2015 Tuna Adventures

late report from Barclay and Nitnat ( cell phone got left in Bamfield -doh ! )

We went out on Saturday the 22nd from Bamfield w DAK - started at north edge of Barclay once we found 60.5 water. We each got a troll hit but then nothing for quite awhile. We both kept losing the warmer water??? running west made it get colder??
Finally figured out that the temp break had moved into a triangle point further south. Once we got down to middle of Nitnat, the temp came back up to 60.8 and clear blue water. No real bird action and no bait on surface or sounder.
Got 7 of our 9 in the last 1.5 hours - but then it was 3:30 and time for the run home. I think the shifting water made the tuna spread out and not in any school activity? Sorry no pics bec all on cell phone... 3 were nice 25lbers - others were high teeners
 
Thanks to all the contributors of great info and Tuna reports!! Keep em coming guys looks like the start of a great Tuna season!
 
One of the boats that went out last night limited 4 people for a total of 80

They were done by noon
 

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Going to swim these very soon.
Those are deadly and similar to what many of the guys run down here in Washington. Purple seems to be a more popular color. I ran several of these last year - 71WaT66eqzL._SL1500_.jpg. They are a bit bigger - I ran 6-7" ones but they worked quite well. The great thing about them (and all swim baits) if you troll is that they will continue to work as you slow down or even while you're out of gear. Not only did we get troll hits on them, we often got additional fish while these were hanging and while we were reeling in other fish.
 
Anyone want to take met tuna fishing Thursday? I supply ice and gear. I don't want to troll tho.

Thanks Sculpin for the fishing trip. You and your crew fish HARD. Way harder than I expected and it paid off.
 
I'm heading to Ukee fishing Thursday Sept 3, 4, 5, 6. Have been tying tuna rigs and getting all the equipment ready for the past week. Will likely troll, but I'll see what I can find for bait too. Will have to see what weather is like for those days, but want to go chasing tuna for sure. Anyone else planning on going out can let me know if you want a buddy boat (for safety mostly). My boat is "Organized Chaos" PM me.

Dwayne
 
I'm heading to Ukee fishing Thursday Sept 3, 4, 5, 6. Have been tying tuna rigs and getting all the equipment ready for the past week. Will likely troll, but I'll see what I can find for bait too. Will have to see what weather is like for those days, but want to go chasing tuna for sure. Anyone else planning on going out can let me know if you want a buddy boat (for safety mostly). My boat is "Organized Chaos" PM me.

Dwayne
 
Those are deadly and similar to what many of the guys run down here in Washington. Purple seems to be a more popular color. I ran several of these last year -
attachment.php
. They are a bit bigger - I ran 6-7" ones but they worked quite well. The great thing about them (and all swim baits) if you troll is that they will continue to work as you slow down or even while you're out of gear. Not only did we get troll hits on them, we often got additional fish while these were hanging and while we were reeling in other fish.

Those look perfect. What are they called and where can you get them?
 
Pretty sure those are Savage Gear sandeels, they make some pretty sweet looking soft baits, check out there giant swimbaits for Hali too. http://www.savagegear-usa.com/product/view/lures/sandeels/sandeel

Yes - Adanac nailed it. I bought some in person at Sportco down here in Tacoma but you can get them online from Amazon, Tackle Direct or any number of other vendors. I had both the color I showed you above and a glow colored one. The blue was far more effective.
 
Yes, Savage Gear Sandeels

Can I interest anyone in some? $.50 each say? Amazon sent me a bulk pack of 100 each by mistake.

5 1/2" size but no jig heads to match
 

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Yes, Savage Gear Sandeels

Can I interest anyone in some? $.50 each say? Amazon sent me a bulk pack of 100 each by mistake.

5 1/2" size but no jig heads to match

I'll take a couple off your hands. but where do you find the skinny heads? my heads wont work on those bad boys
 
I never intended to put them on leadheads so I never looked very hard for the matching heads. 'Amazon.com' has them and other online tackle shops.

My thought was to put the bodies into jughead teasers and add 1.5 or 2oz banana sinker 5-6' ahead. Troll that at 4-5mph and then let it sink once you got a troll hit..hope for more hookups as they sink or when retrieved. Maybe even cast them back out if a bite got going strong enough?
 
The action might be weird if you run them in a teaser. the teaser will make them roll and the tail will make them "swim". trolling them with a lead head would probably be a better way to go.
 
Bait stops............ruined again!!!

I'll start this report off by thanking Jay for asking someone to take him out on his day off and try bait and jig stopping for tuna. Thanks a lot man. I'm ruined again!!!

Jake, Steve, and I left Nanaimo after work. We had a fuel stop, a grocery stop, then headed up to da beach to get the boat ready and tow her to Tofino. All of this took some time and we didn't meet Jay till 11:00 p.m. We launched and went to ice up the boat and park her at Method Marine for a few hours. Jay let us crash at his pad for a quick "nap" before heading out.

Up and at it. Even Derby was up at that hour and texting me to see if we had left yet lol.



The run out was very nice compared to the two previous tuna trips we have done this year. We were able to do 20 plus mph most of the way. Our destination was closer in then the last location we fished and launching out of Tofino made it an even shorter run.

I always love the morning sunrise and skies on tuna trips.



Gotta get a Mercury plug in here somewhere ha ha.



We kept going until we hit some nice looking water and it was pretty birdie to boot. We had all the rods, bait, and jigs on the ready. After some short searching we saw a nice sized patch of about 12 birds feeding with the jumpers. We pulled up right next to them, chucked a few chovies over the side and dropped our lines. What happened next was pure awesomeness!!! Steve hooked up in less than 5 seconds, my son hooked up right after, and Jay hooked up shortly after that. A triple to start the day.



Poor Jake is totally ruined now. 3 tuna trips in the last month and his first bait stop.




Continued....
 
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We got two out of the three on the first stop and the fish seemed to not want to stick around. We tried a couple more and got 2 more in the boat. This type of fishing is really wild and you sometimes get to see the fish hit your bait or jig. The fight is totally different then troll caught fish and you really have to pull on them to control their direction. I caught one fish that almost kicked my butt. It took 5 or 6 good runs and was peeling line off a cranked up Avet MX. The other hits are usually deeper and it's just feeling the hits and letting them run for a second or two before engaging the drag. With using real bait like anchovies you are bound to invite some undesirables to the party.

We caught and released 3 of these guys during the trip.



With the talk on the radio through out the morning and with the lack of action we were experiencing we realized that the fish must of moved on. The two previous days in the same area was WFO. We decided to try trolling swim baits and jigs slower than usual and just keep searching. A couple more fish fell to this method and it was fun with no attractors attached to the line. Some of the guys got some shut eye during these slow periods. I have never had anyone sleep in the storage locker of my bow before.

Jay making it a first lol.



Something that stands out every time out there tuna fishing is the comradery. The sports fishing boats and commercial boats were all sharing information with each other trying to keep everyone on the fish. Very cool :cool:.

One of the commercial tuna trollers fishing this day.



We moved way west and found zero life out there and moved back in. Around 4 p.m. the action on the radio really seemed to pick up and we made the call to throw out the splash gear and conventionally troll for some. We started off slow but then started to really get into them. Jay was a master at the wheel by staying on top of them and I finally got to fish quite a bit. We put quite a few in the boat in very short time. 5 bangers, quads, triples, and all the rest. The 5 banger was cool and on one of the triples all three rods went off exactly at the same time. All those reels screaming at the same time was very cool.

Some of the trolling carnage.



Biggest fish of the day.



Continued...
 
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