2019 Tuna Adventures

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Birdman said:
Crazy day out there Sunday as a crew member on the Sam Mateo.

We arrived at Barkley Canyon, 40 miles out, at 530 AM, and had 9 lines with zukers down in 63 degree blue water and were tacking westward by 6 AM. The bad news was that the water consisted of sloppy 3-5 foot SE breaking waves hitting us in the side on the tack we were running, although the big Grady handled it no problem.

The good news was there was a 12 degree temperature break over about only a few miles, lots of birds, and the overall sign was good. Expectations of our salty crew were high given recent reports.

We had 7 in the boat and 1 lost in the first 2 hours, and things were looking pretty good.

Then it went completely and utterly dead for 4 hours and the worry, doubt and every other emotional you go through out there set in.

The birds were gone.

The waves were still not great.

We hadn't heard of much action from anyone else on the water.

Go out further or turn around?

Switch up the gear, or stick with what was working?

Around noon we got in touch with Argo and Sirene on the radio and heard they were into some fish a few miles behind us so we swung around and headed their way. The water finally started to lay down at the same time which was a welcome relief.

We reached their area and immediately got into fish, first losing all 3 fish on a tripe header (not great when you just went 4 hours without a bite).

Suddenly the birds were all around, and the fish kept biting in singles.

Fortunately they started sticking and we had 8 more in the boat by 1:30 when Argo left the grounds. The fish were puking up small saurey and squid as they came over the side. Sirene stayed out with us and we could see them hooking into fish.

Things were looking up.

At that point, the bite "went nuts", and I mean nuts like I have never seen. At the same time the heavens opened up on us, and the monsoon began.

At 3:45 PM, we had 44 tuna in the boat with a 15 to 20 pound grade. We had reached our maximum fish per ice capacity to have a quality product and stopped. It was a good thing we had a capable 5 man crew, as the action was frankly as fast or faster than we could handle at times.

I have a feeling that if we wanted to we could have kept catching fish for as long as we had the energy to pull them in but there is no point in catching fish you aren't going to properly be able to look after.

In any event, to say we were euphoric at that point would be a huge understatement.

We were so busy during the crazy bite that the rain jackets were never put on. When it was all over we were all literally soaked down to our socks and underwear so we had to do complete wardrobe changes to ward off the chill that was beginning to set in.

Needless to say it was the epic day of epic days for us. Huge props to Sirene and Argo for sharing info out there, thanks guys.

If the weather holds I think those entering the Bamfield shootout will have a great time with the fish being there in numbers and reasonably close to shore.

Last, be sure to hit up Mills Landing for a salt ice top off (you'll need more than you think) and the latest intel. before you head out!
Click to expand...
Great report, sounds like an epic trip.
 
Birdman said:
Crazy day out there Sunday as a crew member on the Sam Mateo.

We arrived at Barkley Canyon, 40 miles out, at 530 AM, and had 9 lines with zukers down in 63 degree blue water and were tacking westward by 6 AM. The bad news was that the water consisted of sloppy 3-5 foot SE breaking waves hitting us in the side on the tack we were running, although the big Grady handled it no problem.

The good news was there was a 12 degree temperature break over about only a few miles, lots of birds, and the overall sign was good. Expectations of our salty crew were high given recent reports.

We had 7 in the boat and 1 lost in the first 2 hours, and things were looking pretty good.

Then it went completely and utterly dead for 4 hours and the worry, doubt and every other emotional you go through out there set in.

The birds were gone.

The waves were still not great.

We hadn't heard of much action from anyone else on the water.

Go out further or turn around?

Switch up the gear, or stick with what was working?

Around noon we got in touch with Argo and Sirene on the radio and heard they were into some fish a few miles behind us so we swung around and headed their way. The water finally started to lay down at the same time which was a welcome relief.

We reached their area and immediately got into fish, first losing all 3 fish on a tripe header (not great when you just went 4 hours without a bite).

Suddenly the birds were all around, and the fish kept biting in singles.

Fortunately they started sticking and we had 8 more in the boat by 1:30 when Argo left the grounds. The fish were puking up small saurey and squid as they came over the side. Sirene stayed out with us and we could see them hooking into fish.

Things were looking up.

At that point, the bite "went nuts", and I mean nuts like I have never seen. At the same time the heavens opened up on us, and the monsoon began.

At 3:45 PM, we had 44 tuna in the boat with a 15 to 20 pound grade. We had reached our maximum fish per ice capacity to have a quality product and stopped. It was a good thing we had a capable 5 man crew, as the action was frankly as fast or faster than we could handle at times.

I have a feeling that if we wanted to we could have kept catching fish for as long as we had the energy to pull them in but there is no point in catching fish you aren't going to properly be able to look after.

In any event, to say we were euphoric at that point would be a huge understatement.

We were so busy during the crazy bite that the rain jackets were never put on. When it was all over we were all literally soaked down to our socks and underwear so we had to do complete wardrobe changes to ward off the chill that was beginning to set in.

Needless to say it was the epic day of epic days for us. Huge props to Sirene and Argo for sharing info out there, thanks guys.

If the weather holds I think those entering the Bamfield shootout will have a great time with the fish being there in numbers and reasonably close to shore.

Last, be sure to hit up Mills Landing for a salt ice top off (you'll need more than you think) and the latest intel. before you head out!
Click to expand...

------

Was invited to join the Argo crew but could not due to work scheduling. Sounds like I missed an epic trip. oh well, there's always next year.
 
what an awesome trip. Thanks to Sam Mateo and Argo for being such excellent buddy boats. When the hit was on we just followed each other in a big circle chumming and tossing herring bait and the Tuna kept coming.
Sam Mateo left Bamfield at midnight and we left Ucluelet just after 1 AM. We all motored out in the night which is always a bit "fun". I carry an inflatable 7 person raft as well as "Gumby" survival suits which gives me a feeling of security. The morning was tough as I was seasick (a problem I now have after a car accident and resulting concussion). I felt like **** and was considering going home but my brother pushed me on. There are only two of us on my boat and we catch all of our Tuna with Rod and Reel. We love the fight.
The rain did come on hard and we were soaked to the skin but kept on fishing. Normally I run 8 rods but due to the wind only ran 7 and then 5 as I do not have outriggers and use my scotty down riggers to maximize my spread. When the fish hit, it did to matter because as soon as I had one line out there was a strike, NICE. We could have caught more if we stayed another hour but left Barkley Canyon at 3 PM.
Frankly I was bagged cold and tired after fighting 25 Tuna on the rods, processing them and icing them and resetting rods while my brother was doing and excellent job driving
We ended up with 18 Tuna on the boat which is enough for the two of us.
Coming back in I hydrolocked my starboard motor when I went to emergency stop for a log in the fog. I will now have to see how bad the damage is.
Love twin motors by the way. When I hear outboard companies say that one engine is enough due to their reliability I wonder if these butt clowns have actually ever fished offshore in the Pacific Northwest
**** happens out there
I have needed a second motor 3 times in my 30 year fishing careers to come home and am grateful for that
Slept like a baby in Uki. By the way if your bed is not too comfortable buy a topper from Sleep Country, it changed my berth from a lousy sleep to my favourite bed :)
Wishing all of you who have yet to get our the best in luck and safety in what looks to be one of the best Tuna years ever
 
Seagirt said:
Didn’t fish BC, but joined Kingfisher28 on his boat down at Westport over the weekend. Sloppy south winds made running rough and working around currents for the bar crossing cut into fishing time but we managed a short reconnaissance trip one day that produced a few fish on the troll and the next day got out for the afternoon and a dozen fish. Fumbled around with the live bait thing and managed a good bait stop at the end despite there only being two of us on board.
Click to expand...

Pics to accompany this post. Most pics are self explanatory except pic#2 which is the result of a last minute decision to create a bait tank and pic#5 where you can see a tuna in the background (bottom left) zipping up to grab bait.
 

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We arrived in Winter Harbour Friday August 30th, excited to possibly get a tuna shot or two during our weeks stay.
We pulled into the dock at Oli’s fishing charters early afternoon, unloaded the gear, and headed out for some coho and ling for a few hours. Slow start, but put a few in the bucket. Saturday am we chatted with Oli and his guides, and Sunday am was go time.
Plan was to meet on the dock 3:45 am, 4 am lift off! All boats iceing up, and ready by dark, and a discussion over a few bevies about direction and distance in the morning.
On the dock at 3:45am engines running, and we are off. Oli in the lead with two rigids beamingoff his bow, and 4 of us boats in behind. We headed 35 miles straight off the light running 15 to 18 MPH, starting to get light out, we could see the chlor in the water! Temps went from 59 to 62.5! We split off for the next two miles and dropped the gear.before we got our last line in the water we heard “hook Up” on the radio. 4 min later we got into a double! Then another 5 min later. 2hours of nothing, then quad hook up! Gong show to say the least. My wife’s first tuna shot, and 4 of us on board. We ran out of ice by the time we had 28 on the boat. Ran in glorious water back to the dock by 4 pm.
Wednesday out again. Hit the grounds by 7 am, hook up in the first 3 min again, double, triple, quad! Into the long fins again! We here Oli with a ten header........ then chum with 8 on! We are looking on the radar for them to try and get in on the school. Heading towards them we hooked into a few singles, and a couple doubles. Finally got near chums boat as he is off loading on another boat with lots of ice! He was at mid 50s at that point. We carried on towards Cain’s and got into a bunch of jumpers, all of a sudden one rod goes off, then both hand lines, then two more rods go! HOOK UP being screamed on the back deck! We slowed the boat down from 7mph to 3mph to be able to handle the fish we had on, and the last two rods go off!!! 7 header!!! All landed and out of ice room on my 24 foot pursuit! Headed into the dock at 2pm.
 

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After Hours IV said:
We arrived in Winter Harbour Friday August 30th, excited to possibly get a tuna shot or two during our weeks stay.
We pulled into the dock at Oli’s fishing charters early afternoon, unloaded the gear, and headed out for some coho and ling for a few hours. Slow start, but put a few in the bucket. Saturday am we chatted with Oli and his guides, and Sunday am was go time.
Plan was to meet on the dock 3:45 am, 4 am lift off! All boats iceing up, and ready by dark, and a discussion over a few bevies about direction and distance in the morning.
On the dock at 3:45am engines running, and we are off. Oli in the lead with two rigids beamingoff his bow, and 4 of us boats in behind. We headed 35 miles straight off the light running 15 to 18 MPH, starting to get light out, we could see the chlor in the water! Temps went from 59 to 62.5! We split off for the next two miles and dropped the gear.before we got our last line in the water we heard “hook Up” on the radio. 4 min later we got into a double! Then another 5 min later. 2hours of nothing, then quad hook up! Gong show to say the least. My wife’s first tuna shot, and 4 of us on board. We ran out of ice by the time we had 28 on the boat. Ran in glorious water back to the dock by 4 pm.
Wednesday out again. Hit the grounds by 7 am, hook up in the first 3 min again, double, triple, quad! Into the long fins again! We here Oli with a ten header........ then chum with 8 on! We are looking on the radar for them to try and get in on the school. Heading towards them we hooked into a few singles, and a couple doubles. Finally got near chums boat as he is off loading on another boat with lots of ice! He was at mid 50s at that point. We carried on towards Cain’s and got into a bunch of jumpers, all of a sudden one rod goes off, then both hand lines, then two more rods go! HOOK UP being screamed on the back deck! We slowed the boat down from 7mph to 3mph to be able to handle the fish we had on, and the last two rods go off!!! 7 header!!! All landed and out of ice room on my 24 foot pursuit! Headed into the dock at 2pm.
Click to expand...
 
A big shout out to Oli and his crew, chum, tommycod, you are all amazing and welcoming! Anyone wanting to experience albicore tuna fishing at its finest... contact Oli’s fishing charters in winter harbour. We will be back next year for the tuna shoot out September long weekend. Tight lines.
 
After Hours IV said:
A big shout out to Oli and his crew, chum, tommycod, you are all amazing and welcoming! Anyone wanting to experience albicore tuna fishing at its finest... contact Oli’s fishing charters in winter harbour. We will be back next year for the tuna shoot out September long weekend. Tight lines.
Click to expand...
Fuuuuuuuuck
 
After Hours IV said:
A big shout out to Oli and his crew, chum, tommycod, you are all amazing and welcoming! Anyone wanting to experience albicore tuna fishing at its finest... contact Oli’s fishing charters in winter harbour. We will be back next year for the tuna shoot out September long weekend. Tight lines.
Click to expand...
Rain City said:
Fuuuuuuuuck
Click to expand...
trying to post more pics. However they don’t seem to want to download. I have a pic of us five boats catch, 234 tuna on the dock.
 
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