line and leader was after each fish. It might actually be worth a shot using a swivel to encourage spinning on these types of flies as a test while saving your leader line. The spin was working yesterday.

View attachment 84746

I'm surprised that fly was a spinner. Even if the materials aren't perfectly symmetrical, I would think the spawn head would stabilize at tuna troll speeds.

Bagman · Oct 5, 2023

jasmillo said:
Here is the actual fly. It appeared to be spinning based on how twisted my fly line and leader was after each fish. It might actually be worth a shot using a swivel eto encourage spinning on these types of flies as a test while saving your leader line. The spin was working yesterday.

View attachment 84746

Spinning or not it seems too have been working from what Steve says about you having the hot rod.

Cabezon · Oct 5, 2023

Tuna Fishing, 4 October 2024
As the calendar rolls over into September and especially October, the weather becomes far more inconsistent. There are still days of calm winds and flat seas, but the frequency of storms builds as well. At the same time, September can be the best opportunity to encounter an exotic or two. I had three trips with All-Rivers scheduled for the last week of September but all three were cancelled due to high winds (20+ knots with gusts in the 30’s) and seas (up to 20’). I was able to reschedule two day into October and rearrange most of fishers to these days.

The first trip was for Wednesday, 4 October. The forecast for Wednesday was up and down from reasonable to not all week. I finally got the “we’re a go” message from Al Rivers on Tuesday morning and alerted the team. Our team of intrepid fishers include several grizzled veterans of the tuna wars and one newby.

It was still dark at 6:30AM as we walked over our boat and said hello to Captain Chance and Cal, the deckhand for the day. They helped stow our rods and bags and we were off. After a stop at the bait dock for a scoop of live anchovies, we were off, or so we thought. We exited the harbor and started out to the bar, but there was a problem with one of the engines – a blown lower unit apparently. So, we headed back to the dock. Fortunately, one of the other All Rivers boats was available that morning; we shifted all our gear, rods, cooler of ice, and the live bait to the other boat and we were off again.

The ride out was the usual pounding mess to the transition from the continental shelf to the continental slope. The swell was about 7’ from the WNW and the winds were 8-10 knots from the north, creating spotty whitecaps. I and @SteelHeadDave occupied the outside seats where the fresh air and visibility of the horizon assisted with avoiding sea sickness (but some salt spray). @SilverFly and @jasmillo rode the trip out inside the cabin.
Eventually, we were in the blue water favored by albacore, about 32 nautical miles WSW of Westport, right at the start of the continental slope. We set up in standard trolling formation with two rods off the back corners of the boat and two rods out perpendicular from up near the cabin. We had only been trolling for a few minutes when @SteelHeadDave ’s fly was grabbed but the fish didn’t stick. And none of us had strikes on the slide. With no tuna visible on the fish finder, we went back on the troll. @jasmillo ’s fly was the next to get bit. He fought it briskly and we soon had tuna blood on the deck. Back on the troll.

In the end, it wasn’t a red-hot day.

We went 20-30 minutes between strikes. We observed only a few jumping tuna (not helped by all the whitecaps) and no substantial bird feeding activity. But we were persistent and kept at it. Most of our fish were caught on the troll, especiallty by @jasmillo who had the hot rod/fly.

And @SteelHeadDave caught his first albacore.

A few times, we picked up a second fish on the slide as the boat slowed down with the engines in neutral. In spite of throwing out live anchovies and individual flash-frozen anchovies, we just couldn’t get a solid stop going. We may have hooked one or two fish casting. And there often wasn’t much on the fish finder. So back to the troll. We ended up landing 12 albacore which ranged in size from peanuts to monsters.

The wildlife was impressive. We had multiple visits from pods of Pacific white-sided dolphins. They would race around the boat.

At one point, they came by while @jasmillo and @SteelHeadDave were both fighting fish (a rare double on the day). The presence of the dolphins appeared to agitate the albacore and made it much harder to bring up to the surface. Cal, our deckhand, was pretty sure that he saw some of these dolphins tracking @SilverFly fly as he retried it from his casting position on the bow. At another point, we could see a fast-moving tight pod of 20-30 dolphins blasting around about 100 yards from the boat. We also saw a pair of humpback whales and a fur seal.

The bird life was diverse too. We had juvenile glaucous-winged gulls flying over the boat wash. They picked off the occasional sardine that were thrown over during a bait stop. We were buzzed several times by black-footed albatross; at one attempted bait stop, we had four albatross on the water just off the stern. We were also buzzed by pink-footed shrearwaters and Manx shearwaters. And there were a few northern fulmars in the area.

In the water, we had a large shark cruise by, probably a blue shark. And some flailing dorsal fin action a short distance from the boat was probably due to a mola mola.

So summary, some tuna were caught. We had good looks at some open ocean wildlife. Misty and overcast conditions in the morning transitioned to sunny, windier weather in the afternoon.

Steve
P.S. Round 2 is tomorrow (Friday). Report to follow.

Bagman · Oct 5, 2023

Cabezon said:
Tuna Fishing, 4 October 2024
As the calendar rolls over into September and especially October, the weather becomes far more inconsistent. There are still days of calm winds and flat seas, but the frequency of storms builds as well. At the same time, September can be the best opportunity to encounter an exotic or two. I had three trips with All-Rivers scheduled for the last week of September but all three were cancelled due to high winds (20+ knots with gusts in the 30’s) and seas (up to 20’). I was able to reschedule two day into October and rearrange most of fishers to these days.

The first trip was for Wednesday, 4 October. The forecast for Wednesday was up and down from reasonable to not all week. I finally got the “we’re a go” message from Al Rivers on Tuesday morning and alerted the team. Our team of intrepid fishers include several grizzled veterans of the tuna wars and one newby.

It was still dark at 6:30AM as we walked over our boat and said hello to Captain Chance and Cal, the deckhand for the day. They helped stow our rods and bags and we were off. After a stop at the bait dock for a scoop of live anchovies, we were off, or so we thought. We exited the harbor and started out to the bar, but there was a problem with one of the engines – a blown lower unit apparently. So, we headed back to the dock. Fortunately, one of the other All Rivers boats was available that morning; we shifted all our gear, rods, cooler of ice, and the live bait to the other boat and we were off again.

The ride out was the usual pounding mess to the transition from the continental shelf to the continental slope. The swell was about 7’ from the WNW and the winds were 8-10 knots from the north, creating spotty whitecaps. I and @SteelHeadDave occupied the outside seats where the fresh air and visibility of the horizon assisted with avoiding sea sickness (but some salt spray). @SilverFly and @jasmillo rode the trip out inside the cabin.
Eventually, we were in the blue water favored by albacore, about 32 nautical miles WSW of Westport, right at the start of the continental slope. We set up in standard trolling formation with two rods off the back corners of the boat and two rods out perpendicular from
up near the cabin. We had only been trolling for a few minutes when @SteelHeadDave ’s fly was grabbed but the fish didn’t stick. And none of us had strikes on the slide. With no tuna visible on the fish finder, we went back on the troll. @jasmillo ’s fly was the next to get bit. He fought it briskly and we soon had tuna blood on the deck. Back on the troll.

In the end, it wasn’t a red-hot day.
View attachment 84777 View attachment 84778 View attachment 84779

We went 20-30 minutes between strikes. We observed only a few jumping tuna (not helped by all the whitecaps) and no substantial bird feeding activity. But we were persistent and kept at it. Most of our fish were caught on the troll, especiallty by @jasmillo who had the hot rod/fly.
View attachment 84780
And @SteelHeadDave caught his first albacore.
View attachment 84781
A few times, we picked up a second fish on the slide as the boat slowed down with the engines in neutral. In spite of throwing out live anchovies and individual flash-frozen anchovies, we just couldn’t get a solid stop going. We may have hooked one or two fish casting. And there often wasn’t much on the fish finder. So back to the troll. We ended up landing 12 albacore which ranged in size from peanuts to monsters.

The wildlife was impressive. We had multiple visits from pods of Pacific white-sided dolphins. They would race around the boat.
View attachment 84782

At one point, they came by while @jasmillo and @SteelHeadDave were both fighting fish (a rare double on the day). The presence of the dolphins appeared to agitate the albacore and made it much harder to bring up to the surface. Cal, our deckhand, was pretty sure that he saw some of these dolphins tracking @SilverFly fly as he retried it from his casting position on the bow. At another point, we could see a fast-moving tight pod of 20-30 dolphins blasting around about 100 yards from the boat. We also saw a pair of humpback whales and a fur seal.

The bird life was diverse too. We had juvenile glaucous-winged gulls flying over the boat wash. They picked off the occasional sardine that were thrown over during a bait stop. We were buzzed several times by black-footed albatross; at one attempted bait stop, we had four albatross on the water just off the stern. We were also buzzed by pink-footed shrearwaters and Manx shearwaters. And there were a few northern fulmars in the area.

In the water, we had a large shark cruise by, probably a blue shark. And some flailing dorsal fin action a short distance from the boat was probably due to a mola mola.

So summary, some tuna were caught. We had good looks at some open ocean wildlife. Misty and overcast conditions in the morning transitioned to sunny, windier weather in the afternoon.

Steve
P.S. Round 2 is tomorrow (Friday). Report to follow.

Way to stay at it guys good job. I’m not much into bird life but I do enjoy watching a big albatross cruising overhead. As well as whales and dolphins. Good luck tomorrow and smooth sailing.