Already posted this in the PDO thread but figured it was time to kick-off a proper tuna season thread.
Got to visit this blue water patch yesterday on a short-notice invite. Sorry no, pics unless I get some from other crew.
We needed a 5th crew member and @clarkman answered the call of duty. Fly rods were welcome, but Mr. Clark and I were in the minority. Just as well because it was a troll-only show.
Conditions: Breezy, and cool/overcast all day. Ocean was a bit sloppy with a NW swell and light wind chop, but really not bad. Wind picked up a bit later and a few sheep started showing up. Very few birds out in the blue patch other than a couple of albatross, and a handful of shearwaters. No jumpers were spotted, no sharks sighted, and little to no floating debris. TONS of birds closer to shore in the cooler green water. No marine mammals sighted other than something largish and dark-colored I saw break the surface about 200yds away on the run in. This was in the clean-green water roughly about the inside edge of the pink ellipse on the chart. Had to be a small whale or dolphin ... but this was the kind of water bluefin have been spotted in (just say'n).
Fishing: No "proper" fly caught fish for the day, although we did try. Randy got hit first about an hour in on a blue white and purple baitfish he tied the day before. The fish came off, then he was hit again as he was retrieving - and unfortunately, that one came off as well. Classic hit on the slide that has been working so well on the Westport trips. The timing was such that it could just as well have been a proper fly cast punched aft.
So things were looking good for flies vs gear. We then hit a long dry spell before picking up some single troll fish on black and purple clones. I dragged a natural colored squid most of the morning with nothing to show but a twisted fly line on the 14wt (note to self, test swim a new squid fly for straight tracking before trolling at 7 knots.) The scratch troll fishing continued all day. Late morning through noon being the slowest. I lost track of what the fish were hitting but like typical fly fishermen, we both started questioning pattern selection. No difference with the guys manning the gear rods, so seems that's something we have in common.
After a particularly long dry spell one was taken on a 6" all white swim bait. I switched to a white squid, and we both cycled through several patterns. Probably the only thing that accomplished was lost fishing time. Troll gear was mixed between the black/purple clones, Mexican flag clones, large swimbaits, and a white/red cedar plug. The only thing not hit was the cedar. Most of the strikes came on black purple, so late in the day I switched to a black/purple fly inspired by the one of the 2020 trips out of Westport. Got a whack that didn't stick, followed a couple seconds later by one that did, and boated my first fish of 2022. Nice mid-grade fish about 15#. That was a double hookup and had a knitting project to work out. One plus with fly rods there is being able to steer the line clear of the motors. Both fish were landed. A while later was hit again and landed my 2nd and last fish of the day. Kept hoping to see Randy's beautiful green glass 12wt bendo'ed, but it was not to be.
Summary: The tuna are out there, decent sized, and hitting on the troll. I was super-disappointed fly-on-the-slide that has worked so well in the late season Westport trips, didn't work other than the one retrieve hit Randy had. Seems they would only come up to hit something at troll speed. There are reports of boats getting jig and bait bites going, some VERY good, but the fish we encountered didn't stick around after the initial troll hits. Myself and one of the other guys, a very skilled jig fisherman, both tried jigging a few times but no luck. We ended the day with 14 total, smallest maybe 10# and a few in the high teens - maybe just over 20#. This was the first time I've fished in July in many years. It fits with my limited early season experience and what I've been told about the fish being less surface oriented. So, currently it looks like a trolling, jigging, and maybe fast-sinking fly line game. Drift rate was an issue and likely played a role in blowing us off the fish before we could get fish hooked on jigs and/or keyed on chum. Drift rate permitting, we would have had a much better chance. Both Randy and were fishing 700 grain lines which should've put us in the game in that case.
Got to visit this blue water patch yesterday on a short-notice invite. Sorry no, pics unless I get some from other crew.
We needed a 5th crew member and @clarkman answered the call of duty. Fly rods were welcome, but Mr. Clark and I were in the minority. Just as well because it was a troll-only show.
Conditions: Breezy, and cool/overcast all day. Ocean was a bit sloppy with a NW swell and light wind chop, but really not bad. Wind picked up a bit later and a few sheep started showing up. Very few birds out in the blue patch other than a couple of albatross, and a handful of shearwaters. No jumpers were spotted, no sharks sighted, and little to no floating debris. TONS of birds closer to shore in the cooler green water. No marine mammals sighted other than something largish and dark-colored I saw break the surface about 200yds away on the run in. This was in the clean-green water roughly about the inside edge of the pink ellipse on the chart. Had to be a small whale or dolphin ... but this was the kind of water bluefin have been spotted in (just say'n).
Fishing: No "proper" fly caught fish for the day, although we did try. Randy got hit first about an hour in on a blue white and purple baitfish he tied the day before. The fish came off, then he was hit again as he was retrieving - and unfortunately, that one came off as well. Classic hit on the slide that has been working so well on the Westport trips. The timing was such that it could just as well have been a proper fly cast punched aft.
So things were looking good for flies vs gear. We then hit a long dry spell before picking up some single troll fish on black and purple clones. I dragged a natural colored squid most of the morning with nothing to show but a twisted fly line on the 14wt (note to self, test swim a new squid fly for straight tracking before trolling at 7 knots.) The scratch troll fishing continued all day. Late morning through noon being the slowest. I lost track of what the fish were hitting but like typical fly fishermen, we both started questioning pattern selection. No difference with the guys manning the gear rods, so seems that's something we have in common.
After a particularly long dry spell one was taken on a 6" all white swim bait. I switched to a white squid, and we both cycled through several patterns. Probably the only thing that accomplished was lost fishing time. Troll gear was mixed between the black/purple clones, Mexican flag clones, large swimbaits, and a white/red cedar plug. The only thing not hit was the cedar. Most of the strikes came on black purple, so late in the day I switched to a black/purple fly inspired by the one of the 2020 trips out of Westport. Got a whack that didn't stick, followed a couple seconds later by one that did, and boated my first fish of 2022. Nice mid-grade fish about 15#. That was a double hookup and had a knitting project to work out. One plus with fly rods there is being able to steer the line clear of the motors. Both fish were landed. A while later was hit again and landed my 2nd and last fish of the day. Kept hoping to see Randy's beautiful green glass 12wt bendo'ed, but it was not to be.
Summary: The tuna are out there, decent sized, and hitting on the troll. I was super-disappointed fly-on-the-slide that has worked so well in the late season Westport trips, didn't work other than the one retrieve hit Randy had. Seems they would only come up to hit something at troll speed. There are reports of boats getting jig and bait bites going, some VERY good, but the fish we encountered didn't stick around after the initial troll hits. Myself and one of the other guys, a very skilled jig fisherman, both tried jigging a few times but no luck. We ended the day with 14 total, smallest maybe 10# and a few in the high teens - maybe just over 20#. This was the first time I've fished in July in many years. It fits with my limited early season experience and what I've been told about the fish being less surface oriented. So, currently it looks like a trolling, jigging, and maybe fast-sinking fly line game. Drift rate was an issue and likely played a role in blowing us off the fish before we could get fish hooked on jigs and/or keyed on chum. Drift rate permitting, we would have had a much better chance. Both Randy and were fishing 700 grain lines which should've put us in the game in that case.
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