nedarb2
Active Member
sorry, i thought i had posted all of it.. my bad
Rig some of your lines with daisy chains. That's three or four smaller feathers threaded up your line about a foot apart, and held there with a micro press, with a larger different color larger jig about eighteen inches behind them. The larger jig is the only one with a hook in it. You can use jig's of the same size, if you don't have small ones.
Spreader bars really produce. You can troll nine to twelve hoochies. With a trailing feather with a hook in it, at the rear center of the rig. It looks like a whole school of bait, with a predator behind them. They are very hard to keep untangled, however. If you are weighing your boat lines, try a length of chain instead of a lead. The chain will make bubbles, which will attract fish. Trolling teasers such as Birds causes surface commotion that will bring fish up. Keep teasers ahead of the jigs.
Another tip for trolling is if you get a jig strike, and you don't have the live bait to chum. Try to keep going for at least a long ten count. You will have a good chance of hooking some more fish. When you wind the other rigs in after you stop wind them fast, sometimes that will result in another hook up. Mix some Fish trap 5" lures in your spread with weighted heads and when you get bit just let the Fish Traps drop and leave them drift and they will usually hook up.
It never hurts also to toss a hand full of bait, even chunked bait off the stern. Then while the people are fighting their fish, keep a light chum going in the direction of your drift. Another thing that works upon a jig strike is to cast back what's called, a drop-back rig, or a Fish Trap Lure. Free-spool it till the boat stops. Then retrieve it slowly, if a fish hits it throw reel in free spool let it swallow it then set the hook. A drop back rig is the same as a trolled bait rig, only with a two foot leader, A metal jig will also work, but you will have to retrieve it fast.
One more trick if you can read Albacore deep on your meter, circle over them. Pull all your lines on the side of the boat that are towards the inside of the circle. Chum the outside of the circle with frozen bait, long enough to let the first chummed baits sink to the depth they at. You want to chum enough to create a long spiral of bait down to the fish. Most time they will follow the spiral up and hit your jigs.
Around the middle of August these fish will switch over from feeding on squid, to feeding on bait fish, and will not readily take a feathered jig. You can tell when the switch comes you'll start seeing a large amount jumpers and surface feeding Albacore. Try trolling a Rapalas in the blue-white, green-white and Mackerel patterns. Cedar Plugs, in blue-white, natural naked, green-yellow, purple black or red-white patterns work well also. Set lines in a V trolling pattern, as you did with the feathers.
Another technique that will work is trolling a bait fish four to six feet behind a two to four ounce torpedo sinker. Hook the bait fish up through the bottom lip and out the top lip or head. Troll very slowly, and fish in free spool. When the fish hits, let it swallow it before setting the hook ( the bait can be a dead bait). You want to be sure fish are in the area before you do this. You will not cover much ground, trolling baits. You have to troll a little slower than Salmon trolling speed. Baits can be dead baits. Fish Trap lures are red hot for this.
When Albacore are feeding on bait fish, they tend to school in tighter schools. If you see an area of jumping, or surface breezing fish. DO NOT run over the top of them. Position the boat up drift from them and slide to within casting distance. Cast some metal Jigs at them. Let it sink for at least one hundred feet. Then wind as fast as you can. If you are going to troll fish them. One of the things that works best is a Fish Trap with a 1-1/2 oz. head, I prefer Bonito jigs (attached photo) in any colour --- however I troll all my lures and spreader bars the same colour ---- I firmly believe in presenting the total package of bait as presentation as opposed to various colours. Troll around the outside edge, not through the middle. If you run through the middle of them you'll put them down. The Albacore off BC are twenty pound range and the secret is keeping the baits under 6” inches . I would suggest that when trolling utilize the canyon wall drop-offs --1000 meters up to 160, tide flow bring up bait fish from the depths and colour of water and temp.
If you don't find fish on a trip, don't give up try again maybe you zigged when you should have zagged. Check the Sea Surface Temperature charts, look for a different area. It's an awful big ocean and Albacore can move a good distance in one day. Remember they have no swim bladders so they must always keep moving, or they will sink also they are hard to locate on your sounder (no swim bladders) unless you have a more powerful unit available to read fish to 1500 ft.
Out-Riggers, cannot stress strongly enough the value of these to the private boater. They will increase your lines spread and will increase your score by at least thirty percent. Make sure they are mounted properly. A private boat with out-riggers should be able to troll from seven to nine lines without tangles, along with a couple of short boat lines. And remember the old Albacore fishing law, keep your hooked fish in front of you, "NO ANGLES NO TANGLES"
There are other species of Tuna on the BC fishing grounds too. Blue-Fin Tuna, and they can get to over the two hundred pound mark. They like skipping jigs. Big-Eye Tuna that can get to over four hundred pounds in our area. You will not usually see Big-Eye unless it's right at dawn or and hour or so from sunset. They usually like a larger jig, but we take a few every year on Albacore jigs. A deep fished sliding dropper rig, with a live mackerel, large sardine or good sized squid will work, a fish trap or 4” to 6” soft plastic swimming lure will also work.
We also have Pacific Bonito, occasional Skipjack Tuna and Broad-bill Sword Fish, Thresher, Salmon & Blue Sharks; Unfortunately few BC fishermen chose to pursue these species so information is scarce. There is a great group which fish Oregon and Washington waters and share information on their website -----address is www.ifish.net go to the boards and view The Salty Dogs portion.
If additional in-depth information as to best canyon wall locations, baits, etc drop me a line. Don’t even consider going out unless your boat is fully equipped and your running with another boat !
Rig some of your lines with daisy chains. That's three or four smaller feathers threaded up your line about a foot apart, and held there with a micro press, with a larger different color larger jig about eighteen inches behind them. The larger jig is the only one with a hook in it. You can use jig's of the same size, if you don't have small ones.
Spreader bars really produce. You can troll nine to twelve hoochies. With a trailing feather with a hook in it, at the rear center of the rig. It looks like a whole school of bait, with a predator behind them. They are very hard to keep untangled, however. If you are weighing your boat lines, try a length of chain instead of a lead. The chain will make bubbles, which will attract fish. Trolling teasers such as Birds causes surface commotion that will bring fish up. Keep teasers ahead of the jigs.
Another tip for trolling is if you get a jig strike, and you don't have the live bait to chum. Try to keep going for at least a long ten count. You will have a good chance of hooking some more fish. When you wind the other rigs in after you stop wind them fast, sometimes that will result in another hook up. Mix some Fish trap 5" lures in your spread with weighted heads and when you get bit just let the Fish Traps drop and leave them drift and they will usually hook up.
It never hurts also to toss a hand full of bait, even chunked bait off the stern. Then while the people are fighting their fish, keep a light chum going in the direction of your drift. Another thing that works upon a jig strike is to cast back what's called, a drop-back rig, or a Fish Trap Lure. Free-spool it till the boat stops. Then retrieve it slowly, if a fish hits it throw reel in free spool let it swallow it then set the hook. A drop back rig is the same as a trolled bait rig, only with a two foot leader, A metal jig will also work, but you will have to retrieve it fast.
One more trick if you can read Albacore deep on your meter, circle over them. Pull all your lines on the side of the boat that are towards the inside of the circle. Chum the outside of the circle with frozen bait, long enough to let the first chummed baits sink to the depth they at. You want to chum enough to create a long spiral of bait down to the fish. Most time they will follow the spiral up and hit your jigs.
Around the middle of August these fish will switch over from feeding on squid, to feeding on bait fish, and will not readily take a feathered jig. You can tell when the switch comes you'll start seeing a large amount jumpers and surface feeding Albacore. Try trolling a Rapalas in the blue-white, green-white and Mackerel patterns. Cedar Plugs, in blue-white, natural naked, green-yellow, purple black or red-white patterns work well also. Set lines in a V trolling pattern, as you did with the feathers.
Another technique that will work is trolling a bait fish four to six feet behind a two to four ounce torpedo sinker. Hook the bait fish up through the bottom lip and out the top lip or head. Troll very slowly, and fish in free spool. When the fish hits, let it swallow it before setting the hook ( the bait can be a dead bait). You want to be sure fish are in the area before you do this. You will not cover much ground, trolling baits. You have to troll a little slower than Salmon trolling speed. Baits can be dead baits. Fish Trap lures are red hot for this.
When Albacore are feeding on bait fish, they tend to school in tighter schools. If you see an area of jumping, or surface breezing fish. DO NOT run over the top of them. Position the boat up drift from them and slide to within casting distance. Cast some metal Jigs at them. Let it sink for at least one hundred feet. Then wind as fast as you can. If you are going to troll fish them. One of the things that works best is a Fish Trap with a 1-1/2 oz. head, I prefer Bonito jigs (attached photo) in any colour --- however I troll all my lures and spreader bars the same colour ---- I firmly believe in presenting the total package of bait as presentation as opposed to various colours. Troll around the outside edge, not through the middle. If you run through the middle of them you'll put them down. The Albacore off BC are twenty pound range and the secret is keeping the baits under 6” inches . I would suggest that when trolling utilize the canyon wall drop-offs --1000 meters up to 160, tide flow bring up bait fish from the depths and colour of water and temp.
If you don't find fish on a trip, don't give up try again maybe you zigged when you should have zagged. Check the Sea Surface Temperature charts, look for a different area. It's an awful big ocean and Albacore can move a good distance in one day. Remember they have no swim bladders so they must always keep moving, or they will sink also they are hard to locate on your sounder (no swim bladders) unless you have a more powerful unit available to read fish to 1500 ft.
Out-Riggers, cannot stress strongly enough the value of these to the private boater. They will increase your lines spread and will increase your score by at least thirty percent. Make sure they are mounted properly. A private boat with out-riggers should be able to troll from seven to nine lines without tangles, along with a couple of short boat lines. And remember the old Albacore fishing law, keep your hooked fish in front of you, "NO ANGLES NO TANGLES"
There are other species of Tuna on the BC fishing grounds too. Blue-Fin Tuna, and they can get to over the two hundred pound mark. They like skipping jigs. Big-Eye Tuna that can get to over four hundred pounds in our area. You will not usually see Big-Eye unless it's right at dawn or and hour or so from sunset. They usually like a larger jig, but we take a few every year on Albacore jigs. A deep fished sliding dropper rig, with a live mackerel, large sardine or good sized squid will work, a fish trap or 4” to 6” soft plastic swimming lure will also work.
We also have Pacific Bonito, occasional Skipjack Tuna and Broad-bill Sword Fish, Thresher, Salmon & Blue Sharks; Unfortunately few BC fishermen chose to pursue these species so information is scarce. There is a great group which fish Oregon and Washington waters and share information on their website -----address is www.ifish.net go to the boards and view The Salty Dogs portion.
If additional in-depth information as to best canyon wall locations, baits, etc drop me a line. Don’t even consider going out unless your boat is fully equipped and your running with another boat !
