Mothership trips

Allen, would be an honor to have you aboard for a Tuna trip, your experience would be invaluable. It will be a learning experience for us all i'm sure, but will be fun trying..Have you targeted Tuna in a kayak before Pole? Well, Tuna starts here end of July, but i imagine pretty far out at that time, so maybe seriously think about end of August through September?

Well, does the recent trip to La Paz catching more skipjack tuna than I care to remember count?  Ok, ok ... I've never targeted albacore from a kayak, but I probably have 50-60 days out on the deep blue targeting them from power boats.  I've run the scenario over and over again in my head and have some thoughts as to how to maximize our efforts.  End of August is the Foggy Bay trip for me.  I can't stack another trip on top of that too close otherwise the girlfriend will <insert graphic cutting and sawing image here>.

-Allen

Also, later in the summer, the albacore switch over to a baitfish bite.  We can chum them and hold them around better.

-Allen

Allen, would be an honor to have you aboard for a Tuna trip, your experience would be invaluable. It will be a learning experience for us all i'm sure, but will be fun trying..Have you targeted Tuna in a kayak before Pole? Well, Tuna starts here end of July, but i imagine pretty far out at that time, so maybe seriously think about end of August through September?

Well, does the recent trip to La Paz catching more skipjack tuna than I care to remember count?  Ok, ok ... I've never targeted albacore from a kayak, but I probably have 50-60 days out on the deep blue targeting them from power boats.  I've run the scenario over and over again in my head and have some thoughts as to how to maximize our efforts.  End of August is the Foggy Bay trip for me.  I can't stack another trip on top of that too close otherwise the girlfriend will <insert graphic cutting and sawing image here>.

-Allen

Counts for me. I never caught tuna. I did catch Bonito off the Cement Ship in Aptos CA during that drastic El Nino in the 80's, That was a blast, and a extremelt rare event indeed!

All your experiences add up to someone i want out there planning strategy with me..

So, end of September is better for you?

Also, later in the summer, the albacore switch over to a baitfish bite.  We can chum them and hold them around better.

-Allen

Ah, so chum them and cast a lure in to the fray?

I need to start figuring out the best times to jig herring. I heard in Winchester bay at certain times of year you can just jig up bait till your arm falls off

Ah, so chum them and cast a lure in to the fray?

Chum them and troll swimbaits or rapalas from the yaks.  I think dealing with live bait chum is tough from the yaks, but a slow trickle of dead bait will chum them up.  But the key is finding a productive area.  Troll on the big boat until said area is found.  Start the chum line from the boat while splashing the yaks.  Fish on!!!

-Allen

Gawd this sounds like a blast. I want in if I can swing it!

Ah, so chum them and cast a lure in to the fray?

Chum them and troll swimbaits or rapalas from the yaks.  I think dealing with live bait chum is tough from the yaks, but a slow trickle of dead bait will chum them up.  But the key is finding a productive area.  Troll on the big boat until said area is found.  Start the chum line from the boat while splashing the yaks.  Fish on!!!

-Allen

Yea, exactly!! that's the way to go. live bait would be way to hard to deal with. I'm gonna poke around at the harbor, maybe we can just buy a couple barrels of frozen bait..

The great thing about being on a mothership is if the conditions are too bad to launch the yaks, it's still fish on!! on the big boat..

Pole,BS, or anyone else who has Ocean fishing experience.

What is the deepest you have fished on a Kayak? How the heck do you fish 300+ feet without just having a miserable time hauling a big fish up from that depth.

I was thinking a 300 yardspool of 30 pound or so Power Pro on a big reel on my 5 ft stout tuna pole. still gotta reel 'em up though.

We fish 2-300 feet regularly for Pacific Butts up in Alaska.  The key here is to use a comfortable rod and no more than 8 ounce jigs.  You can use more, but you won't be able to do it for very long.  See my review of a good rod choice (http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,4591.0.html).

Spectra line is key IMO.  It helps against fatigue since you are got pulling against the stretch of mono.  With mono, you jig up then wait for a few seconds to get the stretch out of the line, all the while exerting force.  With Power Pro, the stretch is gone and and you are not exerting as much force.  Plus, I really believe a quick darting lure off the bottom with a big sweep is a big attraction to the butts.

Tuna in late Sept?  I'm there!!!

-Allen

Do you think 200 yards+(maybe300?) of 30 pound PP is a good choice for either Butt's or Tuna??

200 is plenty for butts.  For albacore I usually run 300 yards of mono.  Mono because tuna do a lot of crossing when multiples are hooked up.  I don't like getting cut off and many charter boats don't allow spectra for this reason.  I've never gotten close to getting 300 yards of line out.  But on a yak, you don't have to worry about sawing off your neighbor when doing the tuna dance, so have at it with spectra.  200 yards should be plenty, but I'm assuming you'll have some backing just in case.

Top shot with some flouro for the tuna.  No need to topshot for butts.

-Allen

I'm getting more and more excited about this idea.

Can we put together a short list of gear that would be needed to deal with Albacore from a kayak?  I doubt that my lightweight rockfishings set-up would work - at least as far as rods and reels go? 

off the Cement Ship in Aptos CA

I used to love fishing off that with my Grandpa back in the 60's.  We had so much fun.  Now they won't even let you yak around it.

Pole,BS, or anyone else who has Ocean fishing experience.

What is the deepest you have fished on a Kayak? How the heck do you fish 300+ feet without just having a miserable time hauling a big fish up from that depth.

The Monterey Canyon out of Moss Landing, CA was the deepest for me.  Didn't have a FF back in those days but you can actually see it in Google Earth.

I was fishing 350' out of the kayak at one point this weekend.  Let me tell you, the bait checks with 18oz of weight are miserable.  I see now why Pelagic suggests running a heavy jig at the bottom instead of a dropper.  Sometimes you just don't want to pull it up again and it's good to know that you're still fishing, even if your bait has been pecked off.

-Spot-

  The heavy jig is my choice also. with spectra line, (mono is to springey) a jig with a large plastic squid and a small piece of glow on the hook works great.. A  big scampy or curl tail is to  large and restricts the  hook bite depth.
     Think of how a hallibit is shaped, flat,  what happens when they come to the
jig. If they don't want to bite thats ok because when they swim over the line the jig turns under them and as it comes tite the hook is 2 inches into the flesh. They don't have to be on the feed/bite to catch.
  Another tip,,,don't work the jig very hard, lings like it and  don't set the hook until a heavy pull, lings will wear you out cranking  them up to clear hook.. They will shake it sometimes if you don't set on them..

Different strokes ...

I work a big curlytail, and I work it hard.  And when I'm working it, at any sign of anything different, I swing for the fences.

-Allen