[Tower Todd]

Hi everybody.

I just found this site thanks to someone mentioning it on another board. I'm from Washington State. I fish from a 28 Albemarle with Diesels. Of course Washington is known for its Salmon Fishing (Not this year ). We also have a short spring season for Pacific Halibut, seasons for rockfish, bottomfish, etc., but not too many people know that Washington has an awesome Summer Albacore fishery. It is a fairly new sport in WA. A few old timers have been at it, but most people don't realize what's out there. The season runs around the last part of June until about the second week of Oct. But usually by then the swell / winds coming down from the Gulf of Alaska have kept us off of the water for some time.
Not much is known about other types of tuna that may be here. There have been reports of bigger fish spooling and breaking off people trolling for albies. No one has ever landed one, so it could a number of things. My money is on Big-eye or Bluefin tunas. As more people go out, the more we will learn. There have been 3 recorded striped marlin catches and this year 2 Dorado (mahi) were caught off of the Columbia River (about 40 miles out). No one has ever landed a Swordfish here either, but a few believe they are here. Commercial longliners are not permitted to land in WA. so any they have caught were most likely landed into CA. (This is for sure the case in Or).
So, any big-eye info you may have would be cool. I'd love to land the first one!
I've been checking out this site for less than an hour and I already like it - Very Cool.

Tower Todd

 

[Minnow]

Welcome to the board.
There are many members of this board had caught big eye tuna, but I am not one of them Lol. Kilsong will be one of the most experiance with big eye tuna.

I hope you will be the first one to land big eye and swordfish.

 

[Ragman]

Hey Todd- Glad you found the site and look forward to your info!

I followed the frenzy up there a few months back about all of the Albie fishermen getting spooled! I saw it a little on AC and BD, maybe Senor as well.

Good luck!

 

[Guest]

ome to the site. keep us posted on your area and don't be a stranger...rick

 

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Welcome Tower Todd.

I would love to see some fishing reports.

 

[Pope]

Welcome aboard. I would bet the tuna spooling guys up there are bluefin. The bluefin a supposed to head up the pacific starting in mag bay off baja and work all the way north of cali before making their way to the midway islands to Japan and back. They can tolerate much cooler water like the albacore and I have seen them mixed together many times. The bite will start with albies and end with bluefin. Although I haven't seen bluefin over 80lbs there are records of fish over 400lbs being caught during albie bites. Hope to see you around.

 

[jt2hunt]

let me know when to bring my gear for a trip. haha
ask snagged about those gom bigeyes?

 

[Tower Todd]

Thanks for all of the welcome notes. I was hoping to get out again this week, but the swell / wind forecasts are blown out. Maybe early next week will open up and I can run.

Tower Todd

 

[Pope]

You better hurry up. The water is going to get cold soon. What is it right now? 65 degrees offshore?

 

[Tower Todd]

I haven't seen 65 water at anytime this season. Warmest I've seen was 62.5. New forecast is looking better - may get a chance Sat.

Tower Todd

 

[ksong]

Welcome aboard, Tower Tod.
As much as I love tuna jigging, I love king salmon jigging.
I went Langara Island off Queen Charlotte Island, BC 6-7 times and Kodiak Island, AK three times mainly for king salmon fishing, in addition to several other destinations in British Columbia and Alaska. I like mooching or trolling with cut-pug herring, but my favorite is jigging for king salmon.

As far as I know, you guys troll for albocore. But jigging can be very productive as longfins are very responsive to jigs. On the East Coast we catch bigger size albocore than on the West Coast.

I am not surprised you catch bluefin tuna there as bluefin can stay in cooler water. Cold water off Prince Edward Island in northern part of Canada is famous place to catch giant bluefin tuna in summer.

65 lbs albacore which is a trophy fish even here caught on yesterday's trip.

 

[Gunsmoke]

Ksong,
I notice that you travel a lot to fishing spots. I use a SKB triangle rod case when I travel. It doesn't roll and is very strong. What rod case do you use when you travel? Do you use a pelican case for your reels?

 

[Tower Todd]

Yes, the Albacore we get here are young fish. I just checked the state record and it is 52 pounds, caught Oct 1, 1997. This would go along with the bigger fish late in the season idea. The Albacore on the W. Coast are young fish, with the larger mature fish remaining in sub tropical areas near Midway Island - Samoa for breeding. Most of the Chicken of Sea that you buy in the cans are these larger tunas from these areas. Our tuna here are usually 1-3 year olds and average around 20 pounds. The biggest we've caught this season was 30 on the button. I've seen a few others caught around 35-36.
What size reels are you fellas going after bigger tunas with? I was thinking of getting some 50's or 70's.
Nice Alby in the Pic KSong.

Tower Todd

 

[ksong]

Ksong,
I notice that you travel a lot to fishing spots. I use a SKB triangle rod case when I travel. It doesn't roll and is very strong. What rod case do you use when you travel? Do you use a pelican case for your reels?
I am notorious for not taking care of my rods and reels. I use cheap plain Plano rod case and don't use any case for my reels.

Tower Tod,

It depends on how big your targeted tuna are.
But General trend is to use smaller reels for tuna.
If your targeted tuna are smaller than 200 lbs, 30 reels are good enough as we use braided line as main line nowadays. I had a 250 lbs bluefin tuna on Avet 4/02 reel without any problem. I even use 3/0 size reel for any tuna under 100 lbs.