Where have the Yellowfin Tuna gone?

[bisquit]

For the last 3 years or so, the YFT catch out of Morehead City, NC has almost disappeared. What happened? Are they farther out, on the east side of the Gulfstream? Has this ever happened before, and if so, is it a repeating cycle?

Just wondering how many more years are left in the cycle until they get closer.

[SportFishStaff]

For the last 3 years or so, the YFT catch out of Morehead City, NC has almost disappeared. What happened? Are they farther out, on the east side of the Gulfstream? Has this ever happened before, and if so, is it a repeating cycle?

Just wondering how many more years are left in the cycle until they get closer.

Up here in NJ we have not had a decent yellowfin bite in a lot of years, There have been an influx of tiny fish throughout the summer but no bigger fish. Being involved in the wholesale fish business, I had connections to some of the commercial boys. They all said most of them where making trips to the stream. I think there could be a combination of all factors, bait, temp, stock, cycle.

We had some shots but they all have been the 50-80 lb fish and no concentrations. Also the night bite has been tough.
In return, The white Marlin fishing here has been nothing short of amazing in august and september.

[Heli Sports]

Just wondering how many more years are left in the cycle until they get closer.

In all likelyhood, the scarcity for the past several years, of large sized Yellowfin in virtually every single area of historical abundance on the U.S. East Coast, is not due to a cycle of nature.

The massive pressure being put on the species (and Bigeye for that matter) by industrial longline and seiner fleets from Asia and Europe, on their spawning grounds in the Gulf of Guinea and off West Africa, seems like a more plausable explanation for their scarcity...

[HOLWACHAGOT]

To the fishhouse....
Holwachagot

[Squidnation]

In the early summer the smaller fish were here in OC but not for very long but the bite was incredible for those few short weeks. As the summer wore on and we ventured further offshore we started finding huge school of bigger yellowfins (60-80lbs). They seemed to have held up well out in the deep. for most of August we saw them on every single trip.

[bigfish4me]

Boy oh boy do I miss the chunk bite of the 90's off of south Jersey.......we may never see it again, but I am glad I got in on the tail end of it.....my very first tuna was a 73 lb long fin....aka true albacore, belly flushed.....we would stick the salt water wash down hose in their throat to see if they are eating our chunks and get some primo squid baits incase they didnt show at night.......I think at the time the NJ state record for true albacore was 77 lbs......that fish was on ice for 18 hrs after I landed it.....got a certificate and a penn reel for the cape may county what ever because we wighed it in and it was the largest longfin registered for the year. Being new to tuna fishing te canyons I had no idea that it was an unusually large long fin.....untill w hitthe dock and the capt tossed my tuna in the back of his truck and said lets go Junior....this is the biggest longfin I have ever seen........Ahhh memories!

[BeaufortTuna]

2010 was one of the BEST yellowfin fishing seasons for the longline boats I have seen in a long time in midatlantic canyons. I don't know why sportfishing wasn't so good but I attribute part if not all to the fact that nobody really fished last season.

[Capt. Mark]

We had a great year on yellowfin, mostly troll fish June and July , but we did chunk the fish in August, Sept and October ... finishing in mid Oct with (18) 50-80lb yellows chunked during the daytime. Our best two nights of chunking last season saw almost 30 fish each night, with many other double digit nights. Way better last year then 2008 or 2009

Mark

[gameover]

We had a great year on yellowfin, mostly troll fish June and July , but we did chunk the fish in August, Sept and October ... finishing in mid Oct with (18) 50-80lb yellows chunked during the daytime. Our best two nights of chunking last season saw almost 30 fish each night, with many other double dugut nights. Way better last year then 2008 or 2009

Mark

you guys had the ticket last year

[bisquit]

We had a great year on yellowfin, mostly troll fish June and July , but we did chunk the fish in August, Sept and October ... finishing in mid Oct with (18) 50-80lb yellows chunked during the daytime. Our best two nights of chunking last season saw almost 30 fish each night, with many other double digit nights. Way better last year then 2008 or 2009

Mark

That's a great year wherever you were(?).