Tuna lesson Pt. II ... finding them

[Pilar]

Tuna lesson Pt. II ... finding the wily devils

Learning the gear is one thing. We have spent some time learning and teaching each other the gear. Dealing with the fish when caught is another. MarkMc gave excellent links that discuss the issues of warm blooded fish, scombroid poisoning, and the handling and care of Albacore.
For the last year or so I have puzzled over the other things about TUNA! fishing. The main issue and you can tell this by the amount of conversations that start out with "How far did you have to go?" is finding the fish. I offer the following info on finding fish and feel confident that it will help you in your search for your own personal TUNA! Nirvana. These things have been intuitively obvious to me for some time now and much of the Gulf and east coast fisheries depend on these principles. Now with recent trips and attempting to apply this knowledge I believe that it is no coincidence that fish are found in particular places.
To play this game you will need chart 18520 which covers the mouth of the Columbia and on down to Newport. Since most of the time I fish Depoe and off of PC, I will discuss that part of the coast. I encourage the rest of you southern Oregonians and Wassies to get a chart and apply the principles to finding the spots off your shore.

It's pretty simple, really. Fish structure and you will consistently find TUNA! lurking nearby. The '61 degrees' seamount is a prime example of this. For some years now I have hit waypoints on doubles or triples. These get saved and recently I started plotting the numbers on the chart and noticed that most of the hits wer near the edges of the seamounts. Some weeks ago I ran north from '61 degrees' to where Sea Jypzee and WildHawg were on a hot bite and finished off the box on my boat there. On Tuesday I plotted her numbers. They came out on another seamount north of '61 degrees' that I have dubbed 'The brothers'. It is two undersea mountains that are side by side and top at 160 fathoms. The surrounding area is pretty flat and as deep as 300 fathoms. Based on this info, I looked at that area near 'Brothers' and found an intersting feature that I thought would need some more investigating. Let's call this place 'The Crack'. It is the narrow canyon between the brothers.

Yesterday, we fished '61 degrees' pretty hard and got a few scratch hits, mostly drivebys. WP went north as he has done for several days now and got in the area of 'Brothers'. Soon he was calling us on the VHF and inviting us to chase radio fish. At '61 degrees' we had 61 to 62 degree water but it was clear green and not much TUNA! rising to the surface in it. I think they are still there but not surfacing because their preffered feed is not on the surface in the green water. Anyway we went to 'Brothers' and as we approached we found a break in two dimensions. One was a very distinct color change from green to an iridescent blue. The second and coincident with the first was a rapid change in water temp from 61.5 to 63 degrees. We dropped gear near the south edge of the south brother and immediatley hooked up. I had only 2 lines in and wham. It shook us off and we drive on. Meanwhile, very near the 'Crack' WP, Marty and Kathy Sue were working the fish by driving across the canyon from NW to SE. Many fish were caught here and we joined the parade as other boats got plugged and went in heavy. The numbers are in the other thread by Depoe Bay Dan.

Get a chart and look for flat areas that have a hump that rises up from the bottom. Most of the drops I am fishing are at least 400 feet. Drops and cliffs of any kind probably work the same way but many of those are beyond my range and comfort level. The two places I have tried out of Depoe are about 30 to 35 miles one way. Anywhere outside the 100 fathom line is a good place to start. The edges of any of these seamounts attract bait and that attracts TUNA! I think you have to have the blue water also or at least clear green water. When the '61 degrees' spot is not above 60 degrees or the water is very green or not clear that spot does not produce.

The plotted points trace exactly the edges of these undersea mountains that I have fished near for the last 4 years. It is hard to dismiss this as coincidence.

One more thought .... a steep temperature break can act like structure and can hold fish. The two colliding currents herd baitfish along the break. This attracts TUNA! also. Anytime you cross a distinct color change or a quick temperature rise, stop and try the spot. Anecdotally, I find the biggest fish at the edge. We had several yesterday over 30 pounds and nothing under 20.

The fish yesterday were full of small silver fish. ABout 2-1/2 inches long. They are deep bodied and flat like a herring with a bulging forehead like a dorado and a big mouth like an anchovy and a tapered tail wrist with a broom shaped tail. The body from the side view has a bowling pin shape. The Albacore also had an assortment of small (tiny) shrimp, some that would have been U-20 size and small pink-transparent squid. The Green and white hootchie, egg sinker and TUNA! double hook with a 200# leader was the thing to use. Also the teaset setup that Chum King showed me how to make, chased by a green hootchie or green zukers feather was the popular rig. Everything worked but those things worked best.

[ 08-07-2003, 01:16 PM: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[Captn]

John, nice to still see you. I have it figured this way, you are so full of enthusiam and excitment for the Ocean,(and some might describe it as BS) that you just cannot hold back, you must release, and the result is your tutorials on this board.
Thanks again

[Badger]

Pilar, you are the Tuna! god.

[Popeye]

Hey Newbie....Think you're goin ta sneak in here without a story :grin:

[SlabQuest]

This is exactly the kind of information that us tuna-newbies need.

Thank you.

(I hope this means that you're back)

[img]graemlins/program.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[Pitch Pocket]

Nice post John!

I'm thinking your goodbye post is looking like a shameless plug for a group hug!

[WildHawg]

Wheeeaaaaahhhhh!!!!! FISH ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pilar's right. Structure is the key to finding upwellings and seams which lead to TUNA!
Was a pleasure fishing with you as "wingmate" yesterday. Sorry I couldn't stay to help you cark. My rigs tailights buggered up and it doesn't appear to be a fuse. As it was I still drove partway in the dark without 'em.
What a GREAT day with better than great company to boot.
Glad you shared the thoughts with us Brutha!!

I missed out again John :depressed:
Well one of these days

[Sea Jypzee]

You're exactly right John, and great post.

Albacore generally surface on or around a temperature break, or upwelling. That is were cool deep water surfaces and hits warmer surface water. Causing a plankton bloom that attracts bait fish. These breaks can sometime be visually seen. They look like a long slick, kind of how it looks when a ship passes through an area (so always fish the warm edge of a temp. break).

If you have a flying bridge, or can get up a little in elevation, they're usually very easy to see from a distance. Often there will be kelp, and grass floating in the water inside of the 'slick' area as well. I've often found a large number of sharks inside these areas as well. (Sharks like to eat as well. :shocked: )

The structure on the bottom helps to promote these upwellings, so that's why we tend to find them in these areas more.

As for telling water color, often I just watch the wake of my boat, right inside the prop wash. When I'm in the blue water, the prop-wash looks very clear and has the blue color to it, whereas it is green and murky near-shore, or when in green water. I was out one time though that you could see HUGE areas of turquoise colored water all around, surrounded by slicks. Was some awesome fishing. Got quad hook ups there even.

[blubeast]

Thanks Pilar... it's this type of sharing that makes you and this board so special.

One thing about the makeup of the bottom off of Oregon is that the bottom is fairly uniform and the structure that is there sticks out well.
I have Lat/Lon numbers of interesting places to look into from Brookings to the mouth of the Columbia. There is aalso some real nice stuf that's too far for most of the IFISH fleet.

John, did you check on the halibut numbers that I gave you for NW of Barview?

[Chum King]

Pilar,

Thanks for letting me know that the predator chain teasers were working good for you. They were about the only thing we ran a few weeks back, and they were worked just fine for us... but then we didn't have any comparison shopping to work off of.