Birdsnest
Well-Known Member
Ok then. As some here may know I like to take a poke at the "june tuna" every year and last wends provided a window to do so. While forecast conditions were not ideal my tuna addict buddy pretty much begged me to go. The canadian forecast for west coast van isle north and SE explorer were calling for up to 20 kn of wind but the van isle south was calling up to 15 kn. Buoy weather was calling up to 10 kn which was within my limits so I agreed to go although I did not think it was going to be an easy day.
We managed to do 20 kn on the way out while enduring left over NW chop from the explorer region which was 2-3 ft at 7-8 seconds. Not ideal but reasonable.
The main driver of this trip was the last minute pictures from terafin where my area had data. Temps and cloro were good and on the big picture it looked like the highway was connected. We saw mola mola and blue sharks and more albatross than most days. It looked and felt like a normal tuna day out there so we were interested in the day. The one different factor was the presence of velella:http://www.google.ca/search?client=...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=XdSuU-38MuLY8gfcpoGIDw The surface was covered with these critters for the whole day and some did foul our hooks. In some areas it was like a blanket of velella covering the surface. The was no moment in the day where we could not see 3 or 4 thousand of these at one time. All day.
At the end of the day we were in a large but sparse group of dolphins. We thought it may be our best chance to get a tuna but nada.
Had really nice blue water as you can see in this photo in the prop wash.
IT was an epic day out there with no wind and glassy conditions. It was a bit windy near shore on the ride back but that was about it. The highway needs time... the highway needs time.
We managed to do 20 kn on the way out while enduring left over NW chop from the explorer region which was 2-3 ft at 7-8 seconds. Not ideal but reasonable.
The main driver of this trip was the last minute pictures from terafin where my area had data. Temps and cloro were good and on the big picture it looked like the highway was connected. We saw mola mola and blue sharks and more albatross than most days. It looked and felt like a normal tuna day out there so we were interested in the day. The one different factor was the presence of velella:http://www.google.ca/search?client=...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=XdSuU-38MuLY8gfcpoGIDw The surface was covered with these critters for the whole day and some did foul our hooks. In some areas it was like a blanket of velella covering the surface. The was no moment in the day where we could not see 3 or 4 thousand of these at one time. All day.
At the end of the day we were in a large but sparse group of dolphins. We thought it may be our best chance to get a tuna but nada.
Had really nice blue water as you can see in this photo in the prop wash.
IT was an epic day out there with no wind and glassy conditions. It was a bit windy near shore on the ride back but that was about it. The highway needs time... the highway needs time.
Best not before a few days of chasing salmon/Hali, as after tooners.....they'll seem pretty "ho hum"! 
