Tuna 2026

Kfish

Kfish

Flyologist
Forum Supporter
Yesterday was a great day. We fished on a new boat with Nick who is now with Mutineers Charter, the Electric Reel.

Ocean was calm and we had pretty consistent actions in the morning with a short stretch of lull near the end.

@jasmillo got the first hit and boated the seemingly lone fish at the time. We trolled some more and steadily got into fish. Ed @Tallguy got out his jig rod with some of the bait stops and put a lot of fish in the boat that way.

Fish were eagerly taking cast and strip flies at bait stops, all of us got several fish that way. This is the most exciting way of catching them in my opinion, and it’s a blast if you see the actual eat.

Multiple hook ups were common and at one time we had all 5 including Nick.

This blade tail fly worked, fish ate it but I keep loosing fish ok on it for some reason so the proven Spawn head fly was put back on for the rest of the day. The body material also got tangled with the mono extension too so that’s no bueno.

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We boated 32 fish and lost a bunch more.

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Effin'-A, that sounds like a blast and thanks for the report. I miss fishing with that Nick guy!

Kfish said:
Ed @Tallguy got out his jig rod with every bait stop and put a lot of fish in the boat that way.
Fish were eagerly taking cast and strip flies at bait stops, all of us got several fish that way. This is the most exciting way of catching them in my opinion, and it’s a blast if you see the actual eat.
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Gonna need Ed to weigh in here. *Every* bait stop? When they were eagerly eating cast flies? I don't judge--I like catching tuna all kinds of ways--but just curious if this is a new passion or if all you other crew were just too wild with the flinging fly lines. :)
 
Niiiiiiiiiice. I went out Saturday on my boat, likely way south of where you guys were. Not a great day in the area I was at. Lots of boats pulling blanks entirely. We ended up with 9 in the box, and lost 9 others, plus a lost mystery fish we're 90+% sure was a striped marlin.
 
adamcu280 said:
Excellent!! How’s Nick’s new boat as a fly fishing platform compared to the Defiance 29?
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It’s different.
The back is roomier without that bait tank/fillet station in the middle, this piece is at the transom near the outboards on his new boat. Maneuvering and casting in the back is easier.
The front has way more deck space for fly lines, but the bow rails are higher up but that’s not a problem for the height gifted people like Ed :) Overall I like the new bow more than the Defiance.
Getting around the boat from front to back is easier, no more shimmying around on the gunwhale.
This boat doesn’t have outside seatings so those who like the fresh air ride will miss that.
Overall I like it!
 
Evan B said:
Niiiiiiiiiice. I went out Saturday on my boat, likely way south of where you guys were. Not a great day in the area I was at. Lots of boats pulling blanks entirely. We ended up with 9 in the box, and lost 9 others, plus a lost mystery fish we're 90+% sure was a striped marlin.
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I lost a good fish, wondered what it was. It took so much backing my forearm was on fire reeling all that shit back. I kept tension on it but it popped off for some reason.
 
Kfish said:
I lost a good fish, wondered what it was. It took so much backing my forearm was on fire reeling all that shit back. I kept tension on it but it popped off for some reason.
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I posted about it in another thread, but we had to chase mine. It was on a very beefy trolling setup and almost spooled the reel a few times. Had it probably within 50' (but still in chase) when another boat cut us off because some dumb captain had to come over for a closer look. Broke off right then :(
 
Evan B said:
I posted about it in another thread, but we had to chase mine. It was on a very beefy trolling setup and almost spooled the reel a few times. Had it probably within 50' (but still in chase) when another boat cut us off because some dumb captain had to come over for a closer look. Broke off right then :(
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That sucks!
 
It was a really fun day. We all lost a bunch of fish too. Trolling, slide and cast and stripped flies were all effective. Another great thing about Nick’s new boat besides casting space is the ability to easily fight fish along the whole length of the boat. It gives folks more room to spread out (if the fish cooperates) and less risk for tangled fly lines.

I’ll let Ed speak to his affinity of fly versus jig fish but will say he really only broke out the jig rod the first few stops just to ensure we had some fish in case it was a slow day. The first couple stops did not result in many troll or cast hook ups so that was still a possibility. Once it was apparent flies on their own would easily get the job done, the jig rod was essentially put up. We ended by like 1pm but we likely could have boated 30+ fish with the fly rods across 4 anglers even if the jig rod was not onboard. The bite was pretty consistent with no long lulls. I also think we each lost at least 3-4 fish on fly rods which is not the norm.
 
jasmillo said:
It was a really fun day. We all lost a bunch of fish too. Trolling, slide and cast and stripped flies were all effective. Another great thing about Nick’s new boat besides casting space is the ability to easily fight fish along the whole length of the boat. It gives folks more room to spread out (if the fish cooperates) and less risk for tangled fly lines.

I’ll let Ed speak to his affinity of fly versus jig fish but will say he really only broke out the jig rod the first few stops just to ensure we had some fish in case it was a slow day. The first couple stops did not result in many troll or cast hook ups so that was still a possibility. Once it was apparent flies on their own would easily get the job done, the jig rod was essentially put up. We ended by like 1pm but we likely could have boated 30+ fish with the fly rods across 4 anglers even if the jig rod was not onboard. The bite was pretty consistent with no long lulls. I also think we each lost at least 3-4 fish on fly rods which is not the norm.
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Makin me wish I had run north on Saturday
 
jasmillo said:
Another thing I’ll say is seeing someone try to land their first ever Albacore using a click and paw reel was about as good a laugh as I have ever had on a tuna boat. She was a trooper though and got it done. Pretty damn funny though.
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Were there a few good backlashes?
 
No, don’t think so. Lou might recall differently. It just took forever having to switch from reeling to palming. She was legitimately asking for someone to take over for a period but stuck it out. She also had Nick bellowing in her ear , “there’s no hand-offs on tuna!” or something along those lines the whole time.
 
Kfish said:
I don’t think so, she was a pro doing the best anyone could do with such a setup. It’s a Cubalaya brand reel she got as a gift.
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A few carp fights with a click pawl was enough for me. Wouldn't even consider it on albacore.
 
Agree on the very fun day and fishing a new boat. For the record, the jig rod came out for three stops, when the day hadn't really gotten going and the fish seemed picky, but still there, I simply wanted to put some mass on the boat and make sure we all went home with a nice bag of groceries for a tuna party. Plus, Nicks new boat has a nice big fish finder screen out on the rear deck, and I wanted to see my jig drops and eats on the screen full of tuna under the boat. I am pretty sure if the jig rod stayed out we could have gone home with a full boat hours earlier, nothing is more efficient than a wide open jig bite.

Drag is most, most certainly a requirement for a tuna fly reel. Lesson of the day. Click and pawl do sing a heck of lot harder for tuna than they do steelhead though. Tuna settle them into a deep throaty growl.

We were docked at 245, which might be the earliest we have come in on a fly trip?

The boat is legit. I would guess twice as much actual fishing room, and bow fishing is going to be way easier and safer in rough seas for anyone who can step onto the boat. Plus, it's 6-8' longer with 200 more HP, so it will be 5 mph faster in all of the rougher seas. Also loved the big windows and how much visibility it has.

I will miss those rear seats of the Defiance and sitting outside watching the seas go by on the ride home (or on a long boring troll). Grew to love that.. might bring a little deck chair to keep sitting outside on future trips. It has a bigger swim step, so it also harder to get around the outboards with a fish on.

Nick also brought 3 full scoops of anchovy, first time I saw that, so it's no shortage of chum to keep the fish around.

Only a few whales seen on the way home, one albatross on the way out, though also saw two 5', wreck your boat, size class white colored sunfish sitting a foot underwater next to the boat on the run home. Think those were the biggest ones I have seen.
 
Tallguy said:
Agree on the very fun day and fishing a new boat. For the record, the jig rod came out for three stops, when the day hadn't really gotten going and the fish seemed picky, but still there, I simply wanted to put some mass on the boat and make sure we all went home with a nice bag of groceries for a tuna party. Plus, Nicks new boat has a nice big fish finder screen out on the rear deck, and I wanted to see my jig drops and eats on the screen full of tuna under the boat. I am pretty sure if the jig rod stayed out we could have gone home with a full boat hours earlier, nothing is more efficient than a wide open jig bite.

Drag is most, most certainly a requirement for a tuna fly reel. Lesson of the day. Click and pawl do sing a heck of lot harder for tuna than they do steelhead though. Tuna settle them into a deep throaty growl.

We were docked at 245, which might be the earliest we have come in on a fly trip?

The boat is legit. I would guess twice as much actual fishing room, and bow fishing is going to be way easier and safer in rough seas for anyone who can step onto the boat. Plus, it's 6-8' longer with 200 more HP, so it will be 5 mph faster in all of the rougher seas. Also loved the big windows and how much visibility it has.

I will miss those rear seats of the Defiance and sitting outside watching the seas go by on the ride home (or on a long boring troll). Grew to love that.. might bring a little deck chair to keep sitting outside on future trips. It has a bigger swim step, so it also harder to get around the outboards with a fish on.

Nick also brought 3 full scoops of anchovy, first time I saw that, so it's no shortage of chum to keep the fish around.

Only a few whales seen on the way home, one albatross on the way out, though also saw two 5', wreck your boat, size class white colored sunfish sitting a foot underwater next to the boat on the run home. Think those were the biggest ones I have seen.
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Saw so much wildlife on my trip Saturday. Tons of dolphins especially.

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New video · Saturday, Aug 15 🎬

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