Got an invite Monday from my Good Buddy Gregg to chase Longfin out of Fort Bragg Wednesday.
Glad work cooperated.
Met him and Mike at the hotel Tuesday, devised a game plan and hit the rack.
Stayed at the Surf Hotel and was amazed at how many boats were in the parking lot. Seems the word got out.
Splashed out of Noyo and was on the water before the sun came up.
Approx 10 miles off the Noyo Harbor Bridge we started seeing Tuna Temp water, but we pushed on further east at least another 12 miles and set our spread.
What seemed like two hours and one nasty 8 rod tangle later we started hearing chatter on the radio that they were inside of us so we pulled up and headed inside.
Once our spread was out and up to speed we had our first customer on the Shotgun some 150 yards behind us. Nothing to brag about but it was a nice mid-grade Albacore and the skunk was off the boat and we were on the board.
Picked up a single here and there after that, nothing wide open though.
Our buddy boat piloted by Capt. Jack said put a bird in the spread because he was getting picked up. Luckily Gregg had some onboard and after some rapid crimping by yours truly we had three in the spread.
All hell broke loose after that.
Gregg, at the helm, saw a boil off our starboard bow about a hundred yards out. Like a pro he guided the boat away from the boil and turned hard to place our spread where the action was.
Six reels started screaming all at once and they all went in different directions creating the Mother of All Tangles. Mike and I did our best to control the chaos, but we needed Gregg to stop the boat and give us a hand. Twenty minutes later we had all the tangles out, rods without fish stored, and managed to boat 5 of 6. After high fives all around we reset and were at it again.
Chatter on the radio had reports of Bluefin, Yellowfin, Big Eye, and Dorado coming over the rails in numbers. Didn't see them but radio reports of two BF & YF cows were heard and a few Big Eye the 100-130 class.
One boat must have really got into the Dorado because they were asking if anyone wanted to trade Albacore for Dorado.
We had 10 in the box and decided to start working back to the harbor when we picked up another double.
What seemed like an hour later Gregg said lets try Halco's because we were still in "Tuna Water" but well within sight of the Noyo Bridge and Highway 1. As he was pulling the Halco's out we scored a triple.
Boat wasn't quite plugged but the 160 pounds of ice wasn't enough to ethically keep what was in the boat chilled, so we pulled the plug and left them biting. 15 total solid 20 pound class fish. I think the best one was 25-28 pounds.
Seemed everyone back at the landing had similar days, some better-some worse.
Heard the Intrepid of San Diego long range fame was fishing the waters further out till Monday. Never heard a San Diego boat this far north.
Can't wait till next time.
Great report and a good day!
Thanks!
Best, Fred
Marvelous! Um, why are the caps still on those beverages?
Quote from: Shellbelly on September 17, 2022, 02:27:07 AMMarvelous! Um, why are the caps still on those beverages?
Those were for my wife.
Cost of Fishing...
Nice!!!
-J
First time I have seen someone in the US call them "Longfin" which is what we call them in South Africa.
Sounds like a great day and some good eating to follow!
Hope you have a deck wash onboard ;D
Good work. We had similar fishing up here also.
Cheers:
Todd
Nice days work!!!! - john
Cool! Great report and pictures!
Those are some fat Albies. What is your "tuna temp. water"? I recall it as 64F way out NE of here. Surprised to hear about YF's, Dorado's and Big Eye's in the area.
Cor, My Dad called them Longfin and it stuck. Still use Albacore too.
Gfish, "Tuna Temp", at least up here during Albacore Season (which is never consistent it's been two years since they were close enough for private boats to reach) is 60-65 degrees. The temp was 60 8 miles out and got warmer the further east we went. We normally put in at 60. We look for temp breaks and work those lines tacking between warm and cooler and vice versa.
My buddy Gregg really has these things dialed in.
Thanks nice report & pics, thanks for taking us along, cheers Don.
Damn Yankee's you get all the good fish.!!
Quote from: handi2 on September 18, 2022, 07:48:41 PMDamn Yankee's you get all the good fish.!!
These albacore are travelers, following the warm current that circles the Pacific. The albacore season is very short lived. Maybe 2 months, and many of those days are unfishable weather.
Nice pile of quality longfins !!
Nice catch !!
ooh that what I can call a good fishing day, way to go compadre.
Good job! Albie's are on my bucket list. After a wahoo :fish Bill
Wahoo & White Sea Bass are on my bucket list.
Opha too but I have no idea how to fish them.
For a sportfisher, Opah are just the pure luck of the draw. Even if you hear of 5-10 caught on a SD/LR trip, it is just because the boat came across them. I lucked into a small one, 72# jackpot, on a 4-day on the Royal Star on my birthday in '09. I hooked up when soaking a sardine on 40#, deep under a paddy. It is the only one boated by a member of our annual group charter on our annual trip that I know of. (I have heard of crewmen boating one or two, fishing at night, on trips that I have not been on.)
I had a nice couple hours on that '09 BD afternoon. I took a break after the Opah. The captain wanted to move to another paddy or meter mark. I ended up boating that Opah, a small 20# Albie, and a 40# BFT (would have won second JP but we agreed one JP per fisher), on three successive baits on the same 40# rig, with only a retied hook and new bait.
Wahoo and WSB are two of the three species my wife enjoys at the table. Wahoo will probably not be scratched off my bucket list since long trips are no longer something I can do (just because of home and pet responsibilities). I've boated numerous WSB soaking sardines at night back when we could fish at Isla Cedros.
Jim,
Sounds like the WSB that get caught bouncing Halibut balls in SF Bay.
Fishing for Halibut but get a Ghost Fish.
I guess I'm due, been doing this since I was a teenager and I'm 57 now...
Hey, we're neighbors!
My buddy Gregg was at Noyo again over the weekend.
He and his wife were targeting Rock Fish but the water was warm so he said what the hell and threw out the Albacore jigs.
Wasn't long till he had a could fatty's onboard. One tipped the scale at33# and the other 44#.
He let his wife reel both in and it kicked her butt, she said lets go back to Rock Fishing!