carpeweekend
Crew Member
I thought that other aspiring tuna fisherman would like some insight from someone who also just dreamed about getting out there for several years and perhaps learn from our mistakes. Having upgraded my boat to a tuna fishing worthy aluminum boat last year, I decided to attend the 1st Bamfield Tuna Shootout for my first time tuna fishing. My crew were also tuna fishing virgins. My logic was that the best way to learn would be around an experienced group of obsessed tuna fisherman and my instincts proved out. While I had spent many hours researching, reading, watching YouTube videos about tuna fishing, and binge watching the Netflix series, Battlefish, there is only so much you can learn sitting on the couch and at some point you need to get out and actually do it.
Like salmon fishing, there are many different ways to fish albacore and nearly as many lures and other gear. So, after researching this thread for the past several years and getting some sage advice on gear from knowledgeable staff at both Trotac and PNT, I invested in everything from Zukers in most of the colours of the rainbow, X-raps to cedar plugs to attract the elusive albies. Add on birds, rabbits, dive boards, and other splashers, 200 lb test for leaders with crimps and a huge box of double hooks, some additional rods and reels, tuna cord, etc and I had a healthy investment into tuna gear despite never having wet a line.
Left on Friday and drove to Alberni and made the run up the inlet to Bamfield. Having had a great experience quite a few years back, we decided to stay at McKay Bay Lodge. We attended the opening BBQ at Mills Landing and it became apparent that these guys were light years ahead of us in knowledge and experience. Nonetheless, at the Captain’s meeting, lat/long numbers were shared to the entire group to an area that had been producing tuna consistently as of late.
The bad news was that the numbers were about an 85 mile run from Bamfield, the good news was that the weather for Saturday looked promising. It quickly became apparent that most of the boats were leaving that night. Anytime between 11pm and 4 am. Honestly, running out at night, even at 10 mph and relying only on GPS and radar was something that I understood but had never actually done. Our crew decided that we would leave the dock at 7 at first light.
The ride out was a bit rough as it was apparent that while there was little wind, the seas were still fairly jumbled. After getting over the Rat’s nose and into the deeper canyons the seas laid down and we were able to make pretty good time.
Around 10 am, water temperature began to climb to 59 – 60 degrees. and as we got into much bluer water we decided to take a stab at actually deploying our gear despite still being about 25 miles from the “numbers’ that had been shared at the Captain’s meeting. We managed to get our gear out without too much incident and were pretty happy with our spread that involved a total of 8 lines and proceeded to troll. Rather than pull up our gear run further we decided to keep trolling on the assumption that the tuna could be anywhere and the water was warm enough. Big mistake in hindsight.
After trolling for a couple of hours we realized that by the time we got to the intended area we would have little time to fish so we continued trolling along a different course but in a direction that wouldn’t take us further away from Bamfield. No tuna and no signs of the telltale marine life associated with catching tuna. We ran back to Bamfield and hit the dock around 7 pm. Our mistake became pretty evident as we saw other boats who had slain the tuna, most of which had caught 20 – 40+ fish for the day. A bit of a bummer but we chalked it up to our education.
The weather for Sunday didn’t look great and we decided to stay local and do some salmon fishing in the inlet. Some of the boats went out but got pounded pretty good by the northwest turning to a southeast blow.
Monday’s forecast looked promising and having learned our lesson we were determined to get out to the target area. We got off the dock at 6 am in the dark and zig zagged our way out of the harbour and towards the head of the inlet. It was incredibly stressful for the first 20 minutes or so but as I got used to just focusing on the screen, it became a lot easier and I felt more comfortable. The weather was a lot snottier than on Saturday and we took a bit of a pounding for the most of the trip out but got out to the area and had gear down around 11:30 a.m. There were only two other boats fishing the immediate area and we quickly started communicating and working together to find the tuna.
Our efforts were rewarded and we hooked up quickly. Given how late we got to the numbers we didn’t have a lot of time to actually fish. We managed to boat 10 albies which consisted of a quad, a triple, a double, and a single while losing just two. We initially tried different colours and gear across our spread ,but slowly switched the gear towards Mexican flag and green/orange Zukers as they were the only lines getting hit. We all loved the dive boards on handlines that we ran close to the boat as they came in quickly and didn’t require a slowdown in troll speed to bring the fish in. Incredible fun and the 5 ½ hour run was quickly forgotten as the mayhem ensued.
Not wanting to return in the dark and not sure how the ride back would be, we pulled the pin at around 3:30 and were rewarded with a following sea, relatively smooth and quick 3 ½ hour ride home.
The next fishable day was Thursday and we made the decision to leave the dock a bit earlier. So, a 5 am departure to the numbers along with a number of other boats. Another bouncy run for most of the 85 mile trip saw us out to the tuna water around 10 am (thank god for suspension seats). Most of the Bamfield fleet and a number of the Tofino derby boats were out working the area. Another great day as we managed 18 fish for the day. Again, the dive boards produced the best for us and we continued to run mainly Zukers in green variation colours. Lots of single and the odd double but pretty consistent action all day.
Headed home on improved seas and hit the dock just as it got dark around 8 pm. A very tired but happy crew. Spent most of Friday processing tuna and headed home on Saturday morning.
We missed the wind up BBQ on Saturday night so not sure of the final standings but suffice to say, we were near the bottom of the leaderboard. Nonetheless, an absolutely epic trip. Challenging as hell and learned a ton about not only tuna fishing but also the capabilities of my boat. Truly a bucket list worthy adventure. My crew and I are hooked and plan to be back next year.
Like salmon fishing, there are many different ways to fish albacore and nearly as many lures and other gear. So, after researching this thread for the past several years and getting some sage advice on gear from knowledgeable staff at both Trotac and PNT, I invested in everything from Zukers in most of the colours of the rainbow, X-raps to cedar plugs to attract the elusive albies. Add on birds, rabbits, dive boards, and other splashers, 200 lb test for leaders with crimps and a huge box of double hooks, some additional rods and reels, tuna cord, etc and I had a healthy investment into tuna gear despite never having wet a line.
Left on Friday and drove to Alberni and made the run up the inlet to Bamfield. Having had a great experience quite a few years back, we decided to stay at McKay Bay Lodge. We attended the opening BBQ at Mills Landing and it became apparent that these guys were light years ahead of us in knowledge and experience. Nonetheless, at the Captain’s meeting, lat/long numbers were shared to the entire group to an area that had been producing tuna consistently as of late.
The bad news was that the numbers were about an 85 mile run from Bamfield, the good news was that the weather for Saturday looked promising. It quickly became apparent that most of the boats were leaving that night. Anytime between 11pm and 4 am. Honestly, running out at night, even at 10 mph and relying only on GPS and radar was something that I understood but had never actually done. Our crew decided that we would leave the dock at 7 at first light.
The ride out was a bit rough as it was apparent that while there was little wind, the seas were still fairly jumbled. After getting over the Rat’s nose and into the deeper canyons the seas laid down and we were able to make pretty good time.
Around 10 am, water temperature began to climb to 59 – 60 degrees. and as we got into much bluer water we decided to take a stab at actually deploying our gear despite still being about 25 miles from the “numbers’ that had been shared at the Captain’s meeting. We managed to get our gear out without too much incident and were pretty happy with our spread that involved a total of 8 lines and proceeded to troll. Rather than pull up our gear run further we decided to keep trolling on the assumption that the tuna could be anywhere and the water was warm enough. Big mistake in hindsight.
After trolling for a couple of hours we realized that by the time we got to the intended area we would have little time to fish so we continued trolling along a different course but in a direction that wouldn’t take us further away from Bamfield. No tuna and no signs of the telltale marine life associated with catching tuna. We ran back to Bamfield and hit the dock around 7 pm. Our mistake became pretty evident as we saw other boats who had slain the tuna, most of which had caught 20 – 40+ fish for the day. A bit of a bummer but we chalked it up to our education.
The weather for Sunday didn’t look great and we decided to stay local and do some salmon fishing in the inlet. Some of the boats went out but got pounded pretty good by the northwest turning to a southeast blow.
Monday’s forecast looked promising and having learned our lesson we were determined to get out to the target area. We got off the dock at 6 am in the dark and zig zagged our way out of the harbour and towards the head of the inlet. It was incredibly stressful for the first 20 minutes or so but as I got used to just focusing on the screen, it became a lot easier and I felt more comfortable. The weather was a lot snottier than on Saturday and we took a bit of a pounding for the most of the trip out but got out to the area and had gear down around 11:30 a.m. There were only two other boats fishing the immediate area and we quickly started communicating and working together to find the tuna.
Our efforts were rewarded and we hooked up quickly. Given how late we got to the numbers we didn’t have a lot of time to actually fish. We managed to boat 10 albies which consisted of a quad, a triple, a double, and a single while losing just two. We initially tried different colours and gear across our spread ,but slowly switched the gear towards Mexican flag and green/orange Zukers as they were the only lines getting hit. We all loved the dive boards on handlines that we ran close to the boat as they came in quickly and didn’t require a slowdown in troll speed to bring the fish in. Incredible fun and the 5 ½ hour run was quickly forgotten as the mayhem ensued.
Not wanting to return in the dark and not sure how the ride back would be, we pulled the pin at around 3:30 and were rewarded with a following sea, relatively smooth and quick 3 ½ hour ride home.
The next fishable day was Thursday and we made the decision to leave the dock a bit earlier. So, a 5 am departure to the numbers along with a number of other boats. Another bouncy run for most of the 85 mile trip saw us out to the tuna water around 10 am (thank god for suspension seats). Most of the Bamfield fleet and a number of the Tofino derby boats were out working the area. Another great day as we managed 18 fish for the day. Again, the dive boards produced the best for us and we continued to run mainly Zukers in green variation colours. Lots of single and the odd double but pretty consistent action all day.
Headed home on improved seas and hit the dock just as it got dark around 8 pm. A very tired but happy crew. Spent most of Friday processing tuna and headed home on Saturday morning.
- Fuel – you need a boat capable of not only handling rough seas but also capable of getting you there and back with plenty to spare. I have a huge tank on
- Ice – what they say about ice definitely true. You need a ton of ice. We bought 6 coolers worth plus filled my insulated in floor fish box with ice at French Creek on the way up and it was just barely enough.
- Location, location, location. The hardest part of fishing tuna is finding them. On Day 1 we had been given a specific location and chose to fish a different location based on water temperature. Big mistake. Signs of other marine life are also important – we saw birds, sunfish, and a school of dolphins in the same area that the tuna were located.
- Safety. Heading that far offshore can be daunting. You need to be prepare for the worst. In addition to a reliable boat with all of the electronics, we had an offshore life raft and a Sat phone on board.
We missed the wind up BBQ on Saturday night so not sure of the final standings but suffice to say, we were near the bottom of the leaderboard. Nonetheless, an absolutely epic trip. Challenging as hell and learned a ton about not only tuna fishing but also the capabilities of my boat. Truly a bucket list worthy adventure. My crew and I are hooked and plan to be back next year.
