2018 Tuna Adventures

We were 22 miles off the end of Brooks. The commercial fleet was another 6-8 miles out. Wish we had known then, but great trip anyway!
 
good schools are way out off bam tofino. like 140 miles out.. brutal year again for local sport tunas. but the adventure is always worth it.
sea ya next year tuners.
 
We saw 2 commercial boats fishing, not running, 15 miles off of Kaines yesterday right off Lawn point. We saw 1 boat land a good size tuna. The blue warm water has pushed into the island. May try it Tuesday,one last crack at it.
 
It looks like I will not be getting out for Tuna this fall.

Does anyone have a line on tuna?

I like bigger ones to can and get the big loins off of.

Thanks,

Mike
 
Out of Quatsino for Tuesday and Weds. Tuesday we were blown off the water by noon. Warmest water we could find was 59.2. Lots of whales and life but the water temp was marginal.

Weds the terrafin shot showed some warmer water up to 61, but we could not find any warmer than 58.7 There were a few amazing temp breaks of 5 degrees over a mile or two but max temp was 58. We tried the breaks, but no action. Commercial boats were gone. Two days late and a dollar short.

Good times with good friends. 50+ whales and lots of propoise. Probably done for the year, ……………………. unless????
 
Out of Quatsino for Tuesday and Weds. Tuesday we were blown off the water by noon. Warmest water we could find was 59.2. Lots of whales and life but the water temp was marginal.

Weds the terrafin shot showed some warmer water up to 61, but we could not find any warmer than 58.7 There were a few amazing temp breaks of 5 degrees over a mile or two but max temp was 58. We tried the breaks, but no action. Commercial boats were gone. Two days late and a dollar short.

Good times with good friends. 50+ whales and lots of propoise. Probably done for the year, ……………………. unless????
Thanks for the report, it is not over yet , I am hoping we could have another run
 
Tried at last minute to gather crew to head down to Westport, WA and get out on a 6pack express charter for Thursday Sept 20th but had trouble drumming up interest. It seems that to really peak interest in people and convince them that spending $1000, taking time off work, and risking seasickness for 10 hours there needs to be very positive fishing reports and phenomenal weather forecast. Well, weather forecasts were ok but things had been unsettled and previous forecasts had been missing the target a bit. Fishing reports used descriptives such as 'lackluster', 'spotty', and 'better than the office'. I was stoked to go but others were not. Then, in steps Kingfisher28 (We can call him Dave). Turns out he has the tuna bug and wants in on this fishery so as a first step towards running out in his own boat he figures a charter is the way to go. Awesome; two people on board. My dad chimes in from Saskatchewan that he's finished harvest and should probably try this tuna thing before his 70th birthday later this year. I cringe and remind him that he was seasick his last couple of times out fishing on the open ocean and that tuna possess a certain 'je ne sais quoi' that chinook and halibut don't have which maybe requires a younger man's body which he no longer possesses. Not to mention the fact that he only one day to buy a plane ticket and fly out here. But, tenacious is as tenacious does and we have three for the charter. Far Corners Charters was accommodating and managed to fill the rest of the seats so we had a green light for fishing.

We arrived in Westport on Wednesday evening and settle into our digs. Thursday 05:45 departure. Fresh herring swimming in the bait tank and a flat ocean but 65nm SW to where we are going. Water temp was 58F along the coast and quickly rose to 60F. We put on a lot of miles crossing 61F and gin blue water before hitting our destination and all the time I was wondering who found tuna out here when it seems most people would have stopped long ago and started trolling or running along the chloro/temp break. 63F would be the warmest water encountered that day.
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We get on the troll while looking for birds or jumpers with the idea being to located a school and start a bait stop. We have to wait an hour or two before hooking up a single on a troll rod but we successfully convert from the troll to throwing bait. My first herring was only in the water a few seconds when a flash of colour grabbed it my reel started peeling out line. Before I could get that tuna to the boat there were 4 fish at my feet that other's had landed. People were still hooking up. A few tangles ensued causing lost fish and yet the school stayed with us. The bait stop only lasted about a half hour before too many sharks showed up and we lost the school. A thresher shark surfaced within meters of the boat, looked us in the eye and flicked it's whiplike tail, and then gave one of the guys a pretty good fight for a few minutes.

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With one fish from the troll and fourteen fish from the bait stop we get back on the troll. We troll for the rest of the day looking for sign or hoping to come across a school but no luck. Head back to port in good spirits regardless of no other action and can't wait to get at it another time. My dad may not have great judgement in toques but at least he knows to long arm the fish just a bit to exaggerate the size of the fish without making it too obvious what he is doing.
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Going to have to try to replicate the bait stop up here in BC somehow...
 
With one fish from the troll and fourteen fish from the bait stop we get back on the troll. We troll for the rest of the day looking for sign or hoping to come across a school but no luck. Head back to port in good spirits regardless of no other action and can't wait to get at it another time. My dad may not have great judgement in toques but at least he knows to long arm the fish just a bit to exaggerate the size of the fish without making it too obvious what he is doing.
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Going to have to try to replicate the bait stop up here in BC somehow...
Glad to see that you managed to get out. :D
 
With one fish from the troll and fourteen fish from the bait stop we get back on the troll. We troll for the rest of the day looking for sign or hoping to come across a school but no luck. Head back to port in good spirits regardless of no other action and can't wait to get at it another time. My dad may not have great judgement in toques but at least he knows to long arm the fish just a bit to exaggerate the size of the fish without making it too obvious what he is doing.
View attachment 40524

Going to have to try to replicate the bait stop up here in BC somehow...
Nice report ,
 
With one fish from the troll and fourteen fish from the bait stop we get back on the troll. We troll for the rest of the day looking for sign or hoping to come across a school but no luck. Head back to port in good spirits regardless of no other action and can't wait to get at it another time. My dad may not have great judgement in toques but at least he knows to long arm the fish just a bit to exaggerate the size of the fish without making it too obvious what he is doing.
View attachment 40524

Going to have to try to replicate the bait stop up here in BC somehow...
Epic report! I always love the murder movie scene of a good day of tuna fishing...I hope to do it one day!

I was interested in what a thresher shark looked like so I looked it up. Very unique!
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