Bamfield Tuna Shootout

[Sculpin]

Just got back from another great weekend tuna fishing. Not as good numbers wise as the other trip but it's not about that for me. I just like getting out there and playing with the spread and seeing all the awesome marine life and scenery. The albacore's are just icing on the cake really.

Here is a link to the shoot out thread on SFBC

http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/...r-22-october-1

Here is my report from the SFBC forum FWIW.

I just want to start by saying this was a great idea right from the get go. Kudos to OBH, the Mills Landing crew, and whoever else is helping out. It is a good way for folks to experience this fishery for the first time and a great way for folk from the forum to finally meet in person. If the weather looks good later this week or weekend I highly suggest folks give this a try. TOTAL BLAST!

I headed up later than I wanted to but this fishery is not cheap and I had to stay and work. I went with the 7P principle (proper previous planning prevents piss poor performance) on Friday and got all my ducks in a row. I bought a shite load of ice because of the reports on Thursday and wanted to be ready. I made the mistake of stopping at PNT for some last minute things too (I hate that store lol).

Anyways I went solo up to China Creek and launched there. I knew I was meeting firelight up there and he would come out on my boat in the morning.



It was a nice ride out with a bit of wind on the canal and probably the roughest I would see all weekend. There was ton's of bait, sea lions, and whales everywhere. Very alive.

Arriving at Bamtown.



I stopped to meet up with firelight and make plans for the morning then headed over to MacKay Bay Lodge to replace the fuel that I burned getting there. Met Brian the owner as it was late and OBH had phoned him to let him know I was coming. Thanks again Brian for the fuel.

I finally made it to Mill's Landing and the party was already on. I had to get settled in and Finished Business and his buddy Darren offered a bed in there cabin (sweet....way better than sleeping on the boat)! We wondered up to OBH's place and had some fresh albacore sushi and tataki that Crabby made up. One word to describe it.........DYMOMITE!!! Some of the best sushi I have every had. After a few beers I headed back down to the boat to get some tackle ready.

I guess I was still in the 7P mode as it was well after midnight when the boyz showed up back at the dock after a few wobblies and I talked them into jumping on board in the morning with firelight and myself ha ha. I finally finished getting all the tackle ready by 1:30 am.



Up in the morn and out on water. WE'RE GOING TUNA FISHING!!!



Heading out on Lake Pacifica lol. Wow is all I can say about the conditions. Should have brought some waterski's.



Continued.......

[Sculpin]

On the way out I asked FB to take some shot's. The guy almost filled my card ha ha and is quite the camera man. He took more than quite a few awesome photos during the day. Thanks buddy.

The sunrise on the way out was spectacular.



This ones for Birdsnest.




On the fishing grounds with firelight and Finished Business just before getting ready to deploy the gear.



We're fishing............and fishing................and fishing................seven hours of pain.



We trolled around for 7 hours, moved once, changed colours, and covered a shite load of miles before the first one hit.

Continued..............

[Sculpin]

Hooked up!!!!

Todd why don't you tell us how you feel lol.



We finally found a nice little pocket of them and caught 7 in 40 minutes. We radioed the info to the other boats and they ran over and a couple or few of them picked up one or two there as well. It was a long wait but that 40 minutes saved the day. Oh yeah did I mention.......TOTAL BLAST!!!!





Nice to see some fish in the slush bucket finally.



Continued.....

[Sculpin]

More hook up's.......

Darren, how are you feeling right now? lol.



Firelight on the leader.



We were hanging them off the rail to let gravity help with the bleeding.



After being in the slush for quite a while we started putting them on ice.



Continued......

[Sculpin]

And that was it. 7 hours of pain then 40 minutes of bliss. All in all it was an incredible day on the water and the 7 albacore was definitely the icing on the cake. We packed up and headed for the barn.

Emptying the slush bucket (gotta get a bloody shot in here somewhere lol).



Some of the other boats out fishing with us.

Trophy Hunter's totally kick azz Luhrs.



Fifth Elements nice 28 foot Grady.



Here's Kelly saying hello to everyone lol!!!!!




Continued......

[Sculpin]

Here are a few awesome sunset shots that FB took on the ride in.





The king of reels lol. (I love this one Nick).




It was great meeting everyone that showed up this weekend and it was great to see so many tuna virgins pop their cherry. I think Kelly is hooked big time. Jeff thanks for putting the event on and I may see you again next weekend if the stars align. Jerry and his wife are gracious hosts that never seem to stop working and it was very nice meeting them. Thanks FB and Darren for letting me stay with you guys and for putting up with my snoring lol. I'm really glad you guy's came out with us as it made it that much funner. Todd thank you for coming out and it was great getting to know you better. You are a really great guy that I hope to see land some big yellow fin's this November when we go to Cabo. Cheers buddy.

Cheers everyone and if the weather co-operates I highly suggest getting your butts out there later this week or weekend. This fishery is a total blast and way different than any inshore fishery. It is something more folks should try. There should be lot's of boats with room on them or bring your own ocean ready boat.

Be safe,


John

[Sculpin]

This is just my report of my experience this weekend. The other boats got an early start and someone changed the date on the board hmmmmm lol. It's all just for fun and a start to something bigger next year. This was all about getting folks out there and their was quite a few cherries popped in the last few day's.

Oh yeah here is the board as of this morning.



We added the PMO's to the key lures section. Thanks Birdsnest. They were FM as usual.

[Sculpin]

Here is a shot of us heading in taken by the guy that was saying hello to everyone lol.



I will try to post some more photos as they come trickling in of other boats catches and experiences.

Cheers,
John

[IN2DEEP]

Great report!
Thanks for sharing what it's like in your neck of the woods

[pjay9]

Nice PICS and great report! PJ

[Sculpin]

Here are a few more shots that have been popping up since the weekend.

The host Osama and Crabby Chris were out on his 26 Osprey and loaded up if you look at the board photo previously posted. They were using some Deadly peter's apparently hmmmmm.





Osama the rabbi himself.

[Sculpin]

Fifth Element's crew were total cherries including the captain and they managed a few fish and are totally hooked. They went out Saturday night late and stayed overnight solo so they could catch the morning bite.





My buddy Kelly was on board with this crew and is a part time guide in Bamfield during the summer months and this was his first tuna trip. He and the rest of the crew are totally hooked and some more addicts are born! This guy loves the ocean and fishing and is a great Doo-doo. Congrats Kelly and crew for stepping over to the dark side.

[Sculpin]

Some more shot's of the boats out there taken by Kelly (oh yeah he is a great camera man too).





These crazy guys again lol (my crew). Double header.

[Sculpin]

On the ride in after Kelly pulled his pants up lol (see previous picture) he managed a few shots of us while enjoying an Island nectar.



If you zoom in on this photo you can see the silly smiles on our faces. I hear you get that from tuna fishing and it takes day's for it to go away .



Back at Mill's Landing the next day we had a small ceremony for the first wave of angler's with prizes given out to everyone who showed up. Like I said this first one was just for fun and to try to get as many cherries popped as possible. They have bigger plans for next year.

Here is a line up of about half the folks that showed up.



There is a second fleet heading out either tonight overnight or tomorrow morning and I will try to post up the results of that crew later.

Cheers,
Sculpin

[Sculpin]

I am sorry about the ping pong boat shots and I hope I don't get my pee pee slapped for that .

A funny story about the Carolina, the Grady, and myself running in. The Carolina radio's that he is leaving early because he really heavy and a single diesel inboard. The Grady leaves just after him. We took a bit of time to clean up the boat while out there. Well I said no Grady is going to beat me to Bamtown and I knew I had a ton of fuel left so I hammered it. We blew past the Carolina and caught up to the Grady in no time.

I know he could whip me if he laid the throttle right down but I kept it going about 35 mph the whole way in. We got back in the dark to the dock and he say's " Do you alway's run that fast on the way in?" I say's " Only if the conditions permit it". He say's BS and that I was just trying to drag race him. I say's "Maybe ha ha". I ask him what his burn rate was doing that speed and he say's" Pretty high that is why I asked you if you do that speed all the time on the way in". He retorts back " What's your burn rate at that speed?". I replied " You don't wanna know"

[mojomizer]

Very cool pictures and fun to be had by all....... is that right some boats caught 37 fish??????

What were the water temps????? What was the biggest temp break that you found.????? Fishing upwelling areas???? See any fish on the meter????? Does your meter show a thermocline????? Feeding birds on radar???? What were the Longfins eating. Stomach content????

Just wondering if the northern albacore act differently then it's southern cousins.

Thank You for sharing

[Sculpin]

Very cool pictures and fun to be had by all....... is that right some boats caught 37 fish??????

What were the water temps????? What was the biggest temp break that you found.????? Fishing upwelling areas???? See any fish on the meter????? Does your meter show a thermocline????? Feeding birds on radar???? What were the Longfins eating. Stomach content????

Just wondering if the northern albacore act differently then it's southern cousins.

Thank You for sharing

Thanks mojo. It was a really fun weekend.

The temps we were fishing were on average 62 degrees. It went from about 58 in the green to 62 in the blue but we went quite far out into the blue. I was thinking we should have stuck closer to the chloro break but that's next time lol. Yes we saw the fish on the sounder around 40 feet under the boat. I am still a beginner in this fishery and have not looked into thermoclines on the sounder yet. Not a ton of wildlife out there on Saturday. The previous Thursday was a different story and I sure wish I was out there to see it all. I didn't pick up any birds on the radar but we did see a couple of good flocks and trolled around them. The fish were eating Sauer's? and other bait fish.

We had the most luck using the zuccini Zuker clones with attractors. On the Thursday before it was quite over cast with fog patches and the fleet was getting them on the black and purple gear. For us it is almost totally a troll show. We do not have good access to live bait. Lot's of folks have been trying to set up chum stops with very limited success. I have not talked to the fellows that were using the deadly peter's but I am assuming they were chucking them into a chum stop or something.

Anyways still a ton to learn but I am slowing getting a good feel for the basic spread required for my boat and hope to get out more next year to play around with things to see what works and what doesn't. More time on the water.

Cheers,
John

[mojomizer]

Thank you for the reply and info.

You probably already know this but never hurts to share. They have Washington States and SST and chlorophyll just a bit of BC on the map.

http://www.tempbreak.com/

I'll add a google depth chart for you as soon as I resize.

As soon as your bit on the troll...We call this the slide... drop back a few plastic swim baits into the trolling spread. Blams, Ron Z's, Robo worms, Berkley swimming shad. Those Peter's deadly jigs look alot like CB Barrie bombs (bottom of page) $3.99 U.S.

http://www.charkbait.com/cs/CharkBait-Iron.htm

I am sure P-line Laser minnows will kill

http://www.p-line.com/product_detail.php?id=612

No live bait I have seen cut chunked anchovie thrown ( a handful) into the trolling spread upon bite and spraying the wash down hose into the water making baitfish type splashes to call the fish in.

Trolling feathers Dark days dark baits light days light baits. My Favorites have been Mean Joe Greens (Black and Green.)
Blue and white. Mexican Flag (Red ,White and green) and Grass skirt that has Chartruese, Orange,Yellowand some white on years they are feeding on crustaceans. Troll for me is hard when they are feeding on small Sauries...... Ron Z's will probably work on the slide.

http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt8 ... ntire_text

Been fishing Albacore 30 years getting jealous that the bite is getting better or was discovered and effectively fished by more people up north

You can thank the Japan Current for bringing you the Albacore Bounty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuroshio_Current

Just curse the day when a gaggle of Super Sieners show up. Out here they will even wrap your boat to get them.

[goatram]

John looks like you are dialing it in. I hope to get out either next week or the week after for my last trip on the Tin Lizzy.

Out riggers will get the clones or swimbaits out in the clean water. They the state is talking about allowing Sports to catch bate with cast nets. Are there anchovies swimming now in your harbor?

Welcome and keep pushing the tuna on the BC boards.

[mojomizer]

Peezer Albacore tuna feed on smaller baits. The most common recreational fisherman use is Anchovie ,Sardine and occassionally small market squid. You need lots of live baits for chum and fly lining. Though I like making bait with Sabiki's that is alot of time making them 3 to 5 at a time max. (Wish California would allow cast nets for bait)

I know this thread is about the Bamfield Tuna shootout. I really enjoyed the pictures and narrations and agree with Goatram about dialing in the fish and Sculpins attitude about it is a process of turns of the prop, turns of the reel. Appologies if I am making this thread is take a different turn....... but heck the people with the fever is here already.

Besides having a network of friends and fishermen. What is more important???? Water Conditions or Bait concentrations. Areas of upwelling???? Convergience zones?????


My interest lays in learning different geographical nuances in techniques and how to apply them in So Cal, my neck of the woods. Sharing my data and hoping it increases catch rates when fishing gets a little tough. Wide open Albacore tuna bites it is hard not to get bit. (I've been on a San Diego 6 day where we have drifted 4 days in a continual bite. The bait part chum and part indigenous stacked up under the boat. The captain would start the engines to scatter the bait ball and fish would start foaming the surface........ The most fun I ever had with top water plugs so silly I removed the hooks.)

There are some differences in the behavior of PNW albacore and the San diego fleet fishing. The major difference I have learned is that in the south Albacore make routine dives to 200 meters during the day using their long fins to glide deep. Hence my interest in thermoclines. PNW Albacore stay in the top 20 meters day and night.

Though a little long 236 pages of biology...... hey I like studying my prey and the waters they inhabit.

http://cce.lternet.edu/docs/bibliograph ... celter.pdf

Yes I would love to see an AAB member at the top of the leader board.

[Sculpin]

Mojo I love your experience with these awesome fish. I really appreciate the links you have provided. I printed off the first one and put it into a binder and I am printing off that last one as I type this. I agree that one has to learn about the fish and more importantly one has to get out there on the water and try things. Time on the water and logging that time is key me thinks. I think us Canucks have to start using different methods up here to maximize the fun factor and hook up rate. We need to try more things like our Washington brothers. Saying that however we are pretty good at the trolling thing where as the Washington fleet does not seem to like it. I think that comes into effect because they have access to live bait and we are forced to troll more. We are more likely to try and spend time at different ways of trolling.

Live bait just isn't an easy option for us so I am reading all I can about chumming and throwing out gear with chunks of chum on them basically. We could throw out other stuff as well but my understanding is once you have presented them with slow sinking pieces of meat they want slow sinking pieces of meat.

I am not a derby fisherman. I am all about the experience. Numbers do nothing for me. That first Bamfield Tuna Shootout was for fun and that is why I attended the event. I just wanted to meet some tuna addicts and learn some stuff and have a good time. If they go derby style next year I will not be entering but I will continue to give support etc.

Anyways thank you for all the suggestions and reading material

[Sculpin]

Thank you goatram, Peezer, and others for your insight and information as well. As a new fisherman to this fishery all the information the better

[mojomizer]

So you ever look at a Chlorophyll chart and wonder what would be the best areas to look for????????? Here is one of the best articles I have ever run across for Albacore.


http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PFRP/reprin ... e_2001.pdf

The Transistion Zone Chlorophyll Front (TZCF) is one of the best indicators of a feeding zone. A density of 0.2 mg/m3 or if I am interpreting right 0.2 milligrams of Chlorophyll in a cubic meter????????

CPUE's is catch-per-unit of effort in the commercial fishing fleet. Guess what Chorophyll number gives the best CPUE's
HMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm.

What is the best sea surface temp for Albacore tuna????? It is in one of the articles I posted. Overlay the two and I would start looking in those areas. Still what does that mean?????? Fish have fins..... We have props..... We are never going to be guaranteed in finding them. So back to how many turns of the prop equals success and have many friends looking for them willing to share info

Ever wonder about what a fish can see????? Studies on the shape of their eye's and the rods and cones they have. Even hooked up come electronic receptors to the optical nerves to see the best responce. looking for that article... Those damn Japanese Commercial fishermen have sponsored alot of science.

One last tidbit I am looking for Albacore Tuna lateral line sensitive to electrical currents...... Get out your voltmeter.

Peezer it is ok to say Jap head, it was common terminology back in the day

[goatram]

We follow Mark's ideas up here in the PNW. This week with the North Wind blowing constant the warm water has left. It is still close off of Westport and Ilwaco but it is a finger south along the OR coast the water has broken off and turned cold. Tuna will not bite if it gets much below 57*. They like the 57* to 63* degree water. around here that is also where we find the Cobalt Blue water. Usually water around here is green; hit the temp break and the water is blue like the waters around your Islands or down in the Caribbean

[goatram]

Albatross. A brown colored variety.
Sheerwater. a lighter brown color. ie Anchovy thieves that require lead on your live bait lines to get them down before one can be stolen.
When we go out the birds are already there. They are flying around scouting unless they find the bait and then they call in reinforcements. We do look for birds but also for Jumpers.

There are a few Yellowtails caught this year also some dink Bluefin as well. The bluefin have been around here before cause the scientist have found bones in old campfire on Vancouver Island.

Dolphins are out there just not hooked up or school with the Albacore

symbiotic fish is the Blue Shark they come acallin and the game is over for the baitstop