1st timer

[El Shaddai]

Long time reader, first time poster...so in keeping with tradition here is a true tuna story to keep y'all focused on next summer....last August I was the proud owner of a 20' Jetcraft sled that had reaped a significant harvest of Spring Salmon and on nice days even ventured in Big Blue and had some great days for Chinook......this was the best boat I had ever owned and like a great dog, it was almost a friend....a very close friend of mine grew up in So. Cal. (as a true native Oregonian I try not to hold this against him) and just like I grew up catching Salmon, Steelhead and Sturgeon, Les grew up catching all sorts of "junk" fish in the ocean..i.e albacore, yellowfin, dorado, groupers etc. Over the years I often teased him about chasing Charlie Tuna......well, last August, Les and I booked a trip for Albacore on the Irish out of Newport. The night before, we went to the dock as the Irish was coming in and they had caught 36 tuna for 5 guys...Les told me not to get my hopes too high, that tuna fishing is very much like all other types of fishing...great one day but who knows what tomorrow holds....the next am we left the dock at 5am and after a 3 hour ride out, I was beginning to think that all this traveling for 6 hours of fishing (12 hour rule) was a waste of time and $$. I put the first rod out and no sooner had I turned away than my friend yelled fish on and away we went...we caught a few more tuna the next couple of hours and I was impressed with their tenacity and pulling ability...around 12pm one rod went down, then another , then another...all I can say is that it was utter pandemonium....and a blast...we had brought our own rods and Les said next time the boat stops, he was going to cast a fishtrap.....he certainly got some strange looks as he was rigging up in preparation..even the deckhand was giving him a hard time about using plastics....I remember telling my other friend (also on his 1st alabcore venture) that despite the heckling, I knew Les was a tuna "expert" and just watch this...sure enough, next time the boat stopped out went the fishtrap....wham! I instantly grabbed my rod and cast out a fishtrap...wham! Every time the boat stopped, we hooked up...it quickly got to the point that we did not even want to grab the trolling rods.....we caught 46 tuna over the next 3 hours...we caught tuna on almost every cast...we ended up with 58 tuna for the day....many over 20 lbs and 1 36lb caught on the fishtrap. The whole 3 hour ride in I was contemplating the best way to explain to my wife the benefits for our family of owning both a sled and an ocean boat.....I have never enjoyed myself as much as I did that day...after we arrived back at the dock, I instantly went to the office and booked a couple of more trips...the next trip we "only" got 36...again, many came on the fishtraps.....I spent the next few weeks researching various boats and by mid September I decided to sell my trusted sled and I bought a Wellcraft 240 Walkaround right off the showroom floor.....of course, we had to break the boat in and ended up limiting on Chinook our last eight trips out until the season closed in late October. Now, I am just watching videos, reading magazines and constantly thinking about catching my first albacore in my boat....this whole tuna thing has got me as excited as I used to get when I was a kid.......

[puffins crew]

Welcome aboard!!

You picked a great boat in the Irish to get your first taste of Tuna on stand up gear.

Looking foward to this comming summer, and warm water.

See you on Big Blue.

Peace, Tom

[id. painter]

Good story,,,, thats just what i needed , another newbie (telling fantastic stories) about tuna.It sounds like ive wasted too many summers, having never caught a tuna. id.painter

[fish assassin]

Welcome aboard!! Good thing you went out on the
Irish last summer, 'cuzz rumor has it that he was
pulling the plug at the end of this season. By all
accounts he was/is the best sports tuna guy around!
I had several trips out this year where we took turns
calling eaich other into bites. Great guy, Ken!

Again, welcome!

-assAssin-

[wak'm&stak'm]

The odds aren't to great that we were there when you were...but...one day in Aug. RJ and I were fishing the same area as the Irish. There were only 2 boats out there that day and for good reason, we got our butts kicked.
If you saw a Striper popping thru a whitecap once in awhile...that was us.
We were catching fish but just couldn't stand up.

Welcome on Board

[Mr. Fisherman]

Welcome! Great Story...

Assasin, it's sad but true. When I talked to him about his stove he said he wasn't sure if he was going to charter this year or not. Said if he did it would likely be his last. :depressed:

[Simon Peter]

El Shadai,
I was converted similar to you. Hard to believe you've been missing out on that for all these years!

I'll have to try the casting bit when the boat is stopped. A lot of the time we pull lines instead of rod-n-reel so you can't get too involved casting.

My first Albacore trip was out of Newport Beach, CA while visiting the in-laws. We fished live anchovies and that was awesome! Fish come charging on the boat looking for bait and everybody is hooked up and complete pandamoniam! WOW! If you get a chance to do live bait remember two things:

1) Always fish the fastest, greenest anchovy you can. Don't pick a sluggish bait.

2) Let the fish take the bait for a second before you set the hook.

It took me a while to learn this, but once I did I was into the fish!

Glad to see you are part of the Albacore faith ;-)

[Miss B Haven]

Welcome aboard ! Sounds like you need to a) Go to the boat show and pick out a nice shiny glass one and b) come to the Albacore Anonymous (Tunaholics) meeting in Hillsboro on the 17th.
Just got my fishtraps at the end of season last year, didn't get out for another trip to try em, can't wait! :smile: Live baiting i nOregon is tough, no sources (found out someone iin Ilwaco was selling last year but word didn't get out until after season was over).
I might try jigging some up on the way out next year if we do a long overnighter. :grin:

[fish assassin]

Originally posted by Miss B Haven:
Welcome aboard ! Sounds like you need to a) Go to the boat show and pick out a nice shiny glass one and b) come to the Albacore Anonymous (Tunaholics) meeting in Hillsboro on the 17th.
Just got my fishtraps at the end of season last year, didn't get out for another trip to try em, can't wait! :smile: Live baiting i nOregon is tough, no sources (found out someone iin Ilwaco was selling last year but word didn't get out until after season was over).
I might try jigging some up on the way out next year if we do a long overnighter. :grin:

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">Mel:

A GLASS boat???? Why in the world would anybody want to buy a
GLASS boat?? Oh, wait, never mind! Don't want to start any
religious wars here!! :grin: :grin: :grin:

If you want to do some jigging on an over nighter, I'd suggest you
wait till dark, put out a spot light and jig till dawn. I
understand that this can be *very* productive!

[OceanBlue]

Welcome El Shaddai?

Great story. Had to giggle about the 36 fish for 5 fishers on the Irish the day before you went. And about the fishtraps.

Hope you'll come to our AA meeting on the 17th.

[Fishplay]

Welcome to Slaty Dogs(Ifish.net). With that Wellcraft 240 you'll be in 'em this year!
I'm one of them sled owners who wishes he wasn't! ARGH!!

[Miss B Haven]

Opps- I guees you can scratch part "a)", I missed the best line in the story (about buying the wellcraft)! [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

Fishassassin- I'll talk to you later (about those folks who go out in the middle of the ocean in recylced beer cans)! :shocked:

[El Shaddai]

Thanks for the kind welcome......I look forward to seeing you on Big Blue!

[finclipped]

Welcom El Shaddai,,, I believe I have seen your Jetcraft many times below Bonneville backtrolling for salmon. It will be a little harder backtrolling from a Wellcraft, but you have the catching part down pat... Good luck.

[Pilar]

Welcome El Shaddai. You better join TA, we need stories like that to indoctrinate new members.

Simon Peter, you said alot when you said this....

1) Always fish the fastest, greenest anchovy you can. Don't pick a sluggish bait.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">A friend found some Storm lures that look like fishtraps but much cheaper (0.75 each!) and looking alot more like a fish than the fishtraps I've seen. So when I go looking for mine I need green? what color green?

[ 01-09-2003, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[El Shaddai]

Finclipped:

You hit the nail right on the head! Trust me, when I was looking at switching to an offshore fishing boat and selling my sled I agonized over losing out on backtrolling at Bonneville for both springers and upriver brights.

I pray I haven't lost my mind (not to mention a couple bucks) in my "conversion" to a salty dog!

[Pilar]

Zackly, Scaup. I got the 'Bunker' flavor in a 6" bait, last fall and never got out to try them. 'Puffin' scored at Sportsmens Warehouse with 5" (4) for $2.99.

The 'Sardine' is green, would that work?

[Scaup]

I've never fished for tuna in Oregon, but we used blue (croaker), green(sardine), and the red head to catch Aku (Skipjacks) for Marlin bait when I lived in Hawaii.

I would think they should work here. $2.99 for 4 is a good deal.

[Scaup]

Pilar, are you talking about something that looks like this?

http://tackledirect.com/stormwildeye.html

[Simon Peter]

My reference to "Green Bait" is actually not color, but I'm sure green colored baits work great.

My reference is to a very lively bait - often spoke of as "green". It means it hasn't been broke yet - kinda like a horse ;-)