Tuna Run - Westport, WA - Sep 22, 2025
My journey to my introductory experience fly fishing for albacore tuna began in mid-October 2024. @SilverFly and I were targeting coho in our favorite pocket water when he offered me some smoked tuna as a snack. This piqued my interest in an unusual fishery - fly fishing for tuna?? Continued conversations led to me booking a trip at the end of 2024 for Sep 2025 (thanks for the help, @Cabezon !). In the following months, I scoured the tuna threads and other forum posts for the wealth of knowledge (keep the rod bend at or below shoulder level, “don't use a perfection loop,” etc.). @SilverFly had to endure 9 months of messages where I asked random and odd questions, requested critiques on the fly patterns I was trying to tie, and even generously provided me with some fibers so I could replicate his (in?)famous squid flies.
For gear, I settled on a size 11-12 Redington Behemoth reel (
The weekend leading up to the trip I was constantly checking the oceanic forecasts and crossing my fingers that the conditions would be favorable to going. While a cancellation would have been quite disappointing, I was reassured that the charter would cancel if conditions weren’t safe and thus felt I would be safe at sea. Did I mention that this was my first time on a boat on the ocean? Finally, on Sunday morning, we got the message that the trip was on! Like a young child on Christmas Eve, I could barely sleep, and woke up at 3 AM Monday, well before my alarm.
The four of us embarking on Monday’s trip arrived at the designated float in Westport at 6:15 AM. Our angling group consisted of @SilverFly , @Matt B , Matt B’s friend, and me. While a bit intimidated being around some experienced tuna fly fishermen who have already mastered the orchestra of fishing off the 29’ vessel, how to manipulate their fly rods to present their flies in a rolling ocean, and quickly bring tuna to the gaff, I was thankful for the warm welcome and the tips I would soon receive throughout the trip.
We ventured down the foggy float out to our designated boat for the day where Capt. Chance with All Rivers and his deckhand Victor welcomed us aboard. After signing the necessary paperwork and donning our PFDs, we were welcomed aboard and given a safety briefing. Gear was stored, and somehow @SilverFly ‘s 4 fully rigged rods found a secure place to be lashed against a rail. I elected a stern facing seat outside of the cabin, as I was advised by my fellow anglers that it might help with sea sickness and this being my first time on the ocean, I wanted any advantage I could get to keep my breakfast down.
We made our way over to pick up some live bait and ventured out into the harbor. As we approached the jetty, the effect of the waves and swell began to be felt. The next 2.5 hour ride out to the tuna grounds was similar to a roller coaster, with lots of “drops” (some felt more than others). I would liken it to a very turbulent airplane flight. I had debated bringing a jacket or not before the trip, but quickly advised to layer up. I’m sure glad I did as it was not only a bit chilly but with the bow crashing down into the swell it generated a lot of spray that landed on me with salty mist covering my face. The wind thankfully remained below 5 kts, so the sea wasn’t choppy. According to the ocean conditions app I was using, it recorded waves ranging from about 7.3ft at 12s (Westport Buoy) when we departed to 8.7ft at 12s (Westport Offshore Buoy) as we arrived at the tuna grounds. Here are some video clips of the boat ride.
Note to future self: if you bring sunglasses, have them on your person and not in your gear bag stowed in the bow, it will keep the spray and the sun out of your eyes.
Once we got to the tuna grounds, we began to troll. @Matt B and @SilverFly set up at the stern while Matt B’s friend and I trolled from the starboard and port sides, respectively. Trolling from the port side, I let out almost all of my fly line so my fly was ~150’ back. I then tried my best to keep my balance-somehow I forgot to pack my sea legs, darn!-while holding my rod out at an angle. I started off with a pale orange squid pattern. @Matt B was the first to yell “fish on!” We entered the slide, stripping in our flies and began casting. Live bait was thrown in to keep the tuna riled up. But no bite for me. I switched to a black baitfish with purple flash, but still no tuna paid it interest. As a hybrid approach-half dirt bag, half fly-I gave little protest to Victor’s idea of tipping my fly with live bait. We tossed my fly in with about 40’ of line out and almost instantly watched a tuna swoop in at Mach 1 and take off with my
I was hooked! Not anticipating it to peel drag that quickly, I erroneously allowed my fingers to get too close to the reel and my fingernail was subsequently whacked by the reel's handle piece - a small price to pay for the experience. Although not a pure fly fishing approach I had connected with my first albacore and now got to experience wrangling a tuna on a fly rod. My brain was evaluating multiple pieces of information: where is my tuna heading?… how bent is my rod?… how high am I lifting my rod?… why am I starting to feel a bit nauseous? [proceed to stare at the horizon as best I can in the rocking boat while continuing to pump and reel].
After bringing it close with two gaff attempts followed by runs off into the abyss, taking me to my backing, I finally was able to position it for a successful gaff. Immediately I began stripping out fly line to allow my rod to straighten as it was brought onboard per Victor’s direction to avoid snapping the tip. I was elated! My first tuna was now on the deck.
I continued to cast and retrieve, but that brought me no luck although my fellow anglers were hooking up and landing fish. Even Matt B’s friend was catching them on the retrieve. I changed flies to a pattern I wanted to experiment with, which was tying an anchovy color scheme in the form of a clouser fly with colored dumbbell eyes (I grew tired of trying to form UV resin heads, and thought I’d mix things up). By now, we were back on the troll.
It was my turn to yell out “fish” as I connected with my first actual tuna on the fly. Shortly after, @Matt B was on, then shouts of “triple” as @SilverFly also connected. All of our fish ended up on the port side of the boat. We crowded this side, trying to control our fish and avoid tangling. @Matt B and @SilverFly engaged in what I would call a choreographed dance of “over” and “under,” avoiding tangles.
I quickly made an amateur mistake, saying “my fish is going left” and not immediately following it. I was tangled with @Matt B . Graciously, he didn’t belittle me while Captain Chance wove my rod around @Matt B 's, undoing the 3 wraps of my fly line around his line.
We continued with the fight, me paying closer attention to where my fish was. All 3 of our fish we brought to the gaff.
Capt. Chance and Victor supplemented our fly caught fish with tuna caught on gear using live bait (very effective that day, they’d drop it in and it would be taken within seconds) and jigs. They offered to let me reel in one on a spinning rod which turned out to be quite the prolonged ordeal as a couple blue sharks loitering around the boat kept scaring the tuna into a run for its life back into the depths. Eventually, the bent rod went straight… it had gotten off.
Blue Shark:
We trolled and formed chum lines a few more times. Matt B’s friend hooking up on the troll, me missing 2 on the troll. It wasn’t just a grab that I felt, the drag was peeling and line being taken out, but by the time I yelled out fish, I could feel it had come off. @SilverFly questioned if I had my drag tightened enough for an effective “troll set” and I immediately tightened it down more.
The last catch for me was again on the troll. Having cranked down my drag perhaps too tight (I couldn’t pull line out without a lot of force), my rod suddenly bent towards the stern as I was involuntarily jerked towards the bait console on the boat, bracing against it with one hand to keep from sliding to the stern. “Fish,” I yelled out, while trying to regain my footing and maneuver my rod to keep from whacking my fellow anglers in the face with my fly line which was rapidly moving towards the starboard side.
Repositioning, I began fighting it as @Matt B hooked up right next to me. This time, no lines were tangled, and our fish were brought to the gaff. As with the previous times, we stopped to cast and retrieve, yet I still had no luck.
About 3 hours in, it was time to begin our run back to Westport to beat the ebb tide. Once the bloody deck had been sprayed clean for the last time, we were close to 30 fish on board.
@SilverFly captured my new forum profile photo:
While the ride back was much more comfortable there were still some rough patches which made watching Victor expertly wielding the fillet knife, cutting the tuna into 4 loins and belly, even more impressive. We even caught a glimpse of a whale, although I am not sure what kind it was.
Soon enough, the jetty was in sight, and we passed by and entered into the harbor. After settling our books with the Capt., the fish were brought up to the street by hand trolley where we split them amongst ourselves and loaded them into our respective coolers. Exhausted, we briefly reminisced about a few key moments and said our goodbyes. Before ending the day, I tried some sliced as sashimi, with soy sauce (shoyu) and yuzu ponzu and also as spice crusted steaks following the recipe that @J Watrous had posted in last year's tuna thread (with some oven-prepared potatoes and a salad). Both were excellent. A fair amount of my catch has smoking on its horizon, perhaps a full circle moment to last year's introduction I received when @SilverFly handed me that piece of smoked albacore.
As I settled off to sleep, my mind went to my goal for 2026 - catching one by retrieving a cast fly!
I am very thankful to this community, my experience with All Rivers Charters, and especially @SilverFly and @Matt B for welcoming a newbie to a new fishery and having patience when I was too slow to follow my fish or my fly line made its way into their back cast zone. Thank you both!
If you’re considering a tuna trip, try it at least once! You don’t need the fanciest gear either if you’re unsure or hesitant splurging on an initial investment as I was. Ask your questions, everyone here on the forum is happy to answer and provide input or partake in a healthy debate! Doing so will make your actual trip better (I can only imagine if I went into this without knowing anything).
Some observations that I made and hope will help someone in the future:
- Use the gear you bring and consider where you put it. Gear stowed in the bow of the boat doesn’t do you any good if you need it right away.
- Pay close attention to and follow your fish, avoiding tangles makes for a better experience for everyone on board and more time spent fishing than unraveling lines.
- Crank your drag down tight on the troll, it ensures a good troll hookset.
If you made it this far into my post, cheers!
P.S. @Matt B - I know you joked I was going to make a documentary at the start of our trip, well I guess I kind of did?
Last edited:
