2025 Tuna and Exotics
- Thread starter Evan B
- Start date
Yes, they charge by the pound. I had 45lbs and my bill w/ tip was $140, or whatever I posted above, for bloodlined and vacuum sealed, but if you don't want your loins bloodlined it's about half of what I paid.
Sometimes they are able to do it same day/afternoon, and sometimes it takes until the next morning. All depends on what you want done (trimming bloodlines takes more time than just vacuum sealing) and when you get in the lineup, so it's probably safest to plan for an extra night in Westport just in case. If you're the last guy in line after a big day where everyone has tons of fish it'll definitely be a "next morning" thing.
For getting them in, yeah I definitely see your point. And maybe for casting from your own private boat. But I hooked 3 or 4 fish this last trip on little flippy/roll casty casts off the ARSC boat, and I do believe that would be harder to do with a short rod.
I figured I would post since you guys on this site inspired me to buy a 12wt fly rod and tie some salty flies. I am a gear guy for tuna and much like Evan, would rather jig than troll any day.
Long story short, after we had put a dozen or so fish on onboard, mostly with jigs on stops, it was time to deploy the fly. I set it out amongst the other six gear lines half expecting it to be ignored amongst all the other stuff. I had been holding it pretty much down the middle for about 15min then Wham! Game on. During my battle, after lines were cleared, captain hooked up on jig, but that fish broke him off, leader failure. My fish ran me to the other side where captain hooked up right next to me on a different jig rod. My fish brought me back to the other side and I eventually wore him out over there. I kept thinking about the broken rods you all have been taking about so I kept my angles safe. Finally brought the fish to gaff and we exchanged high fives.
I probably could have put more pressure on the fish at times, but it is definitely not the most efficient method to put tuna in the boat. I think a shorter rod would help with this. I'm pretty sure I could have landed two on jigs in that time. It was fun still and I can say I caught a tuna on my own fly.
Long story short, after we had put a dozen or so fish on onboard, mostly with jigs on stops, it was time to deploy the fly. I set it out amongst the other six gear lines half expecting it to be ignored amongst all the other stuff. I had been holding it pretty much down the middle for about 15min then Wham! Game on. During my battle, after lines were cleared, captain hooked up on jig, but that fish broke him off, leader failure. My fish ran me to the other side where captain hooked up right next to me on a different jig rod. My fish brought me back to the other side and I eventually wore him out over there. I kept thinking about the broken rods you all have been taking about so I kept my angles safe. Finally brought the fish to gaff and we exchanged high fives.
I probably could have put more pressure on the fish at times, but it is definitely not the most efficient method to put tuna in the boat. I think a shorter rod would help with this. I'm pretty sure I could have landed two on jigs in that time. It was fun still and I can say I caught a tuna on my own fly.
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Warning: post contains NO TUNA. This is a tale of a "no go" decision.
I was all loaded up for tuna and towed to the coast on Thursday. Plans to fish Friday and Saturday for salmon, sablefish and tuna. Since Friday was a bit sporty on the ocean we opted to fish buoy 10 salmon and were done with some very high grade coho and chinook for two limits by mid morning. Got a live report that the ocean wasn't bad but tuna fishing was rough for everyone out there, grinding out a fish or two every few hours. So decided to run to my sablefish spot on the south edge of Astoria Canyon.
Noticed out there that the water was really clean and about 61deg. I had my head on a swivel but never saw any bird activity or signs of tuna. The water was also really sporty. So even if there were jumpers it would be hard to see. Most of the tuna fleet and radio chatter was from NW of our location. In any case, we had a ridiculous session for two easy limits of 10 sablefish each.
Had my second crewmate joining us for day 2 when we were planning to tuna fish Saturday. But with the weak reports, no updated satellite chloro shots, and from being exhausted after a rough run on Friday, we decided to enjoy the really good buoy 10 fishing. Potentially grinding for single digit tuna numbers and honestly not having energy even if fishing did turn out to be good made staying in and doing something else more appealing.
We have no regrets and honestly had such a fun two days that we weren't even regretting it after getting good reports of Saturday tuna a few miles from our sablefish party. Also after spending four hours processing the fish we did have, we were glad to not also have a pile of tuna to deal with.
Allll good though. September is jigging season, so hopefully I'm able to make enough freezer space for another run or two.
Non-tuna content below. Didn't want to make another thread, but figured a post about a no go decision despite a flat ocean on Saturday was worth discussing here.
I was all loaded up for tuna and towed to the coast on Thursday. Plans to fish Friday and Saturday for salmon, sablefish and tuna. Since Friday was a bit sporty on the ocean we opted to fish buoy 10 salmon and were done with some very high grade coho and chinook for two limits by mid morning. Got a live report that the ocean wasn't bad but tuna fishing was rough for everyone out there, grinding out a fish or two every few hours. So decided to run to my sablefish spot on the south edge of Astoria Canyon.
Noticed out there that the water was really clean and about 61deg. I had my head on a swivel but never saw any bird activity or signs of tuna. The water was also really sporty. So even if there were jumpers it would be hard to see. Most of the tuna fleet and radio chatter was from NW of our location. In any case, we had a ridiculous session for two easy limits of 10 sablefish each.
Had my second crewmate joining us for day 2 when we were planning to tuna fish Saturday. But with the weak reports, no updated satellite chloro shots, and from being exhausted after a rough run on Friday, we decided to enjoy the really good buoy 10 fishing. Potentially grinding for single digit tuna numbers and honestly not having energy even if fishing did turn out to be good made staying in and doing something else more appealing.
We have no regrets and honestly had such a fun two days that we weren't even regretting it after getting good reports of Saturday tuna a few miles from our sablefish party. Also after spending four hours processing the fish we did have, we were glad to not also have a pile of tuna to deal with.
Allll good though. September is jigging season, so hopefully I'm able to make enough freezer space for another run or two.
Non-tuna content below. Didn't want to make another thread, but figured a post about a no go decision despite a flat ocean on Saturday was worth discussing here.
Niiiiice work. Catching tuna on jigs is fun. Basically any way to catch them on a stop is, to me, more fun than a trolled fish. But don’t sell your 12 weight just yet (even if it is better at casting fly lines than landing tuna). I’ve never watched a tuna eat a jig, but I have watched them eat my cast fly. Now that is a kick in the pants.
SilverFly
Legend
The "Wham!" That's the one part about trolling flies for tuna that makes it bearable. And definitely not a waste of time. Too many times I've seen one 3-4" fly in an otherwise standard spread be the only thing hit.
Edit: If you keep doing it, you'll find that you can get them in on a bugstick a lot faster than you might think now. Maybe not jig rod fast, but definitely not "damn dude, would hurry up and land that thing" slow.
I frequently start with the 14wt on the troll (you know, "just in case"). Anything under 15# is at the gaff waaay before most deck hands are ready (like "GAFF?! WTF?!!"). You can put some serious hurt on tuna with a fly rod by maintaining a low rod angle with short pumps, and unrelenting pressure.
Welcome to the club!
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I remember that WHAM! you had on the troll last September and seeing the reel handle spin so fast it was invisible (on a 13 wight(?) with the drag cranked really tight). I would love to have seen that fish (probably not as much as you!).
SilverFly
Legend
Forgot about that one! Probably repressing it in the one that got away memory bank. Yeah, that was a screamer.
SilverFly
Legend
Impressive haul. Absolutely love black cod. Too oily for a lot of folks but seeing that cooler is makes me want to start on my smokehouse (gotta finish the deck first).
Hope that chunky silver in the 2nd to last pic is indicative of the trib fish we'll be seeing around here in a few weeks.
Between the two days we bonked three hatchery coho in the 12-14lb class. Confirmed on the scale. Been a great year for quality coho.
Glad you had a fun and successful couple of days! After two days of "tougher" tuna fishing, yesterday was ridiculous. I say tougher, because it was compared to what we've seen this season, but we still had very solid days though I know many didn't. Possibly more individual jumper patches than I've ever seen in a day. Right in that zone you were looking at of course.
Today was back to tougher, but we still ended up finding a zone that produced well. Been a crazy handful of days. The fish have been on an interesting schedule. Popping up, then back down for lengthy periods. I don't believe albacore ever go "off the bite", but the depth they are hanging out and feeding at definitely changes. It's been interesting seeing their schedule moving up and down the last few days.
Today our best stop was when I encountered this on the troll. Oh boy those fish were waiting and ambushed us hard.
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Yep totally agreed. Just because something CAN be done, doesn't mean it should.
My biggest issue with this sort of thing is that the CG men and women are then required to potentially risk their own lives to go out and save someone when something unexpected goes wrong. Ya, they signed up for the job and all that, but IMO they shouldn't have to risk their own lives to go rescue someone just because they want the thrill of going offshore in a boat that is not remotely appropriate for it.
Just my two cents.
There are plenty of days a tiny boat can do the trip. There are also plenty of days that start off flat as hell and quickly become brutal. There are also plenty of other factors that go beyond ocean conditions. Even on a nice ocean, improper weight allocation or too much weight can cause major issues for a boat like that in a following sea on the way home. Just far too many things that could go wrong IMO.
I just can't get behind this sort of thing.
Yeah my boat I have is about the minimum I'm comfortable with. It's only 22', but has a very tall bow and high sides. It's made for it unlike most of the aluminum boats in the same size range. I see 22' aluminum boats take water over the bow on waves mine barely seems to notice.
Even still, I am extremely cautious with the forecasts I choose to go in. Friday was about my limit but I had eyes on the water and didn't go out until mid day when it was starting to calm down.
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wanderingrichard
Life of the Party
Well, these guys caught a marlin
www.oregonlive.com
‘We can’t lose this fish’: Anglers catch rare 9-foot marlin off Oregon coast
A tuna trip off Garibaldi turned historic when a Vancouver family battled and landed a 9-foot marlin.
www.oregonlive.com
Been several this past couple weeks off of Oregon. I think a half dozen or so and several others hooked and lost.Well, these guys caught a marlin
‘We can’t lose this fish’: Anglers catch rare 9-foot marlin off Oregon coast
A tuna trip off Garibaldi turned historic when a Vancouver family battled and landed a 9-foot marlin.