We blanked. We had 2 boats call out a bite a little NW of where we started trolling in 58 to 61 degree water. Their spot was in 65 to 69 degree water, so the tuna seemed like they wanted to stay down. We only had 2 hookups and both wiggled off the hooks about halfway in. They claimed to see jumpers, but we didn't. Lots of blue sharks running out/in and very little sea life on the tuna grounds.
Ocean conditions were perfect... But the bar was restricted to 20ā and up. The 4ā foot chop and occasional 6ā wave in the channel as we exited. We had very foggy conditions from the ramp to about 10 miles offshore (500ā to 1000ā visibility), but then it lifted and the sun came out. Seeing The Yaquina (Dredge) inbound on the south tip nearly made me crap my pants! We ran 18 to 20 MPH out and 28 to 35 back. Got an awesome grey whale show around the 400' line on the way back. Had to be +/- 20 whales showing off their tales.
Fish checker said 40 plus kings were caught in the river. My buddy confirmed that most people got their kings before 8am. The high liners on the tuna grounds said they had 6-8 tuna around 2:30 pm when we bugged out. Boat ran great and we had fun trying to catch them. We were 48 miles out from the tips. We only burned 32 gallons of fuel covering 116.3 nautical miles. My 3.63 MPG is pretty damn good for my Suzuki DF200A! ā½šš»
And judging by the amount of tuna I saw at the dock in Newport yesterday, it's time to start this. With my little boat and my experience level I probably won't be adding much to this. So let's roll boys and girls!
