crashing bird ?

Bait O' Eggs · 10-22-2005, 02:58 PM

When we were tuna fishing Thursday should we have tossed swim baits into this area?

We motored by it but didnt see any tuna jumping, or any action to speak of except for a bunch of little fish in the water. :whazzup: :whazzup:

actually we were about 3 or 4 miles off of the Garibaldi jetties on the way in when we found a large bait ball. The pics of the bait didnt turn out very well.

bajadan2000 · 10-22-2005, 03:01 PM

Crashing birds? Can you say Yellowtail? YT will chase bait but stay just below the surface and not jump. Time to yo yo iron.

Mark Mc · 10-22-2005, 05:05 PM

Roy, tell me you are joking. You're not telling us that you didn't stop and cast to this.....are you?

This fall, most of our fish hooked on cast / jigged swimbaits were where the tuna had gone down (weren't jumping) by the time we got there. They were all lurking 10 - 40 feet down.

I don't care where it is on the ocean....when the birds are working like that, you stop and try to catch whatever is legally in season

.

Zodiac-Fisherman · 10-22-2005, 05:17 PM

Roy,

Dude.. The baitfish aren't on the surface to be eaten by the birds for their sheer joy..

They are being pushed up there by some palaegics.

If you cant get fish on a fish trip in this scenario, definitely start jigging irons/ tady's, or sumo jigs..

Freakwater · 10-22-2005, 06:02 PM

Dang! I remember looking at the GPS and we were right at 5 miles due west of Garibaldi. I don't recall the temp, but not far from that we were still at 59 deg. and attributed that to afternoon surface temp on a sunny day. That bait ball was amazing. Once we got on top of it I'm guessing it was 30' in diameter. It was so thick it was black! Just 3 feet down we could see them packed in like sardines (anchovies?)... small, skinny 3-4 inch fish. I remmeber thinking, "why are these dumb fish sitting on the surface like this and letting themselves get slaughtered by these birds?"...... DUH!

Bottom line was we were 45 mins. late from crossing an unfamiliar bar that was predicted to blow up with a huge outgoing exchange. Our minds were on a safe return, but could not help but stop for a minute and check out the wackyness.

Freakwater

OuterLimits · 10-22-2005, 06:58 PM

Wow! Nice pic of the birds. The birds are definetly working a bait ball as some predator from below is working them to the top!!!

Bait O' Eggs · 10-22-2005, 08:12 PM

We did not fish this,

I was not far from the Jetty, I could see the buoy outside Tillamook, and I didnt think salmon was open outside the triangle bubble, but was not sure about that.

I would guess there were chinook under this bait ball, I doubt there were tuna under it due to the distance from the shore, but who knows

My last trip tuna fishing we got tuna under a dozen working birds, this was a bird feeding frenzy

jigmaster · 10-23-2005, 07:30 AM

John, Stop the boat...determine the drift, drift across the edges of the bait ball (not the middle), cast plastics(swim baits) and iron..let the plastics sink in freespool (strikes felt on the sink) and jig or retrieve the iron..Doing that, you could have at least determined what was underneath the baitball...Those were probably chovies being pushed up..I've caught yellowtail in water that cold off of San Diego in the winter Y0-Yoing off of the bottom..Did you buy a real boat yet?

kenai · 10-23-2005, 10:12 AM

Good call not stopping the boat Roy. We were late coming in as it was on a serious tidal swing on the bar. I'd say it was the sign of a good captain to pass especially on a day when the fishing was tough and may have been the season finale.

bobross · 10-23-2005, 02:47 PM

We passed what I assume was the same bunch of birds working while returning to Till. in the Josie Rose. Seemed too close in to be tuna, and I already have a freezer full of salmon. Nonetheless, we looked wistfully at the action, but also had an eye on the tide change. It was starting to build up as we came in (somewhat behind BOE as our boat is slower) so I was glad we didn't stop fora half hour to work that bunch of birds and bait. Nice picture.

edsr · 10-24-2005, 08:13 AM

What Kenai said - Good call Roy, you did the right thing! As much as I would have liked to fish among of all those birds the thought that a huge swell might be waiting to greet us at the bar overshadowed the the fishing opportunity. The bait ball was huge, small silver fish with large eyes, Sauries?

edsr