Bamfield tuna shootout!!! September 22 - october 1

[Islandgirl]

Great reports...
Next year I plan to get in on the action..although not my boat ( way too small)
I will have to do some learning on the gear to use etc.

Good on ya Osama for oraganzing a great event!

 

[firelight]

Thanks to Osama for setting this up and to sculpin for the ride.
Sitting at the ferry back to ssi, still some Tuna to clean tonight.

 

[Sculpin]

I just want to start by saying this was a great idea right from the get go. Kudos to OBH, the Mills Landing crew, and whoever else is helping out. It is a good way for folks to experience this fishery for the first time and a great way for folk from the forum to finally meet in person. If the weather looks good later this week or weekend I highly suggest folks give this a try. TOTAL BLAST!

I headed up later than I wanted to but this fishery is not cheap and I had to stay and work. I went with the 7P principle (proper previous planning prevents **** poor performance) on Friday and got all my ducks in a row. I bought a ***** load of ice because of the reports on Thursday and wanted to be ready. I made the mistake of stopping at PNT for some last minute things too (I hate that store lol).

Anyways I went solo up to China Creek and launched there. I knew I was meeting firelight up there and he would come out on my boat in the morning.

It was a nice ride out with a bit of wind on the canal and probably the roughest I would see all weekend. There was ton's of bait, sea lions, and whales everywhere. Very alive.

Arriving at Bamtown.

I stopped to meet up with firelight and make plans for the morning then headed over to MacKay Bay Lodge to replace the fuel that I burned getting there. Met Brian the owner as it was late and OBH had phoned him to let him know I was coming. Thanks again Brian for the fuel.

I finally made it to Mill's Landing and the party was already on. I had to get settled in and Finished Business and his buddy Darren offered a bed in there cabin (sweet....way better than sleeping on the boat)! We wondered up to OBH's place and had some fresh albacore sushi and tataki that Crabby made up. One word to describe it.........DYNAMITE!!! Some of the best sushi I have every had. After a few beers I headed back down to the boat to get some tackle ready.

I guess I was still in the 7P mode as it was well after midnight when the boyz showed up back at the dock after a few wobblies and I talked them into jumping on board in the morning with firelight and myself ha ha. I finally finished getting all the tackle ready by 1:30 am.



Up in the morn and out on water. WE'RE GOING TUNA FISHING!!!

Heading out on Lake Pacifica lol. Wow is all I can say about the conditions. Should have brought some waterski's.

Continued.......

 

[Sculpin]

On the way out I asked FB to take some shot's. The guy almost filled my card ha ha and is quite the camera man. He took more than quite a few awesome photos during the day. Thanks buddy.

The sunrise on the way out was spectacular.

This ones for Birdsnest.

On the fishing grounds with firelight and Finished Business just before getting ready to deploy the gear.

We're fishing............and fishing................and fishing................seven hours of pain.

We trolled around for 7 hours, moved once, changed colours, and covered a ***** load of miles before the first one hit. The other boats were picking up a few here and there through out the day with Trophy Hunter I believe having a quad on hence our move towards them earlier. Generally very slow fishing earlier.

Continued..............

 

[Sculpin]

Hooked up!!!!

Todd why don't you tell us how you feel lol.

We finally found a nice little pocket of them and caught 7 in 40 minutes. We radioed the info to the other boats and they ran over and a couple or few of them picked up one or two there as well. It was a long wait but that 40 minutes saved the day. Oh yeah did I mention.......TOTAL BLAST!!!!

Nice to see some fish in the slush bucket finally.

Continued.....

 

[Birdsnest]

Waiting with baited breath I am...

 

[Birdsnest]

Love the one time in the boat without the use of the gaf. Love it!!! I see the go pro on the pole cam. Can't wait to see some video.

 

[Sculpin]

More hook up's.......

Darren, how are you feeling right now? lol.

Firelight on the leader.

We were hanging them off the rail to let gravity help with the bleeding.

After being in the slush for quite a while we started putting them on ice.

Continued......

 

[CrabbyChris]

Deadly Dick at work!





How do I get the pics full size???????????

 

[Sculpin]

And that was it. 7 hours of pain then 40 minutes of bliss. All in all it was an incredible day on the water and the 7 albacore was definitely the icing on the cake. We packed up and headed for the barn.

Emptying the slush bucket (gotta get a bloody shot in here somewhere lol).

Some of the other boats out fishing with us.

Trophy Hunter's totally kick azz Luhrs.

Fifth Elements nice 28 foot Grady.

Here's Kelly saying hello to everyone lol!!!!!

Continued......

 

[Birdsnest]

I know of one boat that fished out of tofino that only got 4 on saturday.

 

[Kildonan]

Wow!! Good stuff. And stellar weather, looks incredible.

 

[Sculpin]

Here are a few awesome sunset shots that FB took on the ride in.

The king of reels lol. (I love this one Nick).

It was great meeting everyone that showed up this weekend and it was great to see so many tuna virgins pop their cherry. I think Kelly is hooked big time. Jeff thanks for putting the event on and I may see you again next weekend if the stars align. Jerry and his wife are gracious hosts that never seem to stop working and it was very nice meeting them. Thanks FB and Darren for letting me stay with you guys and for putting up with my snoring lol. I'm really glad you guy's came out with us as it made it that much funner. Todd thank you for coming out and it was great getting to know you better. You are a really great guy that I hope to see land some big yellow fin's this November when we go to Cabo. Cheers buddy.

Cheers everyone and if the weather co-operates I highly suggest getting your butts out there later this week or weekend. This fishery is a total blast and way different than any inshore fishery. It is something more folks should try. There should be lot's of boats with room on them or bring your own ocean ready boat.

Be safe,

Sculpin

 

[Sculpin]

Oh yeah here is the board as of this morning.

We added the PMO's to the key lures section. Thanks Birdsnest. They were FM as usual.

 

[Charter Tofino]

Have a bunch to write up and some pics but will have to wait for tomorrow night (cramming to finish a project due tomorrow that i threw to the side for tuna!). Can't say enough good things about the fishery, event and the guys involved. Big things in the works for next year! More people need to experience this.

 

[harper44]

Great pics and report John. We were the only boat out there today. Pics and report to come tomorrow after a bit of rest. It's been a long couple of days on the reef raider.

 

[Sculpin]

Great pics and report John. We were the only boat out there today. Pics and report to come tomorrow after a bit of rest. It's been a long couple of days on the reef raider.

I meant to radio you later that night but I assumed you went to the other side of the harbour as a couple of the guys thought they saw you drive by. My phone died late that day. How did you make out today? Did the swell come up this afternoon?

 

[Osama Bin Hopper]

Wow.

I hope some more of you can make it this week. I haven't met this many fun people from this forum for a long time. This fishery brings out a kind of companionship for sure! And a certain kind of someone to try in the first place so that weeds out a few turds thank god.

Jerry is a machine! LOL!!

Lets fish boys. We have already eaten 2 of my tuna raw... God they are good!

Deadliest switch coming up mo-fos!!

See ya in paradise.

Jeff

 

[Birdsnest]

I hope to come up wendsday night for a visit. Would there be a spot there for my camper/trailer? Its only 18 feet.

 

[Birdsnest]

We added the PMO's to the key lures section. Thanks Birdsnest. They were FM as usual.

Maybe its a bit early for me but this went over my head this morning. What is PMO and FM?