More longfins on little baits

[Captain Fred Archer]

Just in from Oregon. The albacore fishing there is still hot as a pistol. On a normal year the bait is usually bigger by this time of year, but this year - we suspect because of the mild El Nino event going on, the bait is still small and the albies are still locked on them. The little stuff is slaying them.

It should be getting around to longfin time in the northeast. Be sure to try the little stuff...they love it! And being temperate water tunas, like bluefin, they are often caught in much cooler water than the warmer water loving yellowfins.

Good luck!

[johnnywalker]

Hey Fred,
Check in with Bud when u get a chance, he dealt with some BS recently
Cheers,
JW

[BIGJAHOOTIE]

WHERE IS THAT FRED, LOVE TO CATCH ALBIES IN SIGHT OF LAND





JA-HOOTIE

[Captain Fred Archer]

Big,

Yup, that's land! It is off the coast of Oregon, where they have an incredible and long term annual albacore run. Believe it or not, many of the top guys limit their catch based on how much weight they can safely return to shore with. With some of them, including the fellow in the picture, Bud Hosner, calling that personal limit something on the order of forty or fifty fish. Sounds like a lot, I know, but the anglers in both Oregon and Washington are well organized and they take excellent care of and cut most of those fish and donate them to their state food banks after they've stocked their freezers. In fact, in their tuna tournaments ALL of the fish caught go to the food banks - thousands of pounds during the tournaments alone.

Worse, or better yet, depending on how you look at it, these are universally day trips that start in the morning, so they can see and negotiate the bars that they have to cross on the way out - and man, they can be incredibly scarey ! Another plus for the area is that many of the skippers are excellent rough water drivers. The other thing that happens is the albacore are sometimes only a few miles off! It just depends on where the right water and bait are.

There are some big bluefin and probably bigeye up there, but as you know, they are quite different than albacore insofar as where you find them and especially the gear needed to handle them, so the guys up there are working on figuring out how to get them. When they do, there will be hell to pay!

Yup, biggey, that's God's Country up there and it's a virtual outdoorsman's paradise in so many other ways than just fishing. Topping it all off are the fishermen and other locals themselves...they are a great bunch of friendly, helpful, good people.

Just don't believe them when they tell you that it's raining all the time ! It is said by some that they welcome visitors, but not more permanent people!