2014 Tuna Adventures

[Tidal Chaos]

Just got back from Bamfield and we managed to get out to Barkley Canyon for some tuners, we talked with Don on Friday night to see where they had fished and got some intel but decided to head out and search for the blue water which we found out at the 1000f line, trolled for a few hours and were hitting the odd fish here and there, changed up the gear multiple times and found what was was working and around 10:30 started hitting fish consistently. Zukers zucchini was the ticket for most of the trip until just after 12:30 And it slowed, changed gear to some mini jets (pink and glow) and it was on again for another hour until we pulled the plug at 2:30, couple dozen in the boat and we probably lost another 12, majority of fish were off lures at the back of the spread. Beautiful conditions out there and it was almost a 200 mile day for us.

 

[Killer B's]

Myself and San Mateo had the chance of a life time and we took it. We got to go out on tuna dons boat for a great day of fishing. Had a great time, caught lots of fish and met alot of me people. Just want to personal thank don for a great trip and all the great memories. We had alot of fun and a special thanks to the two bubby boats we went with. Lots of laughs and had a great time. Thanks again to everyone. Had a great time.

 

[Birdsnest]

I fished the other day and had a very tough time of it. A boat the day before had gone out and fished and landed 12. 2 of the four boats went to that area to fish and myself and one other boat tried another edge about 10 miles from them. The morning was very slow with only 2 singles for us and another boat over in the day before spot so we figured we were ok having slightly warmer water and fairly clear water but not solid blue. Apparently there was a good afternoon bite which started around 1230 the day before and this happened again except we weren't getting the numbers the other boats were. We had jumpers and everything they had going on around us but by the time it seemed obvious to run up to them it was to late for we were 15 miles apart and it would have been a run into the 6 foot swells at 10 secs. Too far.
Looking back on my day I try to figure out what I did wrong to get into that predicament. With us having everything they had even with better temps I can only come up with this. I chose my area off the sst chart but the photo was not complete. I mean the edge I chose was also a cloud edge so no data although it looked like it was cooler under the clouds than it was. I was kinda tricked I guess buy this so I dont think it was so much my fault but I do want to pass on a not of caution to others. Careful reading charts. I thought I was on a temp break but I wasn't.
The water for the day was very streaky meaning fairly random changes in water visibility,color(slight) and temp. The other issue (not nessesarely bad) for the other boats was the amount of very small fish. They had a fair amount of pinner tunes in their boxes.

 

[harper44]

Hey birdsnest, good report. But seems to me that if you had jumpers, it wasn't your position that didn't give you the numbers, maybe just your method that day. Were the jumpers sounding when you trolled by? Did you change up your gear? Perhaps drifting into the jumpers with some chum out and a few jigs would have been the answer. I know some days the tuna are just skiddish around the boat and don't want to hit a trolled spread. We had a day like that 2 years ago and we moved the spread waaaaay back and started cleaning up. Just some suggestions, maybe you tried all that already.

Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Birdsnest]

Unfortunately my sounder does not work in that deep water. It goes into a search pattern looking for the bottom which suck butt. Do not buy a north star.
4 boats spread out 15 miles and for all the timing of the bite was the same using the same gear. The bait I saw the tuna on was very tiny, about an inch long so that could be the problem. Maybe the other boats were around larger bait. I was chumming but don't carry tackle for that type of fishing. We had a laugh when I said we should try a panther martin to "match the hatch".
I need to do some overnighters in premium weather so I can horse around with techneiques otherwise there generaly isnt enough time in a day trip, especialy when the other boats are getting them doing the same thing.

 

[Fish on John]

shamrockin- Ian it was very Good having you & your Crew here at the Marina over the past few days. As you know Albacore Tuna fishing for most folks here in the Esperanza area is a New & Exciting Fishery. The beauty of the tuna fishing here is the ease of access. These Feisty/Delicious fish are relatively close to shore when you compare down Island distances. Good news they are now inside & down Island of South Brooks Buoy which is less than 20mi. off. Your example of running the birds was seen as Must DO by several boats. Thanks for helping out and sharing your knowledge and experience. Looking forward to your next visit. FOJ

Shamrockin's crew

 

[Tidal Chaos]

Birdie
All of our fish we caught at Barkley were full of 1" squid/cuttlefish and were caught way behind the boat, we were constantly changing gear in the morning as nothing seemed to be working for us. There were no jumpers and very little wild life at all the odd albatross or tuna bird but that was it. Very blue water, we passed several green and brown water areas before hitting the gin blue water and water temp was 60/61 in the 1 mile area we started getting fish in, we chased them with the tide but never left a 3 mile sq area. We trolled the green water but never picked up any fish until we got into the blue and that is where the temp went from 57 to 60 within a mile after that it was zeroing in on the right gear which we ended up swapping out when it slowed in the same area, a quick change of gear and we were right back on the bite, ended up going with smaller gear after 1:30 when everything died and we picked up another 5 fish to end the day at 2:30. I think we spend so much time getting fish on the same lures trip after trip and even on that trip but it seems to me that every time I start changing up gear after things slow we tend to get into fish again and we need to not get too complacent in what we are doing as the fish seem to turn there feeding off and we need to entice them all over again with something new and tasty looking.

 

[Birdsnest]

If your fishing from Tahsis don't you have to travel 20 plus miles on inlet before you get to the coast?

 

[Squid Row]

If your fishing from Tahsis don't you have to travel 20 plus miles on inlet before you get to the coast?

Yes it's 22.5 miles just to get to the surfline from Tahsis, so 45 min at 30 mph. It is a LONG run.... And gas is big bucks in Tahsis so it makes for an expensive day...

Rodgers lodge is only a couple min boat ride from the surf line and they offer a bring your own boat rate which is very reasonable for accomodations and gourmet meals. They also will freeze your fish and sell reasonably priced fuel. It also saves an hour and half round trip each day to Tahsis running the inlet twice a day which saves a ton of money on gas

 

[Birdsnest]

Rodgers lodge is only a couple min boat ride from the surf line and they offer a bring your own boat rate which is very reasonable for accomodations and gourmet meals. They also will freeze your fish and sell reasonably priced fuel. It also saves an hour and half round trip each day to Tahsis running the inlet twice a day which saves a ton of money on gas/QUOTE]

What is available for ice?

 

[Squid Row]

I'm not sure on that you'd have to call them or email. Their contact info will be on their website

 

[UkeeDreamin]

Just under $700/night for two guys sharing a room with a bathroom is very reasonable? Yeesh, I'd hate to see what they charge at the unreasonable places!

Ukee

 

[Chuck]

$200-250/Night is what it cost me on a BYO boat. Food, lodging, ice and freezer during peak season. That is reasonable! There are 3) lodges in the area and that is what they charge. Not sure what Westview charges/night. 7 hundy is awful steep!!

 

[UkeeDreamin]

After reading Squid Row's post I was curious and looked up the bring your own boat deal - $282/night/person based on double occupancy in a room with a bathroom. With BC's 17% tax rate for accoms, that works out to $660 per night split between two guys, which does include meals. Still, 3-nights is gonna be a grand each before you factor in gas, beer, gear, etc, etc. Anyway, sure that factoring in location, the fishery, quality of food etc, etc well worth it, just more than I was expecting to see. Anyway, sorry for the hijack!!

Ukee

 

[White Russian]

When they aren't chomping the regular gear and you know they are there by seeing life or marks on your sounder, try changing your spread to a couple xraps on the corners I like the xrap 20's late season, then the rest put 3 or 4 more rods out with swimbaits 4" or 5" size troll good on 2.5oz jig heads pacific chovie color, purple black are both good. Slow your roll down to 4-5 kts and let em hunt. Run a couple of them way back like 150'. It works for those days when they are more finicky. Run the sb's on 30# flouro leader or top shot. Once you get bit slam on the brakes drop chum if u have it, let the fish hang, clear the xraps and let the sb's drift down and sink, drop some iron with spare guys and work it back to boat then free fall it down, many takes on the sink, reel the fish in and usually his friends will climb on the hanging swimbaits or iron, chum really helps. Once it dies, rinse repeat. The later season fish start really keying in on small fin fish for meals as was mentioned, the swimbaits are a close realistic looking lure to anchovies. Good luck!

 

[dak]

Fishing out of Bamfield this weekend and wondering if any other boats are planning a Tuna trip Friday and/or Saturday. The weather looks great and I need a pre-derby warmup!

 

[crab bait]

Tahsis fish were stuffed with "sauries?" baitfish 2 to 4 inches long. The water hit a high of 64 degrees 25 miles from Catala Island. Some good communication helped us get a bunch of fish. The rest of the boats pulled up at 5.30pm Sat, but we stayed and boated a dozen in 1.5 hours. There were four commercial trollers off of Esperanza canyon 5 miles further out. They were sticking to the spot like glue (midday when we were there) but we didn't see them pull any fish. I am thinking they pounded the fish on that spot earlier in the day. They were not fishing closer in where us sporties were.

We had 4 on Sat a.m. up to 11.30am, then didn't hit another until 5.00pm. Then filled the box.

The first ten fish were on zuchini zukers, no action on the x raps which were in the water all the time. After 6.00pm sat, and sun morning, the x raps caught most of the fish, along with the "long" rod (back 150ft) down the center.

A few jumpers Sunday a.m., but they were spooky. Would have liked to fish more on sunday, but a long run back to Tahsis, a long tow home and lots of fish to cut.

 

[tykkyt e blue]

Here is the saturday morning pic from our friday run...

Couple things I didn't mention in my first report ( hate posting w my phone and tuna slime fingers - ha) I tried something a bit different with two of our lines. I usually run 8 lines with 2 outer lines off the outriggers and 6 lines across the stern. The water was a bit too rollie - pollie to quickly set up the outriggers so instead, I set two lines off the roof rod holders and let the lines waaaay out - like 250- 300 feet. The two far lines were straight above the 2 center stern lines out 70' and 85' so they had to be that far out to not tangle with rest of the spread.
Those two roof lines caught 8 of our 17 fish - I was quite surprised. Our first bites came off the roof lines way back. So after the 4th fish, I put the whole spread out further than I usually do - shortest was about 90' to about - 140' or so - thats when we got our multiple hook ups.
I don't know if that made a diff? or we just happened onto a school at the same time??? Something I will experiment with more in the next few trips.

Also, I was having a hard time deciding where to fish. We crossed over 4 distinct temp breaks on the way out. That did not match with the temp shots from Ripcharts. The night before, I picked co-ords that showed a 62 degree break, but it seemed like the only one. Crossing over 4 breaks was messing with my original plan. I think my lesson was to stick with the info from the satellite shots. Our fish came 1 mile away from the original co-ords picked the night before.

 

[seadna]

I made it out Saturday AM from Westport. Got a late start as I had to move the boat from Neah Bay the day before. Left the dock around 8AM in pouring rain and at the near peak of the ebb current. The bar was a little nasty during the crossing and my boat heater wasn't working so I had to keep wiping the fog off the inside of the windows on the way out. We ran about 42 SW and had troll lines in the water around 10AM. We had two quick strikes that didn't stick and then a 3rd that did. That was a large 30# tuna that hit the deck. After that, we couldn't get a bite the rest of the day. We trolled through and past many jumpers but nothing was hitting the troll gear. The live bait guys did well but Sat. was mostly a bust for us.

 

[Sculpin]

Fishing out of Bamfield this weekend and wondering if any other boats are planning a Tuna trip Friday and/or Saturday. The weather looks great and I need a pre-derby warmup!

Firelight and myself should be around. Either fishing the Louden or the Barkley canyon areas. Weather so far looks stellar (knock on wood). Smooth seas and sunshine. Whats not to like lol. If at Louden we we be on both 78a and 6. If fishing the Barkley we will be on 6 unless informed otherwise. PM me your cell number again.

Cheers,
John