Best Yellowfin water temps?

[Captain Michael Buffington]

but my experience also gives yellowfin a wide range of water temp all the way up to high 80's at Clipperton and down in the low 60's on the lump. The trend I have seen is mostly bigger fish in the lower temperatures, very very few footballs. You guys find the same?

Mike

[frankypettolina]

Nemo- nothing personal at all.

I have fished out of OC since 83- I have seen years when a couple of yellows would draw a crowd, and years when limits were the norm. it is cyclical by nature. But one thing that proves true, year after year, you can't catch them between the pilings!!

There are not limits being caught right now, or any time since July for that matter, but if you wanted to pull out of your home slip in OC, not travel your 50+ foot hatteras down to OI (in Whiteyslayers's case), you can reasonably expect to head out through the end of October, fish the 20 and 30 fathom lumps and get some bites. There will also be yellowfin and longfin on the edge, if anyone is out there looking for them.

Just curious, why is it always about catching a limit? I have had plenty of days killing 18 YFT in my career, and one thing always rings true- most times people don't know what to do with that many YFT and alot of it ends up getting wasted. I always check and recheck with people when the bite is hot- "how many do you really need?" Nothing wrong with turning a few loose or pulling off of them every now and then. And why is is that people are not happy with 5 or 6 tunas anymore?

[Bonehead]

Just curious, why is it always about catching a limit?

Excellent point and maybe a contributing factor as to why there seems to be so few fish out there. Personally, I'd be happy with one this weekend, and that would be one more than I've had on many days this year.

[Caveman Sportfishing]

Nothing wrong with turning a few loose or pulling off of them every now and then. And why is is that people are not happy with 5 or 6 tunas anymore?

Frank: I would be thrilled to boat 5-6 Yellowfins on any trip these days even if they are those barely legal ones we have seen recently. Even when they were around in big numbers and decent size we limited all our charters to somewhere between 8 and with a max of 12 per overnight trip. Too many times guys were walking our dock trying to give away tuna as they just did not want all the ones they brought back when they saw how much meat they had.

5-6 Yellowfin in today's world is a very good catch in my opinion and something to be proud of. Throw in some Mahi and a couple of Wahoo or billfish bites and now maybe even a legal Bluefin and you have had a real fine day offshore fishing.

[captnemo]

Nemo- nothing personal at all.

I have fished out of OC since 83- I have seen years when a couple of yellows would draw a crowd, and years when limits were the norm. it is cyclical by nature. But one thing that proves true, year after year, you can't catch them between the pilings!!

There are not limits being caught right now, or any time since July for that matter, but if you wanted to pull out of your home slip in OC, not travel your 50+ foot hatteras down to OI (in Whiteyslayers's case), you can reasonably expect to head out through the end of October, fish the 20 and 30 fathom lumps and get some bites. There will also be yellowfin and longfin on the edge, if anyone is out there looking for them.

Just curious, why is it always about catching a limit? I have had plenty of days killing 18 YFT in my career, and one thing always rings true- most times people don't know what to do with that many YFT and alot of it ends up getting wasted. I always check and recheck with people when the bite is hot- "how many do you really need?" Nothing wrong with turning a few loose or pulling off of them every now and then. And why is is that people are not happy with 5 or 6 tunas anymore?

I with you a 100% on the limit, most of the time that meat will go to waste especially with a fish like tuna that is so much better fresh. I am not obsessed with limits, I guess it was a bad way to make a point. I feel the same with Mahi, if were bailing, after 20 or so, thats it guys, lets move on, how many of these thing do we really want to clean.

[JonnyD]

Best day of tuna fishing I ever had was on Nov. 3rd. 56 degree green water. Down around the 650 line in 80 fathoms. Me and Jimmy Jackson on the Osprey. One of the most unreal trolling tuna bites i have ever seen. We started fishing at 7 and were homeward bound at 1. We caught 31.

[tunabite]

we caught our last dozen of the year bout 8 or 9 years ago on dec 4th in 57 degrees deep chunkin had every bite between 150 to 200 foot on whole butterfish. just inside the poormans canyon