Tuna, the other white meat

[Pilar]

Does anyone know a thing about tuna fishing offshore? Some pals and I have gathered handline and standup equipment over several summers and want to use it. The big dilemma is of course the distance you have to travel to get in the fish. I've done the handline deal on a Newport charter before but what we want is stand up gear vs. Albacore on our boats. Where are the fish? How do you know when they are close enough to the shore to go after them? In the Gulf of Mexico and on the east coast they have something called R.O.F.FS. Rolands offshore fishing forecasts. Complete with maps of water temperature and fish activity reports from fishermen. This info is extremely useful. We have nothing like that here on the left coast. If any one knows please share. If I can learn anything worth knowing, I'll share. Thanking you in advance, The bend is your friend.

[Salmonator]

There is an eastern pacific water temp chart SOMEWHERE out there. I had it on my old puter before it crashed. My guess is that it's on the national weather service website for portland. There is a ton of info on that page for weather, ocean conditions and water levels for many rivers.. Joe

[Hookset]

I've only fished tuna from a charter boat twice, once last year and once the year before. Lots of fun, IF you can locate fish.
The key ingredient was 60 degree water. We never started fishing until consistent 60 degree water was found and often the temp. was 62 to 65. Like Salmonator said, there is a web page on ocean surface temps updated daily. Last year the best catches were not on the surface, more tuna were caught under the surface, I chatted with a charter skipper 2 weeks ago on this subject. I've caught tuna on handlines and rod & reel, the rod and reel is definetly more work. The charters I took were 12 hour trips and we ran out 35 to 45 miles to find 60 - 64 deg. water and tuna. Just today I recieved a phone call and a card from 2 different charters saying tuna are in now. They are booking 12 hour trips already, meaning the fish are within 40 miles. Two weeks ago they were out 100 miles. I'm going if they come in closer. Three years ago they were only 5 miles out.

keep your fingers crossed,

hook

[dpizza]

http://psbsgi1.nesdis.noaa.gov:8080/...a/uspacifi.gif

This is a link for the water temp of the Eastern Pacific. I got it from www.hookup690.com which is based out of So. CA lot's of good info. on this site.

Tight Lines !!!!!