Are any of you passionate about albacore tuna trolling? It is a pelagic that I literally adore, also excellent in cooking. I would like to start a specific discussion.
I have fished for the nany times off of the North West side of Vancouver island. Look forward too it every year.
Todd
we used to get albacore here. it's rare to be in range, now. mostly it's shorter rods from private boats. anything with 12-15 pounds of drag will usually suffice. i used tld 20 two speeds because that's what dad wanted. they worked great. it was braid and a 60-80 pound mono topshot. for trolling lures, i used 150 pound mono leaders, all crimped. i still have all of this gear. it just hasn't been used in the last 15 years!!!!
We have good albacore fishing Alan, drag your boat up and fish. Coos Bay and Newport, OR are the better ports. Easier to launch out of Chaarelston (Coos Bay) than Newport due to the crouds and it is the port the boat I was a deckhand on fished out of. Pacific halibut are available but fishing for them is better out of Newport or Florence. Winchester Bay is another good port.
Albacore are fun and the 25 fish per day per person limit fills a freezer fast but for me I would rather target larger tuna and yellowtail, and off of Oregon salmon, rockfish and halibut.
When I fished for albacore I liked Avet JX/Penn FTH 25N size reels filled with 60/65 pound Spectra. For jigging and cut bait smaller reels work better, Avet MX and Penn FTH 15XN/FTH 15 size. The charter boat I worked on was Avet sponsored and we used Avet JX and LX reels for albacore.
My clones were rigged with 100# mono and single hooks. I got hooked too many times by double and triple hooks by "overly excited" clients when I was a deckhand. I detest trolling plugs with 2 treble hooks for the same reason but we always had 2 in our spread. Two spreader bars (I fished Archer Supper Bars because Fred Archer was a friend) were always in our spread too.
All lures were fished no further back than the 4th wake, usualy the second or third , and in the front side of wake.
the excursion gets 6mpg when towing the boat. :o :o :o :o
TLD? Avet? Penn? I figure you veteranos were out there jackpoling them :D I remember as a lad that the Eldorado and Toronado (and later the Liberty as well) would come up to Morro Bay in the summers and run alby trips. - john
Quote from: alantani on March 14, 2025, 08:33:47 PMthe excursion gets 6mpg when towing the boat. :o :o :o :o
My F-250 with the 7.3 diesel gets 12 mpg towing a boat the size of yours, 9 mpg towing the 11,000 Tolleycraft.
Split the fuel 3 ways and you only have to rob 1 bank to fund the it. Once you cross the border fuel is about $1.00 per gallon cheeper than in Newscums paradise.... for now.
Quote from: Brewcrafter on March 14, 2025, 08:50:55 PMTLD? Avet? Penn? I figure you veteranos were out there jackpoling them :D I remember as a lad that the Eldorado and Toronado (and later the Liberty as well) would come up to Morro Bay in the summers and run alby trips. - john
We would occasionaly run up to 12 handlines when on freezer runs John. It was crazy on the deck when all of them got hit.
A topic near and dear to my heart!
Clones: Mexican Flag (green/white/red), Zucchini (green duh), Jerry Garcia (purple and black), and white are deadly.
Cigar Plugs: Pick a color, they all work.
Meat Lines: Rapala X-Raps Sardine/Anchovy/Purple/Silver/Mackerel.
We run 6 rods and 2 meat lines.
The Cigar Plug (Shotgun) on a dredge is run up to 100+ yards behind the boat. Then fourth wake in towards the boat for the other rods. Meat lines are approx. 30' each with a 6' leader.
Whever's at the helm needs to be on their game or you'll be knitting sweaters...
It's chaos when you get into them but good chaos!
Steve
When you really run into 'em it's prolly more fun pole fishing than anything else. On a commercial troller we had 2- 600+ fish days. That was when we first hit 64F water headed NE from Honolulu, towards Port Angeles, WA. The jigs were double hook rigs with no barbs, just a slight curve near the point. Trolling at 8 knots with no slowing down and hydraulics made it easy to not lose fish.
Yeah, of course I had to try the LB 60 with 50lb. No, I couldn't even move 'em forward, once hooked-up. The Captain wasn't gonna slow-down for one fish. I did get one whipping a deep diver off the side at night after we stopped.
I like running a couple of dive boards with zukers on hand lines. Gets some afternoon fish.
Todd
Among all the various families of trolling lures, feathers seem to be the most profitable. Unfortunately, they have become difficult to find on various online shops. To tell the truth, they can be found but in very small sizes.Also the build quality is very low. I remember Zucker's were really great, sadly it seems the company has closed.
😔😔😔
We used to get plenty in the 30 - 50 lb class and catch them on normal Yellowtail tackle using metal jigs, sink it deep, wind fast and stretch the arm muscles a bit. 8) Great fun. We would often find them near poling boats, but had to keep a reasonable distance as smaller boats in the vicinity weren't popular with the large commercials.
Where Yellowfin love a surface lure these Longfin generally don't take a lure in the top water.
Like all fish around here they are also becoming very scarce and the last few times we had to travel a long way to find them.
Great sporting fish.
I like 5-6" chrome jet heads in pink or lumo/green for them, usually rigged with an Owner DH-41 double hook on 100-150lb mono.
If you want to find out if you're a good angler, go fish for them with 10-15lb line on something like a Calcutta 400B :)
Quote from: MexicanGulf on March 16, 2025, 09:34:53 AMI remember Zucker's were really great, sadly it seems the company has closed.
No they're still in business just a one man operation making vinyl & grass skirted lures No Feathers and Wholesale only.
Quote from: whalebreath on March 18, 2025, 02:06:15 AMQuote from: MexicanGulf on March 16, 2025, 09:34:53 AMI remember Zucker's were really great, sadly it seems the company has closed.
No they're still in business just a one man operation making vinyl & grass skirted lures No Feathers and Wholesale only.
Are you sure of what you are saying? Zucker's Feathers are virtually unobtainable. If you have a contact on how I can purchase them please help me.
https://www.englundmarine.com/products/single-zuker-feathers|ZUK-S-ZF.html
Never bought from Englund myself, but it it is a well known company. Don't think that they do international shipping.
I expect that whatever feathers they have are old stock. Many of the trolling lure companies discontinued feather trolling lures when obtaining higher quality feathers became more difficult and expensive, while at the same time the broom (synthetic grass) versions were becoming more popular for both fish catching and durability reasons.
-J
Quote from: jurelometer on March 18, 2025, 06:04:01 PMhttps://www.englundmarine.com/products/single-zuker-feathers|ZUK-S-ZF.html
Never bought from Englund myself, but it it is a well known company. Don't think that they do international shipping.
I expect that whatever feathers they have are old stock. Many of the trolling lure companies discontinued feather trolling lures when obtaining higher quality feathers became more difficult and expensive, while at the same time the broom (synthetic grass) versions were becoming more popular for both fish catching and durability reasons.
-J
really thank you dear Jurelometer!!! Those lures in my fishing areas seem to work great. Now I have to figure out how to buy them and unfortunately I don't live in the USA.
Quote from: MexicanGulf on March 19, 2025, 12:07:06 PMQuote from: jurelometer on March 18, 2025, 06:04:01 PMhttps://www.englundmarine.com/products/single-zuker-feathers|ZUK-S-ZF.html
Never bought from Englund myself, but it it is a well known company. Don't think that they do international shipping.
I expect that whatever feathers they have are old stock. Many of the trolling lure companies discontinued feather trolling lures when obtaining higher quality feathers became more difficult and expensive, while at the same time the broom (synthetic grass) versions were becoming more popular for both fish catching and durability reasons.
-J
really thank you dear Jurelometer!!! Those lures in my fishing areas seem to work great. Now I have to figure out how to buy them and unfortunately I don't live in the USA.
My daughter who lives in London is coming over here in 2 weeks time, so I could probably buy them for you, ......BUT you will most likely be in a worse position, to ship them from Cape Town to Mexico could cost a small fortune and it may never arrive.
Quote from: Cor on March 19, 2025, 07:32:09 PMQuote from: MexicanGulf on March 19, 2025, 12:07:06 PMQuote from: jurelometer on March 18, 2025, 06:04:01 PMhttps://www.englundmarine.com/products/single-zuker-feathers|ZUK-S-ZF.html
Never bought from Englund myself, but it it is a well known company. Don't think that they do international shipping.
I expect that whatever feathers they have are old stock. Many of the trolling lure companies discontinued feather trolling lures when obtaining higher quality feathers became more difficult and expensive, while at the same time the broom (synthetic grass) versions were becoming more popular for both fish catching and durability reasons.
-J
really thank you dear Jurelometer!!! Those lures in my fishing areas seem to work great. Now I have to figure out how to buy them and unfortunately I don't live in the USA.
My daughter who lives in London is coming over here in 2 weeks time, so I could probably buy them for you, ......BUT you will most likely be in a worse position, to ship them from Cape Town to Mexico could cost a small fortune and it may never arrive.
friend, i live in france
Boone do some 6" Tuna Feathers that look nearly identical to the Zukers.
https://boonebait.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=452_453_518
I have a pile of albacore trolling gear do not need, I will try to get photos. I could use a bit more $ for the October 10 day trip.
I have tried different feathers lures for tuna, unfortunately I realized that the quality of the zucker's product really makes the difference in terms of catches. Maybe it is also the weight/balance of the head. The quality of the feathers is a superior quality.
I can buy them here but they are expensive and are the straw ones. I can look for you next time I go down town.
Todd
https://www.maguro-pro-shop.com/category/shop-by-technique/trolling-offshore/
https://www.tradeinn.com/waveinn/en/lures-trolling-soft-lures/18145/s#fq=id_familia=7014&sort=v30_sum;desc@tm7;asc&fe=&pf=id_subfamilia=18145&start=96
Quote from: MexicanGulf on March 19, 2025, 07:48:52 PMQuote from: Cor on March 19, 2025, 07:32:09 PMQuote from: MexicanGulf on March 19, 2025, 12:07:06 PMQuote from: jurelometer on March 18, 2025, 06:04:01 PMhttps://www.englundmarine.com/products/single-zuker-feathers|ZUK-S-ZF.html
Never bought from Englund myself, but it it is a well known company. Don't think that they do international shipping.
I expect that whatever feathers they have are old stock. Many of the trolling lure companies discontinued feather trolling lures when obtaining higher quality feathers became more difficult and expensive, while at the same time the broom (synthetic grass) versions were becoming more popular for both fish catching and durability reasons.
-J
really thank you dear Jurelometer!!! Those lures in my fishing areas seem to work great. Now I have to figure out how to buy them and unfortunately I don't live in the USA.
My daughter who lives in London is coming over here in 2 weeks time, so I could probably buy them for you, ......BUT you will most likely be in a worse position, to ship them from Cape Town to Mexico could cost a small fortune and it may never arrive.
friend, i live in france
Haha ;D
cooked in a pan with organic coconut oil Albacore tuna, cherry tomatoes, avocado, gommasio, thyme.
Quote from: MexicanGulf on March 24, 2025, 02:55:24 PMcooked in a pan with organic coconut oil Albacore tuna, cherry tomatoes, avocado, gommasio, thyme.
it looks super yummy
Never heard of gomasio (sesame salt) before - will have to give it a try!
Thanks
Yeah, I like salt and love sesame.
Good price on the Boone tuna treat lures.