Newport this weekend

johnf · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:04 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the info...when talking with the Newport Fish & Game folks in the Newport office they were helping me understand the barbless hooks rule so we were planning on Tuna & Halibut first and saving Salmon for last.

I know I am crazy but it sounds like fun to say you fished for all three in a day...who know what we will catch. Weather is good for Saturday we are hoping.

Going to try some of the ideas you provided along with what the fish & game was offering...superb folks to talk with.

Can't wait to spot any of you out there!!!! Teeth

Safe Boating,

John

flapbreaker · Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:16 pm Post subject:

There's a bunch of boats that will be hunting Tuna Thursday and Friday. I'll try and post the general location that they are finding them. They are thinking the Tuna have moved out to about 50 miles but are hoping it's not true. We'll have to wait and see.

stevej · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:18 am Post subject:

Not that I am an expert but from what I have been reading the "blue water" is 45 to 50 miles out. With that said two weeks ago we caught our first fish on Saturday 25 miles out on a 310 degree compass reading. The water was 60 degrees and green.
The chance of getting into a large school is better in the blue I believe.

Pack at least 1 bag of ice per tuna
My 120 quart cooler would not close with six fish and no ice (used my fish locker on the boat with ice) so with ice four fish in a 120 quart box?
We used ten bags of ice for 6 whole fish (did not gut) and did not use a slush tank. We also used very heavy rod and reels so the fight was pretty short and this keeps the fish temp down.

I think that the total ice count for two days of fishing and storing the filets from 12 tuna and two halibut for three days was something like 40 bags

Sherewater is moored in E5 and my camper will be in spot 180 stop by and say hello

Everyone be safe

stevej

CatyMae n Steve · Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:52 pm Post subject:

Yippeeeee! Towed the boat to work this morning to fuel up (Jefferson to Corvallis -- 'bout 20+ miles) and it WORKS!!! Can't wait to get to Newport Teeth

johnf · Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:47 am Post subject:

YIPPEEE # 2....can't wait to go out of Newport on Saturday...hope to launch around 8 am or so. Hope some fish are left for us. Will have 4 in total on board.

See you out there, safe boating and good luck to all!

John

lloyds · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:31 am Post subject:

Hoping to hear how everyone did. I went out friday morning. The salmon were really scattered. Caught two natives off the lighthouse then it went dead so I went south and out to about 250 feet. Caught three more natives, then it went dead again around 1 oclock. At 3:30 I finally caught a hatchery coho and at 4 I caught a chinook. About time. A long day. I did spot a grey trimmed 22 out off the lighthouse in the morning. I watched for you Caty but never did spot you.

CatyMae n Steve · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:34 pm Post subject:

Lloyd & Sue...Friday morning, we were at work! Sad

Saturday, we were out about 17-18 miles 300 degrees NW out of port -- picked up one tuna about 8:30 and that was all we got! What a HOOT! Sure wish I'd had the video camera when Steve had the tuna by the tail with the head in a slurry bucket -- a 25# vibrator that wouldn't shut off! We were all laughing so hard we couldn't quit -- he had to hang on or we'd have had a HUGE mess all over the deck!

Saw Crazy Frazy and friends as they came into port -- 4 tuna aboard!

We'll be doing THAT again Smile

Caty

flapbreaker · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 6:55 pm Post subject:

Glad to hear that you finally got to use your boat. I hear the ocean was pretty nice. I didn't wind up going out. I thought the Tuna were going to be 50 miles out but sounds like they moved in a bit. They sure to go like crazy huh. Not sure if you brain spiked before the slurry or not but if not you might try that first next time. Hopefully the ocean will cooperate for this coming weekend. Halibut AND Tuna would be a great combo.

CatyMae n Steve · Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:01 pm Post subject:

Yes, we did the screwdriver poke trick -- it quieted that fish down for a minute, but when the head went in the water, it seemed to rejuvenate it -- was very funny Smile

Since I cleaned the fish, I see where it should be slit to start the blood spurting too....interesting fish, to say the least. We poked it while in the net -- it never had a chance to get bruised.

Steve and his pal Sean both offered to relieve me of the rod when the fish hit, but there wasn't a CHANCE I was handing off -- not on first tuna! Last night I made up a couple of my own rigs that I think will be killer Thumbs Up

This coming weekend isn't looking like it'll be quite as calm, but may be doable -- will see as the weekend nears.

Caty

flapbreaker · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:35 am Post subject:

Cool. I've yet to catch Tuna on my boat but plan on it before the end of summer. Maybe this weekend if the weather permits. I think I have a good solution for the bleeding of em. I replaced a couple bolts on the swim platform with larger eye bolts. Then I bought one of those 10 gallon water coolers from Home depot (the kind they dump gatoraid out of at sporting events when you win). I drilled a 2 inch hole throught the side of it about 2/3rd's of the way up. I plan on securing it using tie downs and the eye bolts I installed. I should be able to bleed a couple Tuna in it and then put them on ice. I drilled the whole because I didn't want too much water/weight back on the swim deck. We'll see. Worst case is I ruined a water cooler.

What kind of rod and reel were you using? Salmon stuff or more like Halibut? I'd really like to catch them on salmon gear.

CatyMae n Steve · Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:42 am Post subject:

good idea for the slurry...let us know how it works out. I had one handline and 2 rods out (sturgeon rods) -- I s'pose one could use salmon rods if you're into gently coaxing in tuna -- but there's nothing gentle about them, nor slow -- it hit at about 40 MPH and was a handful from the start. Sean kept saying "I sure wish one would hit the handline!" as he sat there with gloves on and a huge grin on his face. I'd think you'd want to use a salmon reel that you don't mind losing as they can peel off some serious line! Maybe one of the engineers here can figure out how much "real" line strength is needed when trolling at 9 MPH, with a 25# tuna hitting at 40MPH Shocked

Hey, where're Crazy Frazy and stevej with reports?????

Caty

stevej · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:50 pm Post subject:

Better late than never with the fishing report right?

Friday we went out 45 miles and worked our way north, lots of trolling and got 3 very nice tuna. I was more than happy with the fish we got, seemed like the hot bite was further north and right on the edge of my range.

After talking to others at the cleaning station the general thought was that we were too far out with a lot of fish being caught around 28 miles out.

Saturday we went 28 miles out 270 degrees from newport. Caught the first fish in 15 minutes so we angeled north and did a circle when we hooked a fish. Never did hit an insane bite but we finished the day with 8 fish between 22 and 33 pounds (cleaning guy said the 33 lb was the largest fish he had seen all weekend) . The fish were hitting short and we lost 5 right at the boat. From what I saw at the cleaning station our fish were a little larger than average.

Worked out trolling 4 handlines and two rods from Shearwater. no easy feat without outriggers. Never had a tangle so feel we have the spread figured out.

Caught fish on a wide range of lures the hottest was a mexican flag (straw tail) zuker, this was also the hot lure two weeks ago. Next big hitter was a green or blue terminator (ceder plug like lure)

Fantastic couple of days on the ocean ended up putting 250 miles on the boat.

Maybe one more meat trip and I will switch over to lighter rods and reels. It is a kick to catch these fish, amazing how a 25lb fish can peel so much line off a 50 class reel at full drag. Thinking that I will use my lamiglass sturgeon special with a penn international 16 two speed for the light weight setup.

Glad to hear that others caught some fish

stevej

johnf · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:17 pm Post subject:

Yippee Skippee!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! Zoinks!!!

Can you tell 4 of us on board had a great time having NO CLUE where to go but still ended up having 7 tuna on the line and landed 4 of them. At one point we had 4 poles in and 3 tuna on a one time....ended up landing 2 in that group.

This was the FIRST TIME for tuna ever...what a treat! Someone said last week that halibut and salmon were just a warm up for tuna...now I fully understand why.

Used 2 heavy halibut poles with 80lb tuff line and 2 fairly heavy salmon poles with 50lb tuff line...these did OK but if a heavier one ran further we didn't have the drag for it. Used $10-12 lures from Joes with multiple colored skirts.

We ended catching them in about 800-1,000 feet of water just north of the chicken ranch so we were about 33 miles out give or take.

Can't wait to do it again. Going to Bellingham gathering leaving on Friday.

Caty...wanted to come over and visit you and Steve. Busy getting out of there and was home by 9:15 pm. Glad to hear you got some tuna!

Thanks gang for all the ideas and tips.

Happy Fishing,

John

stevej · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:37 pm Post subject:

Yee Haa looks like we have some good weather for this weekend. Going over Friday and fishing Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Anybody else heading over?

stevej

lloyds · Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 2:56 pm Post subject:

I plan on going over. Don't know if I can sneak out friday and stay the whole weekend or not. Guys here at work have been really killing them. One of them caught a 36# chinook out of depot bay. The fin clipped have been running about 50%.