Saltwater Flies for Tuna

KeyWest · 11-27-2003, 08:26 AM

Rather than continue the discussion about fly fishing for Tuna under the Live Bait thread, I thought I might start another thread. I have NO experience in this, but would like to try next year. Would some of these work:

[ 11-27-2003, 09:52 AM: Message edited by: KeyWest ]

Pete · 11-27-2003, 08:33 AM

Those all look good! I've been talking about pitching feathers at Albies lately. It's on my "to do" list for 2004.

KeyWest · 11-27-2003, 09:01 AM

The .pic is from Cabelas

corrirod · 11-27-2003, 10:06 AM

There were a few guys that were going to book a charter this past summer specifically to flyfish for albies but I didn't see any results posted. Anyone know how they did or if they were able to get out?

I don't really see why it wouldn't work if you were able to find a good school of feeding fish to cast to. I think they'll take just about anything under those circumstances it's just a matter of getting close enough to hit'em with a flyrod. I think I'd prefer a spey rod to be able to make repititive long casts without having to reel in and double haul each time.

I'd love to do it but I still haven't been able to get close enough for a spinning rod, let alone a fly rod.

Albacore Tuna Captain · 11-28-2003, 07:46 AM

I've known of several attempts by fly fishermen to do this. They have been pretty much unsuccessful due to several factors. They need to get close enough to a feeding to cast into it. If they do get one on, it takes so long to get it in that the feeding is over before anymore attempts can be made.

So the oppertunity to fly fish just doesn't present itself often enough to make it a worth while attempt unless everyone on the boat wants to do it. Last summer, Mark Mc was second captain for me and he had an oppertunity to cast a small jig on light tackle into a feeding. SLAM! BANG! GOODBYE EVERYTHING!!! :shocked: And that was using 20# test against only 20+ pounders. Now why would anyone want to do that??? :whazzup:

I'm sure it would be a hoot to catch one on a fly set up but......man, it's a blast on heavy tackle so who'd want to fight one on light tackle????

Miss B Haven · 11-28-2003, 08:57 AM

Amazing! You can catch a 30lb Chinook on 10 lb test (yes I have done it) but a 20lb Albi snaps 20 lb! :shocked:

Still just gotta try it. Pete- can you throw 6 feet of 100 lb on that fly rod ? :grin:

Albacore Tuna Captain · 11-28-2003, 03:24 PM

Marc, Spooled, bent hook, inexperience.....just plain active fun!!!

I've had these albies break 100# test if the fisherman didn't know what he's doing but I could have sworn that fish you had hooked up wasn't on your pole 1 micro second before he was gone and you had the biggest poo poo eating grin on your face!

All I remembered you saying was, "Oh oh oh! I got onnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeee, sheeeesh, they sure are fast! :tongue:

The Bad Fish · 11-28-2003, 03:40 PM

"the snoopy pole albie challenge". you can count me in..

Albacore Tuna Captain · 11-28-2003, 04:39 PM

I needd mo tunaaaaa.........

Albacore Tuna Captain · 11-28-2003, 04:51 PM

I've spent hours refreshing my memory. Is this what we're after????? Ain't they beautiful? Why would anyone want to fish for anything else?

Mojo · 11-28-2003, 04:53 PM

Rod,
I was the one that was looking to fill a charter for a fly trip. After talking to many people it was decided that what you need is a sport boat and like 3 guys that want to flyfish for tuna. It would be unfair for 6 guys to pitch in on a charter than only have 2 opportunities to cast to a tuna. We'll have to see what next year holds. Hopefully warm water, calm seas, and me begging my way on somebodies boat (that will let me cast to a group of fish if we can chum them up).

My pals that go to Baja each spring tell me that they chum with dead baitfish to get the school in range then hit them with flies. Last year they had a triple on yellowfins that were all over 50 pounds. I can't imagine that fire-drill...

Albacore Tuna Captain · 11-28-2003, 04:53 PM

Sorry for the oversize picture, but all my fish are toooooo big to put into a small frame.

Mark Mc · 11-28-2003, 08:40 PM

Mike, that's a very nice albie image. However, I think the color needs just a wee bit of an adjustment:

Mark Mc · 11-28-2003, 11:06 PM

Uhhh....Mike... you forget to tell "the rest of the story"...As I recall we handed the rod off to the head guy of the main group. We kept the boat in gear (2-3 knots?) to keep the rest of the gear working. The guy was getting spooled on that little reel, and we had to button down the drag. It popped off, and one of the hooks on that treble was bent open.

When Marty & I cast fishtraps & iron to jumping / feeding fish, we stop the boat. Pulling them in on 20 & 25 lb test is no problem when dead in the water. And I'm not talking a 20 minute fight, more like 5 - 6 minutes of hard pulling.

I think the moral here is that it's hard to mix gear types. Next time I'm casting off the bow of the Blitz while trolling, I'll be ready with a good 40 lb rig & a single hook.

BTW, it was still fun watching that guy get spooled!!!

I think next summer we should have a little light tackle albie contest. The question is, how low do you want to go? 15 lb would still be pretty easy. Do we hear 12? 10? 8?

Happy day-after-Thanksgiving to you all. Time to get more leftovers....

Albacore Tuna Captain · 11-29-2003, 07:20 AM

Marc, you are bad

Goodidea · 12-04-2003, 09:11 AM

Now that my boat is out, I don't know why I checked this site, but I did. I don't know anything about it either, but for sure, I am in on the flyfhing for Tuna with you next year.

Tom Shipley

Fishplay · 12-04-2003, 11:01 PM

Hello, we've got another newby.

Welcome aboard Goodidea!

Now go start a new topic and introduce yourself with a good fish Tale!!

Boat or not your gonna find yourself with a heck of an addiction. :grin:

edsr · 12-05-2003, 10:52 AM

KW - Those all look good! The unknown will be how do we get them bitten. Not to worry some bright light among us will come up with a method.

Let's see 15 wt. fly rod and a gazillion yds. of backing, yer all set.

One would suppose a rod and reel large enough to catch 40lb.+ fish should do the job.
edsr

WP · 12-05-2003, 02:34 PM

I have wndered about those late season albacore and their finiky feeding habits. I have thought that maybe salt water flies trolled at slow speed (2-5 knots) on long lines but connected to more traditioal tackle, might be the answer? I have decided to try that and small jigs next year...at least in the second half of the season. Lighter seems like fun but I prefer conventional gear to fly gear, of equivilant strength. No reason not to try flies though...we still have a lot of learning to do about these fabulous fish!
Dave

edsr · 12-05-2003, 03:46 PM

Goodidea - Welcome aboard!! I hope you are really crazy cause we are. Hope to see you at a T/A meeting or on the water. How about a story, it's tradition ya know?
edsr

Sailfish · 12-08-2003, 04:36 PM

I have yet to get the chance to try the long rod for albies, but I dont see why it could'nt be done. You would definitely have to devote part or all of the day exclusively to it so you will need some willing boat mates. At the lodge I worked at we used to fish for yellowfin with flies, and although I never got to actually catch one myself it looked like a blast and a work-out as well. We would usually put out a variety of hookless teasers and troll till we found the fish or spotted alot of porpoise/bird activity. As soon as the fish come up to the spread, the throttles back off and you chum like the blazes. This is where it is sort of different form the standard bait and switch. You have one person with a spinning rod and a big hookless popper that can be cast a good distance, and the fly angler ready to cast behind them. The popper gets cast, a single fish is teased close enough for a decent flycast, yank the popper, throw the fly(nearly identical to the popper), inhale, yank yank, and zzzzzzzzzzz. A good twelve weight with ALOT of micron backing should do the trick up to about #35, after that, good luck. Double biminied #30 pound class tippet with #80 flourocarbon bite tippets seemed to hold up pretty good as long as you know what you're doing as far as clamping down on the spool or the drag. Needless to say, having someone skippering the boat who knows how to hook and chase fish on light tackle is of enormous benefit to the angler, as well as experienced folks to throw the popper and dump the chum. This type of fishing is a total team effort which makes it all the more rewarding when you actually hook up. I'd definitely like to give it a shot next season if the chance arises.

KeyWest · 12-08-2003, 07:32 PM

Excellent advice - thanks! I was figuring on bringing live baits on the fly trip - getting them to the boat with chum.

Again thanks!

BanannaMan · 12-09-2003, 07:48 AM

I too tried to book a flyfishing trip for tuna and had a boat lined up out of Brookings but it broke down and cancelled.
I have used a 14 wt fly rod for 100lbs tarpon with a 100 lbs shock tipett and a saltwater reel that holds 650 ft of backing. I think a 14wt rod and 20lbs shock tip would work. I even had a striped marlin on last july in Mexico trolling a large fly behind the boat. I got a little to exicited and set the hook to quickly and lost it. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img] It all turned out ok though as it switched to chasing my buddies fly and he hooked it and landed it. It was about 80lbs and took 40 minutes with a 12wt fly rod. I am going to Mexico at the end of this month to chase sailfish on a friends boat.
I would be willing to help split costs on any tuna trip next year and dont really care if I catch any fish just to research the possibilty of catching tuna on the fly off the Oregon Coast. I have some ideas of how it might be done but dont know if these tuna have the same behavior of the fish in Mexico. I have lots of gear and the rods are warranteed for life against breakage so if anyone needs to borrow gear to join me no worries there.
I am going to try to attend the next TA meeting, Because my new goal in life is to become a "salty dog". If I catch a sailfish at the end of this month can I call myself a "salty pup?"

tailchaser · 12-09-2003, 10:10 AM

I found these fly's on the net searching for tuna flys. It's something I'm definitely going to try with the old man next year on the ocean. We typically catch a lot of tuna, so we're always looking for something new to do and this has the looks of quite a hoot, with chumming and live bait in the mix.

HMMMMM, for some freaking reason the pic. upload isn't working for me. It's showing being uploaded, but won't give me a preview or a icon to click for the routing to post...... Any ideas? Can't say I've had this problem. All of the files are easily under 100k. Jenny??

tc

Miss B Haven · 12-09-2003, 10:56 AM

tailchaser- make sure hte file path isn't too long. Put the pics very close to the C drive. Long file paths (you know like c:/Windows/MyDocs/Pics/Flies/Tunaflies) act like they are loading but never seem to actually make it. I think the YBB software gets bored or lost. No GPS I guess.
Also- make sure both the file and the name you choose in the upload section is 7 or less characters. It's like old DOS/Windows here!

tailchaser · 12-09-2003, 12:45 PM

Ok, that worked, thanks B;

Here they are...

tc

KeyWest · 12-09-2003, 06:25 PM

The flying fish fly looks great! I could have caught some Mahi in the SE with those things. BannanaMan - get in touch next summer (July) and let's plan a trip. Always looking for new techniques!

BanannaMan · 12-10-2003, 06:42 AM

I have a feeling that summer steelheading is going to take a backseat to my new mission for fishing tuna. Could it be that I have a low grade Tuna fever? Should I get a Tuna shot instead of a flu shot? I have already ordered a new 14 wt and bought a bunch of saltwater fly material to tie some clousers. Keywest I will drop you a line and we will definetly plan a trip.

KrystalFlash · 12-12-2003, 05:46 PM

This is great! I would love to try this. I only see a couple of potential problems here with trying to catch an albie on fly gear:

1) Line? ("I need how many miles of backing?")We use #80 tough on these babies. Is there a fly line that is comparable?
2) Reel? I am not aware of any reel that has the drag OR capacity to handle one of these 25#+ swimming machines that is reasonably priced.
3) Rod? Same as #2

I think this would be a blast. I just can't see how to get from A to B. I don't think the rod and reel for a 40# fish is gonna cut it here. If anyone has suggestions, let me know. Thanks

KrystalFlash
I'd Rather be Lucky than Good
"...so here's to you a hearty draught, and to all that love us, and the honest art of Angling" - Izaak Walton; The Compleat Angler

[ 12-12-2003, 06:53 PM: Message edited by: KrystalFlash ]

Mark Mc · 12-12-2003, 09:21 PM

There is one huge factor here that hasn't been mentioned yet: backbone of the rod. Albies can be subdued real easily (like 5 - 10 minutes tops) with good 20 lb line, if the rod has good backbone (like a live bait rod, Calstar 196, 270, etc). On the other hand, when a guy is trying to pull on an albie with a steelhead rod, the rod bends all the way into the butt and you can't effectively pull on it. The expression is "bottoming out": you want the rod to bottom out (stop bending) somewhere in front of the foregrip. I watched Marty's buddy Jim, a San Diego tuna hotshot, struggle for over 20 minutes with an albie on a steelhead rod. That rod was bent like a big noodle the whole time. Funny when it's someone else!

I'm just a novice fly-fisher, so I only know a little about what the rod weight number means. Is there a flyrod blank that has the equivalent backbone that I'm talking about here? How about building a fly rod on a long live bait blank?

BanannaMan · 12-13-2003, 04:33 PM

They make fly rods and reels for salt water and fish. My salt water reels double as my spey rod reels for river fishing. They are all machined alluminum and wont rust as long as they are rinsed. The brand name is Tibor's and will hold all the backing needed for any fish. I have a 14 wt and 12 wt Sage RPL xi that should be adequate for the job. They are guarrenteed if they break and are replaced. The only draw back is that they do carry a heafty price tag. $650-$685 for the Tibor reels and about the same for the rod. By the time next tuna season come around I should have enough of these to outfit an entire boat and would be willing to share.

Sailfish · 12-13-2003, 11:29 PM

I have used a Billy Pate tarpon reel for everything from sails and tuna to steelhead salmon and of course, tarpon. It holds plenty of backing, especially if you use micron and a shooting head set-up, and performs double duty as a spey reel. The micron backing is good stuff but you gotta watch your fingers. Unfortunately this reel or anything else suitable for tuna is going to cost an arm and a leg. Ross makes a big game reel called the Canyon that is probably the cheapest of the bunch at the $350-$400 range. I had a set-up for clients with one of these and it performed pretty well on the sails and tuna, but I cant say how the longevity would be. I use a 12wt. Scott STS that has the needed backbone Mark Mc is talking about which also cost quite a bit but works really well. I guess you could go cheaper but I think these fish will destroy anything but the toughest set-ups which tend to be pretty spendy. Krystalflash, I'd be happy to let you use my set-up if you got an extra spot in the boat some day this season and don't want to shell out all the cash. Happy to chum or whatever as well.