Posts Tagged ‘Tuna’
Well it’s been a long cold winter but spring has sprung and it’s time to get ready for LaPush Halibut.
I took a trip up recently to fish lings and rockfish just to get back out on the big ocean. It was a great day. Got our lings and a couple seabass, had great ocean conditions and even saw some transient Orca whales. I am including the video link, even though it is crappy, because these big guys were running and you don’t see that all the time.
I spent the winter upgrading the boat, pics to follow, and taking classes for my OUPV (captain) license. Exams were successful and I am now officially Captain Kerry W Allen. I am a Navy veteran, I have worked for the federal government for 25 years and I finally have a marketable skill. The jury is still out as to whether I will start chartering this year or next. Oh, and no I can’t marry people.
The new regs are out. Area 11 will be closed for Salmon during May but Lings will be open May 1st through June 15th. 26 to 36 inches.
We are planning several Ocean trips this year for Halibut, Tuna and maybe even a Salmon trip or two out of Westport. I will start sending the newsletter again soon to keep everyone up to date on what’s Happening.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
We are a little ahead of schedule.
It turns out the decision to rent a garage for the project was a good one. I have been able to dry out some old holes and patch them. Got rid of some old hardware and filled the holes from that also. I have learned to apply gel coat and fiberglass, both of which will be useful skills in the future.
We installed a new satellite ready am/fm radio and speakers, a new Garmin 400c fish finder for the cockpit (this will use the existing p66 transducer from the old Furuno), a through hull (B60) transducer with a 12 degree tilt. This last required me to drill a 2 3/8 inch hole in the bottom of my boat. SCARRY!!! The big brain behind all this is a Garmin 740S touch screen GPS/Fishfinder combo unit. All this stuff is ready t plug in turn on and go. I am still awaiting a fuel flow sensor and an adapter for the 400c so it will talk to the transducer.
As soon as the fiberglass patch on the top is complete (outer layer on the bottom)
we can mount the 10 hole rocket launcher and the led deck light. Patch should be done Tuesday and the rocket launcher will go on this weekend. Then it’s wash and wax and let go fishing!!!!!!!
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
We have been working on the boat getting it ready for Spring Halibut, Summer Salmon and Fall Tuna. We are adding 10 rocket launchers, Upgrading the electronics to add a Garmin 740S which will replace the old Furuno ls4000 fish finder and an old Garmin 210 GPS, replacing the plugs on my Scotty Downriggers, patching some holes and cleaning out a bunch of old wires. We are also adding a b60 tilted element thru hull transducer, it is scary drilling a 2 3/8 hole in the bottom of the boat.
While I was down yesterday laying out some stuff and cleaning out my wiring area my friend Ringo (Bob) was down to help me. Ringo is an old gill netter from back in the day and we were swapping stories, I was mostly listening. When I finally poked my head out of the cabin I saw what Ringo had been working on. He made this beautiful series of knots on my starboard grab rail and started on the port one as well. 
These are beautiful but I told him when people ask me at the dock if I did that myself I was going to have to tell them I did. He just laughed. I also learned that he had never been halibut fishing off the coast here. So Ringo has promised to do more of his magic to my boat and I am going to make it a priority to get Ringo Halibut fishing this year. It’s a win win. I get more cool stuff for the boat, and I get to go fishing with Ringo. It kicks ass being me.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
My original plan was to go to the Sportsmans Show in Puyallup on Saturday but on Thursday I couldn’t take it any more. I’ve been talking to guys about reels, shopping for parts for the boat, working on the trailer and studying everything I could on electronics.
I need to get back out on the water so bad I can taste it.
So I left work early, called a buddy of mine and off we went to the show.
We stopped to look at the chainsaw carvings on the way in. This guy does some great work. We watched some dock dog practice and got some info for the wife for next year. Patti plans to enter Grace in the competition next year.
We finally entered from the boat side and worked our way through. There were the Defiance boats first then some bass boats and drift boats. Outside the tent area we found the River Hawk Boats. These are the big Aluminum boats you see at Cabelas. These are good boats made in Medford, Oregon.
Next we checked out the camp cooking tent. It smelled yummy but since we were so early there was nothing going on yet.
We entered the main hall and walked through the myriad of outfitters, guides and lodges. Spoke to a few. Spent a little extra time at the Women in Waders booth.
We came to the Wooldridge section and could see the big offshore they had there. Next to that was the something I had till now thought was impossible. The new Wooldridge 20′ Sport Pilot House. Not a typo, a 20′ Pilot house boat. I include a link to the video but this little rig ROCKS!!!
This is a great boat for the Pacific Northwest. Whether winter blackmouth fishing or offshore for halibut this is a great boat for two or three fishermen and with a 75 gallon fuel capacity it has the range to run for tuna with the big rigs. This little rig has everything right where it needs to be from locking rod storage to and enclosed head. They even hid a sink under one of the seats. All this at a weight of 2540 lbs. means you can tow it behind just about anything and launch and retrieve it by yourself, which happens more often than you might think.
After that we went buy to see what was happening at the Stealhead pond and watched Tom Nelson catch and release a couple stealhead. Walked by the archery area as some kids were learning to shoot. and back out into the maelstrom.
We went by some RivTech drift boats and picked up some “Wiked Lures”. I’ll let you know how the Wiked Lures work out but they look killer for Blackmouth. Stopped at the XRodz booth and chatted up Jim Mercier. He had some great deals on some beautiful rods. Not only do these rods not suck, each one is a work of art.
And lastly we went by the Sportco booth to see what was happening there. 
They had some great deals on gear including this one on Lamiglass Rods.
I learned some new things about Lamiglass production that we will be discussing later. Overall it was a good show. I spent too much money but enjoyed some great people, made some new friends and learned a few things.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Readers meet Mike…Mike meet the readers. OK, now that the introductions are done let me tell you about my buddy mike.
Mike came Tuna fishing with me this year. The first time we communicated about that he told me he could bring whatever gear I needed to fill the gaps in what I had. It is common that people want to bring their own gear so I told him what I tell everyone and that is you can bring if you want but we probably will just use what I have, But what do you have?
Mike responded with a list of top of the line gear for everything from trolling to live bait to “casting iron”. Needless to say I decided that we would use his and ended up leaving my stuff at home.
Mike is a gear guy. Mike has forgotten more about rods, reels and other gear than I have ever learned, which makes him a good guy to have around. In the day I had him on the boat and since he has taught me tons.
I was down at the Lamiglass factory outlet store with Mike last weekend. He was going to buy a pile of gear (pictured) and I went along to see the place and do research for the blog, post to follow. It was great to watch someone that knows so much pick through a place with such precision.
So I’ve asked Mike to write some gear stuff for the blog. You can look forward to some very detailed information coming soon.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Regular readers know this year I have focused on learning the Washington Coast Tuna fishery. I have learned a lot of lessons that I will use in the future but there was one lesson I was able to bring with me from years of winter blackmouth fishing that helped me out there.
Often when fishing Blackmouth, or really any time fishing in the fall and winter, I find that I am the only boat in the area. 
This situation happened to me when I was Tuna fishing last week. I had planned to go with a couple other boats but as is sometimes the case the other boats decided to go the following day so I found that I was the only boat going. Rather than cancel my last tuna trip of the year I decided to go and use what I have learned from winter blackmouth fishing and make sure several other people knew where I was going and when I would be back. I even told them if I was not back by 3:30 start looking for me. When I pulled in to Westport about 3:15 I checked in with the people I had coordinated with but if I hadn’t they knew to start looking.
This is very important on the ocean as it can be challenging at times just staying on the boat. This is also important in the sound where the water is not always so challenging and is easily underestimated. Every year we read in the paper about a guy that went fishing alone one day and washed up on the beach a couple days later. I was out blackmouth fishing on a dead calm day a few years ago, caught one and stepped out on the swim step to net it. There I was out by myself, on the swim step trying to negotiate my nine foot rod and a four foot leader, the long handled net and the boat. Fish goes on way net goes the other and I scare the crap out of myself thinking I’m going over. later, it occurred to me that if I did fall overboard the boat would keep going without me and I probably couldn’t swim to shore.
Lesson learned. It’s always a good idea to let someone know where you are going and when you’ll be back, especially when you will be out by yourself. This goes for Puget Sound or offshore or even your local lake. And always wear a life jacket, especially when fishing alone in the boat. accidents happen and a little preparedness can make the difference between being the guy in the picture or the guy in the paper.
Also remember that Boaters licensing is being phased in in Washington state. For details check out this link:
Graphic courtesy of BoaterExam.com – Get Your Boating License Online!
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
I attended a Northwest Tuna Seminar today at the Seattle Boat Show. The three hour seminar was put on by Captain John Keizer of saltpatrol.com. I was again impressed with John’s ability to make everyone feel comfortable with the concepts involved. One of the most important things in any offshore fishing is to know where you are going before you leave. John was very thorough in explaining where to get the proper information to make good decisions on where to go. John’s seminar also included information and examples on such things as terminal gear, rods and reels and how to choose a bait tank. Of special interest to me was his explanation on how to make the transition between trolling lures to swim baits to live bait.
There was also tons of information on Electronics and safety equipement. He even told us which hooks to buy.
Overall I would recommend this seminar to anyone even thinking about maybe someday going tuna fishing.
Thanks John
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com