Posts Tagged ‘Albacore’
While many of you have been enjoying some great Salmon fishing in the South Sound I have been trying to concentrate on my Tuna education and getting offshore Tuna fishing as dialed in as I can.
I have also had some other issues that have made writing difficult in the last few weeks but these things are just about all worked out so we will have more articles coming soon.
Right now everyone should be out with coho killer and coyote spoons fishing the rips for coho. this is a great year and people are really killing them. There are also still some kings around. I hope to get out in the next week or so to try to catch some of these feisty fish.
Tuna fishing offshore has been great and we really seem to be getting good at it. I went out at the beginning of the season with my friend Hawaiian Tom and he taught me a lot about organization and preparation. The big difference in my opinion is that Tuna fishing is a team sport while salmon fishing is more about individual accomplishment. Salmon fishing is often about catching the biggest fish. When your catching 30 fish for 4 or 5 guys all that stuff has to go out the window. The most important thing in tuna fishing is to keep the feed going, whatever that takes.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
One of the cool things about having a blog is it gives me a way to check in and forces me to get things done. So here is the update for this week:
Replaced brakes and bearings on the trailer. I had to run new brake lines for the axles and still need to bleed them. I may put new leaf springs in too. Haven’t decided yet.
Rocket launchers are on order and I am waiting till the boat show to purchase electronics. I purchased a new troll housing for the go-pro this year. That should make for some great tuna video. My friend John picked up a couple Tica Rod and reel combos (Chinese but for 60 bucks they are disposable). I still plan to purchase some new Avets for bait fishing but that is also waiting for the shows.
The overall theme in all this is to clear the deck and cabin of clutter so we can cover it in blood.
I will be interested to see what others are working on this winter. Please drop a comment with your projects and pictures. I know my friend Steve is replacing the deck on his boat and Tom is always working on something.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
I made my third Tuna trip Saturday. The first one we got three, two trolling and one on bait, but everyone was having to scratch for what they got. The second we were skunked and it was like fishing in the dessert. Turns out we missed them by about thirty miles.
Between the second and third I learned about “the slide”. 
This is the term used for the transition between trolling and bait. Simply when you hook up on the troll the trick is to turn the boat gently toward the hooked up rig and shut down, start throwing chum in the direction of the fish to try to bring the school to the boat. Some guys will cast swim baits or lead jigs to help with this.
So we goes out and starts to troll. We troll plugs because that is what worked before. We catch one right away, screw up the slide and they’re gone. We see jumpers occasionally but can’t get them to take (there’s a lesson here). We finally headed south to where someone said they were catching and tried there. As soon as we got there we hear on the radio someone is catching back near where we were. Crazy. Suddenly ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZing!! tuna on, port side!! I turn the boat a bit shut down and go back and start clearing gear. Meanwhile john is reeling in the troll fish and mike is throwing chum and rigging live bait. I get a chovie in and let him swim. a couple secconds go by and the chovie starts to wiggle, then the line just starts steadily running off the reel. I count to 5 and engage the drag and…….the fight is on. 
we get him in the boat and john hooks up another, then mike on a jig, I hook another and hand it off to Kevin. His fish runs under the boat and cuts the line on the trim tab. John catches one more and a few break off and get away. Then it just sort of shut off. we tried to troll around a bit more but it was late and we needed to get home so.
We had a lot of new experiences this time but the real lesson was when we saw the jumpers we should have slid up close and thew bait and them. Basically going strait to a bait stop without the troll. This is how several others were able to catch 25 or 30. Tuna lessons can be very time consuming, expensive and frustrating. But I have discovered a fishery that is absolutely addictive, that only a relative hand full of people participate in and (unlike Puget Sound Salmon) information is shared freely. There are no secret spots or special tactics. Everyone cooperates because there are lots of fish and the ocean is very big.
Another big shout out to all the guys on Bloodydecks.com for all the help.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
If your a regular reader you know this year I have been learning to fish Tuna.
So I get on line to the great offshore guys on Bloodydecks.com and learn from people that have been doing it for a while. 
One of the things I learned was that because it has been a fairly small market it is hard to find good tuna gear here. Until now.
Many Washington anglers will be familiar with Bo Palmer from Defiance Boats. Local Gig Harbor folks will know that Tiderunner Boats were once manufactured and sold here. And by a long and winding road Tiderunner is now part of the defiance boat family.
So I get on line and see that Bo has opened a new store out by the Bremerton National Airport in Port Orchard. Guys from Bloodydecks that had been there say he has everything I need for tuna. And they are the guys that know. The wife and I decide it’s a nice day for a road trip so we jump in the car and off we go. 
From Gig Harbor you can get there taking 16 to hwy3 through beautiful downtown Gorst (gateway to Belfair). but we decided to take back roads for fun. On the way, out in the middle of nowhere, We hit this road construction that turns out to be another perfectly good intersection our wonderful state of Washington is screwing into a roundy round (Pet Peeve).
We get there and The store is great!!
Bo himself helps me find the things I need and explains to me how to rig and use the gear. Now you know that when you go to a store asking what do I need for this fishery usually the salesman will grab a hand full of what ever costs the most and say you absolutely need this and a dozen of those etc. So I did a little homework ahead of time. I knew going in I needed x-wraps, clones and live bait hooks. Bo explained to me which hooks to buy, how to use weights to keep live bait underwater and even helped me find some purple x-wraps that were in the back. What he did not do was try to sell me a bunch of crap I didn’t need. I was also able to find some salmon stuff I had been looking for but was sold out in other places.
Bo even helped my wife pick out a kick ass birthday present for me. 
Overall the store was a bit of a hike. For me it is about the same distance as Sportco in Fife or Warehouse in Silverdale (but those places don’t carry much tuna gear). Prices were about what you would expect. The big difference for me is that this is a real fisherman’s store. 
It has all the stuff you really need without all the extraneous crap larger stores have to carry. I can see this becoming a regular stop for me when planning any type of fishing.
Thanks Bo
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
It has been a goal of mine to fish tuna from my boat in the big ocean since I was a deckhand in Westport as a young man. Back the the only real game in town for tuna was overnight charter trips or commercial.
Now, with the advent of the internet to disseminate information like sea surface temperatures and chlorophyll reports, there are whole groups of guys that make the long ride out to the “Tuna Grounds”. I went to a seminar at the boat show this year on tuna fishing put on by John Keiser of Salt Patrol which fired me up a bit. Then, Last June during our halibut slay fest I met up with some guys that explained that I could tuna fish with the gear and boat I have and I decided this was my year to do it.
I bought a bait tank, figured out how to rig it and started studying everything I could find on tuna fishing. I started spending a lot of time on BloodyDecks.com following the tuna forums to pick up what I could and asking questions of people that know what they are doing. Tuesday I went to Defiance Boats and Bo helped me pick out some great tuna gear. 
Wednesday I loaded up Jeff, Kevin and the old man of the sea Jack. Jack was the only one of us that had ever fished tuna so he was in charge of showing us where everything is like bait, ice and even the harbormasters office. Thursday morning we set out about 5:30am for some tuna numbers a friend of jacks gave us and some others we got from a friend of mine. We trolled from one spot to the other (which it turns out was a mistake) and back with no luck. What we should have done was fish each area for a specific time.
Around noon as we arrived back at the first spot we saw the guy that gave Jack the numbers and on the radio he said he was catching so we basically did circles around him. About a half hour later…ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPP the starboard rig goes zinging so fast I thought it may catch fire! we try to do the slow turn toward the fish but we were so excited about finally catching a fish we had Kevin bring it in. After a fire drill that seemed to last forever Jack got us into a “bait stop”. He threw out a couple hands full of bait and got a bait rig in for Jeff who hooked up immediately. 
Then I caught a shark, Kevin caught a shark and we went back on the troll. A few minutes later we hooked up again and this time it was my turn. Man these fish are strong. he ran away, came back, ran away, dove under the boat and tried to tie up on my outdrive. When I finally got him to the boat he just sat there about 5 feet under water and wouldn’t move. I was able to hoarse him up a little and Jeff got a gaff in him so in he came. We trolled around a little longer but it was late and we had a long drive so we called it a day.
Overall it was a great day. The boat performed well, We saw tons of Dolphins, Whales, Sunfish and weird birds. It was a beautiful day on the ocean. We got some great video and a few pictures. And most importantly the three new guys got to each catch a tuna. We learned a ton of lessons and next time I am sure will be more productive. And I got to realize one of my dreams. And again I got to say…
I LOVE MY BOAT!!!!
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com