Ilwaco Tuna 9-16-11

I fished Ilwaco on Friday 9-16-11  with team Defiance the weather was good and so was the fishing

We fished a short day on friday, we had to be back to make the smack down derby check-in and were still able to land 32 tuna

The fish came on a mix of troll gear and live bait  with live bait accounting for most of our fish

Last week was by far the best tuna week of the season so far this year. With great catches being brought in by many boats on Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday and Friday, but the weather turned bad on Saturday morning and forced most anglers to stay in this weekend

Hopefully we will get a few more chances at the tuna before the weather turns bad for the winter.

Westport Salmon & Tuna 9-10-11 & 9-11-11

We fished Westport Saturday  and Sunday 9-10-11   &  9-11-11

On Saturday we started the morning salmon fishing but after a couple hours with only  a couple fish in the box and calm seas staring us in the face we decided to make the long run out to the tuna grounds.  We had not had a good chlorophyll  shot all week and I knew it was going to be a long shot  but with two anglers aboard that had never caught a albacore I thought it would be worth a shot.

The weather changed rapidly once we crossed the shelf and we end up making an 80+ mile run in less than ideal conditions.

Once we found   blue water it did not take us long  to find A small pocket of fish. We ended up hooking 8  tuna and landing 5 before we were forced to head in. when  we started for home we were accompanied by some  confused seas and a very poor run angle that would only allowing us to run at 8 knots, but after a couple hours the seas calmed down and we were able to step up to a nice crews speed. Our fish came on a combination of swim baits,  live bait and x-raps.

On Sunday we gave the salmon another shot.  The fishing was slow in the morning but pickup in the afternoon. We were able to grind out our limits of salmon and just like the week  before we were able the end the weekend with another triple.

The overall fishing was very slow this weekend  and it felt like we were between runs. Hopefully things will pick up soon.

Garibaldi Tuna & Salmon 9/2/11 - 9/5/11

We fished Garibaldi Oregon this weekend 9/2/11 - 9/5/11

On Friday and Saturday I was lucky enough to be invited to fish with Bo Palmer  and team defiance on their 29’ Guadalupe. This boat is a tuna killing machine! With its huge bait tank,  tons of deck space and a massive fuel tank it makes this boat tough to beat.

On Sunday and Monday we jumped back on my boat to finish off the weekend.

The overall fishing was on the slow side this weekend but we fished hard and ended up with a good batch of fish.

On Friday we  pre-fished for the Oregon tuna classic  our intent was to find a batch of big fish  for Saturdays derby. Despite poor weather 20+ knot winds all day, we were able to do just that. We found a nice batch of big fish at the end of the day that was was just what we were looking for.

There was tons of birds,  good  temp  and great color in that area,  things were looking good for Saturday

On Saturday the winds were still howling! Again 20+ knot winds all day.  When we returned to  the area where we had caught fish the day before the water had cooled 3 degrees and the color had turned green crap! We fished the area for a while till we decided to head west.  After a few miles we found a great color break with a 3 degree temp break  and a impressive kelp line where the birds were pounding the water.  We thought we were going to kill them but we never did. It was the slowest tuna fishing I had ever seen! For the whole derby there were only 28 tuna weighed and the top boat only had 8 fish.

After our slow day on Sunday we changed our approach a bit and started the  day salmon fishing we  landed four salmon 2 kings and two silver  before we decided to head back out to the tuna grounds.  When We arrived in the area from the day before the tuna were biting. We were able to land A nice  batch  of good sized tuna before we ran out of day light and had to settled in for the ride back  to Garibaldi.

On Monday we were back after the salmon the fishing was not red hot but it was steady we worked hard and picked up our limits of salmon and were even able to  ended our weekend with a triple.

This was my first trip to Garibaldi and I am defiantly planning to return.