2012 TUNA trips

[Birdsnest]

I think the chart looks great. A 50 mile trip out though. on the 500 fathom contour line the next small bay above juan de fuca canyon looks the best. Seems to have all three things. Warm, a edge both for water temp and chloro, and a real nice score on the chloro. I am new at this too so just chating it up here. The chloro does not look so great off tofino. from what I have seen from my trips in the spring if you do not have below 1 on the chloro you will not have clear blue water. I have though caught them in green water, glacial blue but not in big numbers. I prefer the gin clear blue water which I think is .5 on the chloro. I wish I could post the chart here but I certainly do not want to loose my terafin account.

 

[seadna]

I got out briefly this past Saturday and made it to about 2500' near the end of the Juan de fuca canyon. In my stupidity, I didn't take on enough additional fuel and it took quite awhile to get out with the 5' swells at 6-7s. Bottom line, I only trolled for about an hour in green water with no hits. Took a little water over the side and the combination of sloppy seas and not much in the fuel reserve made me call it and head back. Made it all the way home with a few gallons to spare but I was stupid to not take more on as I would have had more time to troll. However, even with more fuel, the sea state was unpleasant and it would have been hard to work in cockpit of the boat. All this week and including this weekend, the swells are a bit bigger than they were on Saturday this past weekend. It looks like the wind will be down but 6-7' swells at 7-8s is the current prediction for Sat and Sunday. With that short period, I likely will stay at home and not even bother to drive out to Neah Bay to check. I'm wishing I had put more time in on the water 2-3 weeks ago when we had 2' swells at 16s and no wind.

This entire week has pretty nasty, short period swells and it's been that way since about last Thurs and is predicted to be that way until at least this Sunday (as far out as the predictions currently go). That's at least 9 days in a row in August when the offshore conditions are crap. I've not seen this in the past 8 or so years and I'm used to having 4 days out of 5 in August with relatively flat and easy sea conditions. Strange year IMHO.

 

[Birdsnest]

Thanks for the report. Any good water temp/edges? Sorry to hear about the sea state. If I cant to 20 kn on the way out I usually don't go and if I am doing 28 kn on the way out it will likely be a long day of fishing.

 

[seadna]

Thanks for the report. Any good water temp/edges? Sorry to hear about the sea state. If I cant to 20 kn on the way out I usually don't go and if I am doing 28 kn on the way out it will likely be a long day of fishing.

No good water temperature breaks that I encountered. We ran pretty much SW after we left Tatoosh behind and it was mostly a slow climb to 61F and then constant 61F +/- half a degree everywhere we went (which was pretty much a straight line from Tatoosh to the NW corner of the canyon and back. Did go out to the middle of the canyon where I found 68+ F a couple of weeks ago, but this time it was still at 61F everywhere. I think if I could have run another 5 miles west, we would have gotten to blue water but it was slog out. Also, I had to do a bunch of minor repairs on Sat AM (replace a macerator pump and fix a scupper) so I didn't get started until about 11AM. An earlier start and more fuel and I think we would have hit a few. Still with those sea state conditions, spotting jumpers was impossible so it would have been just what we could pick up on the troll and maybe work the school back to the boat.

 

[blackfinmac]

hi guys,

left ukee harbor at 530 am on sat morning (11th) and headed straight south for 2.5 hrs and ended about 55 miles off shore (nitnat canyon) in 58 degrees water at 830 am, lines down and fish on almost instally. we proceed to have a steady hook up for the next 4-5 hours loosing lots and landing 19 total, we even had 5 on at on time and going 4/5. it was our 1st time out there and it was amazing..... i defiantly have a new obsession.headed back out 24th-26th of august... are we ok to sport fish in us water?
Thanks mac

 

[dmurph]

Another trip of a life time for me aboard the Blackfin. As Mac reported a group of us all went out for Tuna for the first time. After much planning and anticipation we all found ourselves floating out to sea in dark, foggy waters very early in the morning. Not going to lie there was a bit of an on easy feeling running through my thoughts as crept through the blackness relying on Mac and the dim light of the plotter to get us out to open water through the rocky sound. As day light hit the waters were a lot clammer then the forecasted prediction and the fog bank was quickly disappearing behind us as we made our way deeper into open seas. A stoke amongst the crew began to build as we made our way closer to NitNat Canyon and the 60 plus nautical mile mark.

With the waters changing colour and getting closer to that magic 58 degree mark Mac gave the call to spread out the lines. Andrew, who set us up with all the gear quickly went to work setting up 5 rods , one off each out rigger , one off each corner and one off the rocket launchers way back. Just as Mac stated above, as soon as we trolled into that 58 degree water one of the rods fires off like someone grabbed the cedar plug and shot through a 50 cal. rifle. Andrew grabbed the rod and handed it to me, and we soon realized there was no stopping it. It hit on one of our hali set ups and with full drag and me burring my thumb into the line it was gone full speed. We managed to get it in by slowing right down and taking out time, but realized these fish were savages. Andrew had some set ups we all thought were over kill at first but quickly made there way into the holders and it was game on . We put 19 fish 16 to 23 lbs with most right at 20 in the boat. These fish are no salmon, my arms were burning by the end of the day, or first fish for that matter.

We had an amazing time out there and now have 5-6 dudes all hooked on tuna fishing BC. Thanks to Mac and the Blackfin which is an absolute weapon on the sea, and to Andrew for hooking the boys up with all the gear. Looking forward to another report soon, and will try to post some photos.

 

[seadna]

Well, one day made a big difference in the predictions of swells for this coming weekend. Now swellwatch.com is showing very nice water for a tuna trip. Sat. looks like 3-4' and long period with very little wind. Sunday is looking similar. Should be a good weekend on the tuna grounds.

 

[Birdsnest]

Thanks for the report dmurph. Congratulations. If you do not already have an obsession now you have one to occupy you mind almost all the time. Please post pics!

Its not everyones bag but might I suggest putting out at least a couple of hand lines. IT helps increase your numbers and you do not have to slow the boat down to land the fish and its really fun. I fish 4 hand lines, 1 off the tip if each downrigger 15' back to the splasher and 1 off each side of the motor or off the back cleats of the boat 40' back. The hand lines have to be on some kind of stiff snuber. But what matters most is that you gotem'!!! can't wait to see the photos.

Any double or triple headers?
Did you see any dolphins?

 

[dmurph]

We had 5 on at once, the high light of the trip. So many entertaining happenings during the 5 plex. Was awesome, I was on first or second hit and I just kept laughing listening to Mac yell from the bridge " there go " Andrew gaffed 4 of the 5.

 

[Birdsnest]

Well after pouring over the charts I do not see any good opportunities off tofino. That nitnat is looking like the best go right now. No good chloro is the problem.

 

[Sculpin]

Great report dmurph. Sounds like a blast!!! A 5 banger would be like a Chinese firedrill on deck lol.

 

[Sculpin]

Need a bigger fuel tank!

I definitely have a big enough fuel tank for doing a standard 50 mile run for albies but I just got off the phone with my insurance broker and he told me something that makes me think I need a bigger tank!

After my upgrades to the vessel this winter and spring I thought I better have enough coverage and upped it on electronics and trailer. While doing so I asked him out of curiosity how far offshore my coverage was good for and he replied..................200 miles!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways I would never go much past 50 and I was joking about the bigger fuel tank. It's nice to know I'm covered when heading out there.

 

[Birdsnest]

Thats one of the questions I asked my insurance guy after my first year of this and I couldn't believe it was 200 miles. Watch, once tuna gets more popular it will get reduced to 25 miles just for the extra little cash grab. Pfft. I am not mr optimistic when it comes to insurance.

 

[harper44]

Where do you guys buy your insurance?? mine is only good out to 50 miles! I need to call and register a float plan and pay a fee to go out past that. I just thought that was the norm but maybe I need to shop around a little more.

 

[Birdsnest]

I need to call and register a float plan and pay a fee to go out past that.

This is exactly what I was talking about.

I have a guide policy.

If you are a guide PM me.

 

[trophywife]

Guiding is totally different when it comes to doing business more than 25 miles out... Usually they want a rider and a 60 tonne ticket

 

[blackfinmac]

I also called my agent last week before we left, like yours 200 miles but not past westport, that one hell of a long way

me and some fellas are headed out sat the 25th from ukee back out to chase some tunas around, would any of your guys out there be interested in putting a few boats together and heading out? we should be able to cover more ground and get on the fish a bit quicker

question:
when we were out at the nitnat canyon we havd the US coast guard following us around for a couple hours, we were all a bit nervous having them babysit us while we were out there,I did talk to them and let them know what we were up too, but they never said we couldn't, their ship was at least a few hundreds feet in length and looked to have some guns on it. i assume that we were in us water, are we sporties ok to fish for tuna in us water without clearing customs?

 

[Birdsnest]

when we were out at the nitnat canyon we havd the US coast guard following us around for a couple hours, we were all a bit nervous having them babysit us while we were out there,I did talk to them and let them know what we were up too, but they never said we couldn't, their ship was at least a few hundreds feet in length and looked to have some guns on it. i assume that we were in us water, are we sporties ok to fish for tuna in us water without clearing customs

Thats a bit freaky.

Some perfect SST charts are just out. IT would be swell if a solid chloro chart was released soon.

 

[harper44]

So all you guys with 200 mile policies are on guide policies then?

question:
when we were out at the nitnat canyon we havd the US coast guard following us around for a couple hours, we were all a bit nervous having them babysit us while we were out there,I did talk to them and let them know what we were up too, but they never said we couldn't, their ship was at least a few hundreds feet in length and looked to have some guns on it. i assume that we were in us water, are we sporties ok to fish for tuna in us water without clearing customs?

As I understand it. Fisheries jurisdiction ends with the contiguous zone (24nm from low water mark). The exception is commercial fishing (and possibly guiding) where jurisdiction extends out with the Economic zone (200nm). As far as customs and border protection are concerned, you have the right to "innocent passage" even within territorial waters. customs clearance is only required when making landfall, anchoring, or navigating into internal waters (ie an inlet). This innocent passage law is something I experienced first hand after being boarded by US border protection while on a sunday cruise in the Juan de Fuca. We were in US waters and did not check in or anything, we were boarded and asked for paperwork. I asked the officer if we had done anything Illegal by not contacting customs and he said "absolutely not, just want to make sure this boat isn't stolen, have a great day". I am in no way an expert in international affairs and this is just some stuff I dug up by internet research so take it for what its worth...

Cheers,

 

[Sculpin]

Mines private and I am no guide that for sure lol!