Tuna 2023

[Evan B]

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike jigging for tuna?


I will say, if I'm forced to fish a jig I'd rather fish a flatfall than anything else. Just think the bites are kinda cool.

I'm still waiting for an explanation from an experience jig fisherman that explains why everyone jigs at 5839473738 miles an hour. Just doesn't compute in my brain. Nothing theyre feeding on naturally swims that fast, and flat falls certainly prove that it doesnt need to be moving a million miles an hour to get bit. And now we have the super trendy and popular "slow pitch jigging" bullshit. Which as far as I can tell, when it comes to tuna, is little more than jigging at a speed that I think I would just naturally jig at if I hadn't been told so many times that the right way to do it is fast. Not sure why it needs to be called slow pitch. To me it's simply jigging lol. I suppose they gotta come up with ways to sell new shit though. Kinda like we have dubbing loops and then the ultra COMPOSITE dubbing loops lol.

If I'm gonna catch em on gear I'm happy to do it with live bait. I honestly find the bite more enjoyable. And if I'm catching them with gear it's all about meat and way way less about fun, and well, I'll put live bait over anything when it comes to sheer production, and I'll gladly die on that mountain. Of course that requires access to live bait, so I'm definitely not bagging on anyone to the south who doesn't really have regular access to it. If I'm gonna do it for fun, give me the bug rod all day long.

God I miss the ocean so much.

Not naming names or spilling beans, but I do happen to know someone who went out to take a peak after a quick Salmon trip the other day. Said the water was there and everything looked just right. Should be any day now. Hell they could be there already but they didn't have more than a couple hours to look around and frankly it's hard as hell to find em when you're the first and only boat out there. They could have had a huge school a quarter mile away and never known it.
Sure would love a repeat of last season. Quality opportunity from the first day till the last. That's all I could hope for. Hell, I ran our last trip last year and we really didn't expect to find much. Merry called everyone and told them the season was pretty much over based on our last couple of trips. Everyone cancelled except my crew on the big boat, who had a great attitude and just was happy to go offshore for a day. We stuck 33 in the ice bath that day. That ended our season but I'm sure we could have stuck it out and grinded another week or so, but at that point we had had such an amazing season with so few cancelations that we just called it.

The only super fast type is a flatside which is really only effective early in the season. No idea why they work but they do. I totally get the lack of appeal for them because they get old quick.

Coltsnipers are the fun one because there's no wrong way to do it. I mostly get the cast out behind the boat as soon as the troll rods go off. That almost always converts. Then you can just toss them all over and twitch them or whatever pleases you.

 

[Tallguy]

I'm still waiting for an explanation from an experience jig fisherman that explains why everyone jigs at 5839473738 miles an hour. Just doesn't compute in my brain. Nothing theyre feeding on naturally swims that fast, and flat falls certainly prove that it doesnt need to be moving a million miles an hour to get bit.

Not an experienced jig fisherman, but I have an answer as to why jig at 5839473738 mph on the way back in: a full dead stop jig strike when you are reeling back that fast is about as good a tight line strike as you can get. I love those high speed retrieve strikes where it feels like you found bottom when reeling back fast, the rod loads up so nice and then goes hard the other way with no doubt that it's total game on.

Getting them on the drop isn't quite as fun to me when suddenly the reel is just free spooling and you swing up on them.

I do like jig fishing quite a lot , both for kings and tuna, and much more than bait. Not as much fun as the fly rod, but it's still nice tight line strikes on heavy fish. Totally want to go to San Diego one year and jig up a big bluefin sometime, although I don't think I would put that fishing trip at the top of my to do list.

 

[Evan B]

Not an experienced jig fisherman, but I have an answer as to why jig at 5839473738 mph on the way back in: a full dead stop jig strike when you are reeling back that fast is about as good a tight line strike as you can get. I love those high speed retrieve strikes where it feels like you found bottom when reeling back fast, the rod loads up so nice and then goes hard the other way with no doubt that it's total game on.

Getting them on the drop isn't quite as fun to me when suddenly the reel is just free spooling and you swing up on them.

I do like jig fishing quite a lot , both for kings and tuna, and much more than bait. Not as much fun as the fly rod, but it's still nice tight line strikes on heavy fish. Totally want to go to San Diego one year and jig up a big bluefin sometime, although I don't think I would put that fishing trip at the top of my to do list.

Yeah I did live bait one trip and decided I still find jig fishing way more fun. It puts a ton of meat in the box too.

Fly rod got deployed in ernest my first trip out last year. It was worked hard on most stops. Final score was jig rods: 21, fly: 0. Just couldn't make it happen.

(not me pictured, but on my boat)

 

[Nick Clayton]

No doubt my perspective is skewed by virtue of charter fishing. When on a charter, and the ultimate goal is say 50 fish in the boat, and I have a very finite amount of time to work with, and I have to do it 7 days a week, it just doesn't leave a lot of room for exploration, experimentation, and fishing in ways that I prefer for reasons other than pure production. No doubt if I was running my own private boat offshore I would be soooooo much more willing to fish other techniques and just do what struck my fancy at any given moment. The reality is that the average private boat generally isn't looking for that many fish, or more likely doesn't have room anyway, so worrying about what may be the absolute top producer just isn't a big concern.

Though if I were to be honest Id probably just leave the gear rods at the dock completely most of the time lol.

The other factor I deal with on charters is skill level. Weighing production against ability required is a big part of the job, and keeping things as simple as humanly possible to remove as much of the skill level factor as possible is crucial. Doesnt take much ability to let an anchovy swim around and do its thing. I've definitely had people jig on charters. Some, like @Tallguy and @SilverFly know how to go about it and it's never an issue. But I'd say the bulk of the times I've had people want to jig it turns into a giant shit show. It's not like jigging is complicated by any means, but there is some nuances to it that can be important, and more than that there's a method to the madness when you have 6 people all fishing at once that requires a program that everyone can follow as well as control from the crew to insure it doesn't all go to shit.

I strongly believe that live bait is king for putting up big numbers quickly and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. But on a typical private trip with a few guys who aren't necessarily looking to put a thousand of pounds of fish or more onboard as fast as humanly possible then the advantages of live bait aren't likely to make a huge difference anyway. But when having a program day in and day out that 6 people of any skill level can pick up and succeed at is the difference between getting back early enough to fuel up AND get a decent night's sleep and getting back to the dock late with less than stellar numbers and unhappy customers then that's what I focus on.

I love working in the charter industry. Very much so. But there's no doubt it has had an impact on how I look at a lot of things fishing wise, and puts a whole different spin on how I go about things. Not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the differences and I do need to keep that in mind.

 

[Evan B]

No doubt my perspective is skewed by virtue of charter fishing. When on a charter, and the ultimate goal is say 50 fish in the boat, and I have a very finite amount of time to work with, and I have to do it 7 days a week, it just doesn't leave a lot of room for exploration, experimentation, and fishing in ways that I prefer for reasons other than pure production. No doubt if I was running my own private boat offshore I would be soooooo much more willing to fish other techniques and just do what struck my fancy at any given moment. The reality is that the average private boat generally isn't looking for that many fish, or more likely doesn't have room anyway, so worrying about what may be the absolute top producer just isn't a big concern.

Though if I were to be honest Id probably just leave the gear rods at the dock completely most of the time lol.

The other factor I deal with on charters is skill level. Weighing production against ability required is a big part of the job, and keeping things as simple as humanly possible to remove as much of the skill level factor as possible is crucial. Doesnt take much ability to let an anchovy swim around and do its thing. I've definitely had people jig on charters. Some, like @Tallguy and @SilverFly know how to go about it and it's never an issue. But I'd say the bulk of the times I've had people want to jig it turns into a giant shit show. It's not like jigging is complicated by any means, but there is some nuances to it that can be important, and more than that there's a method to the madness when you have 6 people all fishing at once that requires a program that everyone can follow as well as control from the crew to insure it doesn't all go to shit.

I strongly believe that live bait is king for putting up big numbers quickly and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. But on a typical private trip with a few guys who aren't necessarily looking to put a thousand of pounds of fish or more onboard as fast as humanly possible then the advantages of live bait aren't likely to make a huge difference anyway. But when having a program day in and day out that 6 people of any skill level can pick up and succeed at is the difference between getting back early enough to fuel up AND get a decent night's sleep and getting back to the dock late with less than stellar numbers and unhappy customers then that's what I focus on.

I love working in the charter industry. Very much so. But there's no doubt it has had an impact on how I look at a lot of things fishing wise, and puts a whole different spin on how I go about things. Not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the differences and I do need to keep that in mind.

Honestly, you should take some cotlsnipers out with you. The funny thing about Coltsnipers is that the worse you are at presenting them, the more fish you catch. My super skilled, jig-guru buddy who was kind of my mentor, absolutely sucked at Cotlsnipers at first because he tried to be all skilled and scientific about it like you would be with a flatside jig. Turns out, sloppy, erratic, "what the fuck are you doing" is the perfect way to present a Coltsniper... which works beautifully for greenhorns and non-fishy guests.

I think they'd be a perfect charter jig. Just put on a spinning rod, tell the client to toss it out there and do exactly this: whatever you feel like doing.

Be a good fall back for if bait is scarce or you don't have a good way to keep re-baiting 6 different hooks at any given time. When we have fish going at the boat, and even if they're a bit deeper or spook if we get within 100', these things just plain keep catching fish.

 

[SilverFly]

I have snipers, mostly because they look cool and fishy as hell, but also for the easy-peasy factor I've read about. Just haven't given them a proper shot yet. Next year I will be investing in a proper "gun rod" spinning outfit to for out-of-fly-range jumper patches.

We all have our preferences, but if the sight of busting tuna doesn't get someone fired up, they should quit fishing.

 

[Evan B]

I have snipers, mostly because they look cool and fishy as hell, but also for the easy-peasy factor I've read about. Just haven't given them a proper shot yet. Next year I will be investing in a proper "gun rod" spinning outfit to for out-of-fly-range jumper patches.

We all have our preferences, but if the sight of busting tuna doesn't get someone fired up, they should quit fishing.

You can always borrow one of mine if needed. I have a whole pile of Trevala setups you can pick from.

and yeah, busting tuna is the perfect time for the snipers. My final trip last year, we hit a fish trolling, then spent the rest of the time out there with engines off just casting to jumpers until the boxes were full. Snipers the whole time. The fish were never within 100' of the boat for whatever reason, and couldn't get them close... but caught fish on all but a few casts. My last 3 trips, we've been plugged with 20-25ish fish (my capacity) before noon each time.

 

[clarkman]

What would be a solid budget spinning outfit for this type of work if one had a "friend" who was interested. I....I mean they are sniper curious.

 

[Evan B]

What would be a solid budget spinning outfit for this type of work if one had a "friend" who was interested. I....I mean they are sniper curious.

I mean, a Trevala is a very reasonably priced rod for what it is. They did just update the rod, so the "new" model is just shy of $200, but the "old" model was around $120 new, and can still be found. A M action Trevala spinning outfit with a good 6000 size reel is pretty dialed. I like the Shimano Spheros and/or Saragosa, but you don't have to go quite so fancy on the reel if that's a bit much. Any reel in that class will work I think.

 

[Evan B]

What would be a solid budget spinning outfit for this type of work if one had a "friend" who was interested. I....I mean they are sniper curious.

This is the new model here: https://fishfield.com/products/shimano-trevala-spinning-rods.html

 

[Kfish]

I have a day booked late Aug, hoping for another stellar one like last year. Mild ocean condition and lots of fish around, looking forward to some knuckle busting. Me "Oh yeah this fish is whipped..." pzz.. zzz... zzz tuna goes for another long run literally as soon as I finished that sentence

@Nick Clayton I think you've touched this subject before but please remind us again why catch and release isn't a thing with albacore?
Last year I had to beg people to take some fish because I simply didn't have enough freezer space

 

[Jake Watrous]

I have a day booked late Aug, hoping for another stellar one like last year. Mild ocean condition and lots of fish around, looking forward to some knuckle busting. Me "Oh yeah this fish is whipped..." pzz.. zzz... zzz tuna goes for another long run literally as soon as I finished that sentence

@Nick Clayton I think you've touched this subject before but please remind us again why catch and release isn't a thing with albacore?
Last year I had to beg people to take some fish because I simply didn't have enough freezer space

EDIT: Nick weighed in, so I’ll remove my speculation and limit my response to what to do with them.

I’m sure there are a host of reasons, but one that springs to my inexpert mind is a lack of desire to faff around with a tuna-sized net trying to gently coax a tuna in while the other anglers are dodging over, under, and around your space and line, then breaking your back hoisting the netted fish up and out of the water and over the gunwale, and pulling a large razor-sharp hook out of a seriously strong and pissed off fish on a pitching deck, all so the angler can grip, grin, and dump it overboard.

As for what to do with the fish afterward, I recommend eating some as soon as the deckhand carks the first one, eating some as soon as you’re off the water, and canning all but a few pieces. A single garlic clove per can is all you need, imho, and it keeps until the next season or until you barter it away.

If you need help getting rid of it, send me a PM. I haven’t bought meat for home use since before Covid, and I’ve always got room in my freezers and pantry for more fish.

 

[Nick Clayton]

I have a day booked late Aug, hoping for another stellar one like last year. Mild ocean condition and lots of fish around, looking forward to some knuckle busting. Me "Oh yeah this fish is whipped..." pzz.. zzz... zzz tuna goes for another long run literally as soon as I finished that sentence

@Nick Clayton I think you've touched this subject before but please remind us again why catch and release isn't a thing with albacore?
Last year I had to beg people to take some fish because I simply didn't have enough freezer space

Because they're damned delicious Lou, that's why!



Serious answer, and just to be clear I don't have any concrete evidence to back any of these thoughts up, but the general concern we have is the question of what sort of mortality rate might be expected from a fish that fights so hard, often take a while to land, and whose core temps can rise drastically while fighting them. I know people who have done some cnr for albacore out there and I make no judgement to that end at all. But from a charter company perspective just the concern of what we see with our own eyes in terms of what condition these fish are when they come to the boat, coupled with the fact that we are out there 7 days a week where we could potentially have a negative impact if indeed the mortality rates weren't great, as well as the lack of real evidence showing much of anything one way or another. All that and we just decided that it's not something we wanted to risk. I've seen albacore fight themselves till they're dead (granted that's generally with people who don't really put the wood to the fish but that's another story), and I can personally vouch for just how damned hot their internals get by the time they hit the deck. Again, nothing scientific to back that up really, so I'm not for sure saying cnr would be wrong with them. But from a charter company that does more albacore trips than anyone on the west coast it just feels like a risky proposition until we had a way to really know for sure.

The other scenario that could arise, and it's strictly from the charter perspective, is people finding out cnr could be an option and then we go out there and put 40+ fish in the box in the first hour or two and then since it's early folks want to just stay out and play cnr, and that's a bit of a slippery slope for a few reasons.

In a nut shell its mostly just about erring on the side of caution. My experience and my gut tells me that they aren't a fish that would handle cnr super well, but again just anecdotal.

I did read a study a few years ago where some folks tagged some bluefin on the east coast to try to track them after release to see how they held up. If I recall it wasn't a huge study and I can't speak to how legit the whole situation was from a scientific standpoint, but it was interesting. If I recall the results showed that many of the released fish were dead relatively quickly, a fairly high percentage of the tagged specimens if I recall, however in the end they explained that it was tough to make any concrete interpretation of the data because of a bunch of variables that I can't recall but it did include things like shark predation becoming a bigger issue as exhausted fish just released were likely to be much easier prey for sharks, stuff like that, and that their tracking tags confirmed a rather high mortality rate for the fish they released there was no real way to know if they died because they aren't well suited to cnr, or if it was other causes they couldn't necessarily account for. I do wonder if a larger blue shark, typically pretty well unable to successfully prey on the fast moving albacore with any consistent success would find fish that were just released to be something they could make an easier meal out of.

For me I do suspect that on average they wouldn't handle cnr well, I also am not totally convinced that there isn't a way to do so and at least help minimize the mortality. I just don't know exactly what it would take to do so in a manner that would be most beneficial to the fish. Which is kinda odd I suppose cause one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that stuffing them in our ice bath is one hundred percent not good for their well being lol.

One last rambling thought is that as a whole, the entire sport fleets impact in terms of numbers of fish retained over the course of a season is a minute fraction of a percent of what just a few decent commercial boats will do out there, so I suppose there's something to be said for not being super concerned to that end, but that in itself is a bit of a slippery slope as I feel we should strive to handle such things as best we can even if we understand that the fish we are catching and eating is basically just crumbs compared to what the commercial fleet is doing out there.


Edited for one more thought.....as a general rule, before us stinking fly guys came along and started going offshore fairly regularly to target them in a manner that is definitely outside the general realm of Mark's business, cnr wasn't something that was brought up much. The typical albacore charter customer is far more focused on bringing home as much meat as they physically can as many folks use the take home as a way to help offset and justify the cost of a trip, often to the point of ridiculous excess, which is exactly why we started our self imposed boat limit a few years ago. So in the grand scheme of things the concept of people actually being interested in cnr some of those fish is quite new to the company as a whole, so its just not something that's come up often enough to really decide on a policy or way of handling such requests that kinda pleases everyone and has the least negative impact potential on the fish.

 

[Nick Clayton]

I’m sure there are a host of reasons, but one that springs to my inexpert mind is a lack of desire to faff around with a tuna-sized net trying to gently coax a tuna in while the other anglers are dodging over, under, and around your space and line, then breaking your back hoisting the netted fish up and out of the water and over the gunwale, and pulling a large razor-sharp hook out of a seriously strong and pissed off fish on a pitching deck, all so the angler can grip, grin, and dump it overboard.

I may have already told you the story but I netted an albacore for the first time a couple seasons ago and it was the funniest damn thing ever. For reasons I can't explain, when an albacore gets netted and laid on the deck in the net it goes one hundred percent docile. They will literally just lie there not moving a muscle, just staring up at you. My old deckhand Evan and I just stared at it and we couldn't stop laughing. Being used to having albacore just flopping like mad and going ape shit when they hit the deck, it was shockingly funny to see one just hit the deck and lie perfectly motionless. I've only netted a handful at this point but every single one has done the same thing. It's pretty awesome lol

But ya, in general I hate netting them. Cleaner for sure, but what do I care I don't have to wash the boat lol. But ya with 6 people and sheer chaos it's a giant pain in the ass to try to net them.


One more edit lol.....the more I think about it I think it may have been a fly trip with some forum members that day that I netted one. I do recall attempting to net a fish that @Bagman had on and it didn't end well lol

 

[Kfish]

Because they're damned delicious Lou, that's why!



Serious answer, and just to be clear I don't have any concrete evidence to back any of these thoughts up, but the general concern we have is the question of what sort of mortality rate might be expected from a fish that fights so hard, often take a while to land, and whose core temps can rise drastically while fighting them. I know people who have done some cnr for albacore out there and I make no judgement to that end at all. But from a charter company perspective just the concern of what we see with our own eyes in terms of what condition these fish are when they come to the boat, coupled with the fact that we are out there 7 days a week where we could potentially have a negative impact if indeed the mortality rates weren't great, as well as the lack of real evidence showing much of anything one way or another. All that and we just decided that it's not something we wanted to risk. I've seen albacore fight themselves till they're dead (granted that's generally with people who don't really put the wood to the fish but that's another story), and I can personally vouch for just how damned hot their internals get by the time they hit the deck. Again, nothing scientific to back that up really, so I'm not for sure saying cnr would be wrong with them. But from a charter company that does more albacore trips than anyone on the west coast it just feels like a risky proposition until we had a way to really know for sure.

The other scenario that could arise, and it's strictly from the charter perspective, is people finding out cnr could be an option and then we go out there and put 40+ fish in the box in the first hour or two and then since it's early folks want to just stay out and play cnr, and that's a bit of a slippery slope for a few reasons.

In a nut shell its mostly just about erring on the side of caution. My experience and my gut tells me that they aren't a fish that would handle cnr super well, but again just anecdotal.

I did read a study a few years ago where some folks tagged some bluefin on the east coast to try to track them after release to see how they held up. If I recall it wasn't a huge study and I can't speak to how legit the whole situation was from a scientific standpoint, but it was interesting. If I recall the results showed that many of the released fish were dead relatively quickly, a fairly high percentage of the tagged specimens if I recall, however in the end they explained that it was tough to make any concrete interpretation of the data because of a bunch of variables that I can't recall but it did include things like shark predation becoming a bigger issue as exhausted fish just released were likely to be much easier prey for sharks, stuff like that, and that their tracking tags confirmed a rather high mortality rate for the fish they released there was no real way to know if they died because they aren't well suited to cnr, or if it was other causes they couldn't necessarily account for. I do wonder if a larger blue shark, typically pretty well unable to successfully prey on the fast moving albacore with any consistent success would find fish that were just released to be something they could make an easier meal out of.

For me I do suspect that on average they wouldn't handle cnr well, I also am not totally convinced that there isn't a way to do so and at least help minimize the mortality. I just don't know exactly what it would take to do so in a manner that would be most beneficial to the fish. Which is kinda odd I suppose cause one thing I can say with absolute certainty is that stuffing them in our ice bath is one hundred percent not good for their well being lol.

One last rambling thought is that as a whole, the entire sport fleets impact in terms of numbers of fish retained over the course of a season is a minute fraction of a percent of what just a few decent commercial boats will do out there, so I suppose there's something to be said for not being super concerned to that end, but that in itself is a bit of a slippery slope as I feel we should strive to handle such things as best we can even if we understand that the fish we are catching and eating is basically just crumbs compared to what the commercial fleet is doing out there.


Edited for one more thought.....as a general rule, before us stinking fly guys came along and started going offshore fairly regularly to target them in a manner that is definitely outside the general realm of Mark's business, cnr wasn't something that was brought up much. The typical albacore charter customer is far more focused on bringing home as much meat as they physically can as many folks use the take home as a way to help offset and justify the cost of a trip, often to the point of ridiculous excess, which is exactly why we started our self imposed boat limit a few years ago. So in the grand scheme of things the concept of people actually being interested in cnr some of those fish is quite new to the company as a whole, so its just not something that's come up often enough to really decide on a policy or way of handling such requests that kinda pleases everyone and has the least negative impact potential on the fish.

Thanks Nick!

 

[Bagman]

I may have already told you the story but I netted an albacore for the first time a couple seasons ago and it was the funniest damn thing ever. For reasons I can't explain, when an albacore gets netted and laid on the deck in the net it goes one hundred percent docile. They will literally just lie there not moving a muscle, just staring up at you. My old deckhand Evan and I just stared at it and we couldn't stop laughing. Being used to having albacore just flopping like mad and going ape shit when they hit the deck, it was shockingly funny to see one just hit the deck and lie perfectly motionless. I've only netted a handful at this point but every single one has done the same thing. It's pretty awesome lol

But ya, in general I hate netting them. Cleaner for sure, but what do I care I don't have to wash the boat lol. But ya with 6 people and sheer chaos it's a giant pain in the ass to try to net them.


One more edit lol.....the more I think about it I think it may have been a fly trip with some forum members that day that I netted one. I do recall attempting to net a fish that @Bagman had on and it didn't end well lol

I was going to be nice and not bring that up, but it was the only tuna I brought to the boat that trip.

I would like to see if any one agrees with a thought I have. A few trips back the young deck hand was telling me the colors aren’t as important as the profile. I can’t remember where I read it but if I remember correctly they say that at night a black fly gives the best profile. My thought is when the tuna is down 50-60 foot looking up almost all colors are gray, I think black would give the best profile. My last trip had @Matt B fishing a black and purple fly all day, and just kept bring in fish, but then @SliverFly was doing as good with a all white fly and landing fish as well.

 

[Nick Clayton]

I was going to be nice and not bring that up, but it was the only tuna I brought to the boat that trip.

I would like to see if any one agrees with a thought I have. A few trips back the young deck hand was telling me the colors aren’t as important as the profile. I can’t remember where I read it but if I remember correctly they say that at night a black fly gives the best profile. My thought is when the tuna is down 50-60 foot looking up almost all colors are gray, I think black would give the best profile. My last trip had @Matt B fishing a black and purple fly all day, and just kept bring in fish, but then @SliverFly was doing as good with a all white fly and landing fish as well.

I tend to agree with your thought and I think it goes a long way to explain why a black and purple cedar plug is so effective and my all time favorite troll lure. It moves well and provides a great profile from below.

Trolling anyway. Things often change drastically when stopped.

 

[Kfish]

Well then, this gives me an excuse to add some black flies to an already stuffed fly box

 

[SilverFly]

I tend to agree with your thought and I think it goes a long way to explain why a black and purple cedar plug is so effective and my all time favorite troll lure. It moves well and provides a great profile from below.

Trolling anyway. Things often change drastically when stopped.

It's taken me a while to come around, but I've come to the same conclusion about profile over color - at least when trolling. The only other factor I can think having any effect to speak of would be movement. Both in how the materials of the fly move, and I suspect more importantly, how it tracks in the troll spread. Cedar plugs are insanely erratic. Flies just look more "alive" and track wildly with fly line movement.

Then again, trying to figure out what albacore want on a given day/minute, is something we'll never completely understand. I didn't get a single troll grab on my last trip in early October last year. IIRC, I dragged a white squid all, or most of the day. Then ended up having one of my best days ever casting/retrieving that same pattern.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Most here have heard my thoughts on trolling. Fly fishing aside, I run a 5 rod spread with the same 5 troll lures day in, day out and I simply do not ever change it. Same 5 lures, same position in the spread, every single day. Day in and day out my spread gets bit as good as anyone, and better than many and I have enormous confidence that if I drive that boat over a school of albacore we are going to hook up. I don't change colors, I don't change anything ever. Some days there is one hot rod, but I never switch the other rods on those days to mimic what the hot rod has on. I truly believe that color doesn't matter at all while trolling and that there are many variables other than "they want that color" on those days when there is one hot rod. I have seen many times where size is a big determining factor, mostly later in the season, but haven't seen that anywhere near as much the last few seasons.

I also know some of you likely roll your eyes when I get amusement out of trolling fly changes when one rod hooks a few fish in a row.

My beliefs are no doubt anecdotal, but in somewhere near either side of a thousand albacore trips I feel that I can trust what I've seen at this point.

But, from the fly fishing perspective, things get a bit more interesting. I still one hundred percent believe that changing flys/colors for the purpose of potentially increasing troll bites is not something I would ever do personally, it gets interesting with flies because while I believe it doesn't matter when trolling, it does matter greatly when we stop and start casting flies. Most of you have seen how selective those fish can get when the boat is stopped. What makes the fly fishing side a bit different is that when one or more person hooks up on the troll, and I stop the boat and we start casting, for the most part you will be casting the same fly you are trolling. It's much quicker and easier to work your fly back on the slide and then just immediately begin casting rather than try to reel in your trolling fly and grab a second rod to start casting. So with that in mind, for me personally if I was trolling a fly I would be trolling something that I had confidence would get bit while the boat was stopped, rather than fuss about trying to find the magic fly that might get bit as often as the guy standing in the aft port corner corner or something. Since it's my belief that basically any fly that I think looks fishy is going to be bit on the troll, my fly selection would be based on what fly is most likely to produce when stopped and casting considering what I'd been seeing that day, or previous days. So if a particular pattern had been doing well when stopped the last few trips, or that particular day, I'd most likely have that pattern on when trolling as it is sure to get bit anyway, but then I'd already have that pattern tied on when I started casting.

Guy's squid pattern is a prime example of that. It definitely gets lit up on the troll, but more than that it's consistently produced when stopped and casting. Where as if you compare that to the amazing Kraken squid he's fished out there, that fly gets eaten well on the troll but hasn't been super productive casting and stripping. (Not talking down on that fly at all Guy. You know how much I love that beast! And it definitely has gotten bit casting, just not a great hookup ratio. Just happens to make a good example lol)

I suppose in an ideal scenario, on a large center console that is set up much better for fly fishing it would be more practical to have multiple rods ready for quick switch up so one could troll with one rod then clear that rod quickly just as when gear fishing, and switch to a rod setup for casting and retrieving, but on our boats it's not super easy to do that.

Just an interesting aspect of the fly fishing side of things.