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Pacific Northwest Tell us about hunting in the PNW here!

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Old 07-09-2014, 05:01 PM   #31
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Re: Albacore 2013

and here's a fun 1st person account, out of Monterey...

SPEARFISHING ALBACORE AND STATE RECORD!!
by Joe Tobin, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
On October 13, 1998, I joined two other divers, Nigel Belton and Clay Reed, for a second attempt at spearing albacore tuna in the outer Monterey Bay in Central California. Arriving at the dock at 5:30 a.m., we loaded up our guns, floats and float lines into the boat for the one and a half hour run to the outer edge of the bay.

We were on the charter vessel Flat Fish, a sturdy twenty-six foot boat being operated by Joe Stoops, owner and skipper whose knowledge of albacore and ability to tend to the needs of freedivers in the offshore setting would become invaluable.

The skies were mostly overcast, the NW wind at about 15 knots and a building eight foot swell from the North. Around 8:30 a.m. we reached an area of 59.5 degree water and began to look for the jumping tuna that other sport and commercial boats in the area were reporting over the radio. We started to see an occasional tuna break the surface and then hooked up on a 15 pound bluefin tuna. After reeling in the bluefin we set out a sea anchor and the three of us suited up for the hunt as the skipper began to toss dead bait into the water to start a chum line.

Nigel and Clay were first to get in the water and I was just getting ready to put my fins on when I heard Nigel yell "TUNA." Without wasting time I had my fins on and quickly slipped over the side with my speargun, float line and float. The water was cold and green with visibility of about 25 feet. I quickly loaded my gun while watching the chum trail below me. Just as I finished loading the last band on my gun, two nice size albacore came racing up to the chum line and devoured two dead bait fish and vanished in the green murky water before I could line up for a shot. I began to make a dive on the slowly sinking line of chum when two more albacore came into view.

Resisting the urge to swing my gun into the direction of the approaching tuna I kept my gun pointed at the few sinking dead bait fish in front of me. Like a rocket, they come racing up from the deep to hit the bait. I pulled the trigger and the fish flipped a U-turn with my spear shaft sticking half way through him! He took off at high speed and disappeared.

I swam to the surface where I grabbed my float line and started to fight the fish. As I pulled in the float line, the albacore came into view. My shot was a solid mid body shot and I was confidant this fish wouldn't rip away. As I pulled in the last few feet of line, I was extra careful to avoid a dangerous line tangle and soon had the albacore locked under my arm where I could safely dispatch him with my knife. Returning to the boat I weighed the fish at thirty pounds. I looked at the fish laying on the deck before me and couldn't believe this was really happening. I have been dreaming of landing an albacore in my home waters for years and now it had become a reality. On the boat ride out, we all agreed that we would be lucky just to see one and now there was one on the deck!

After taking my shaft out of the fish, I jumped back in and rejoined Nigel and Clay. Six mola mola or ocean sun fish showed up and swam circles around us. I reached out and gently stroked one as it swam by me. I wanted to spend more time with them but felt I must return to this chance of a lifetime hunt. More albacore pass underneath and I hear a speargun go off. Looking behind me I saw Nigel working a tuna and soon he brought up a twenty-eight pound albacore. Shortly after that, we drifted into 57 degree water and stopped seeing fish so we packed it up and moved back into the 59 degree water.

This next stop starts out a bit slower. Blue sharks show up and started feeding on our chum line. Most of the sharks gave us wide berth but a few came in too close and were poked away with a gentle jab from the end of a speargun. More tuna showed up and I shot a twenty-six pound albacore, my second and final fish of the day. After one more move, we exhausted our bait supply and decided to call it a day with the wind and swell continuing to build and the weather service calling for gale warnings in the bay.

We were all spent from the excitement and several hours of swimming in the current. The ride back to the Santa Cruz harbor was not too bad with a following wind and sea and we sighted breaching blue whales which topped off a day I won't ever forget.
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Old 07-10-2014, 12:46 AM   #32
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Re: Albacore 2013

Here's an albacore thread from last year, with a good report closer to home posted by Max to get you boys stoked

http://spearboard.com/showthread.php...lbacore&page=3
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Old 07-10-2014, 08:45 PM   #33
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Re: Albacore 2013

Thanks steep and Leigh. I've been "researching" also. Below are some additional links to online albacore/longfin spearfishing resources. I think there is a lot of valuable insight in here. The exact techniques for our group are TBD, but I really liked one post from Kingspear for it's emphasis on preparing gear and mind. As a PNW'er this seems especially important since the majority of my diving is not good practice for either;

"Before hunting for them:

1. Make sure you KNOW how to shoot your gun your using. If your not deadly accurate, go home. It would be worth it to go target practice on sardines, seriously.
2. Don't aim for the fish, shoot an inch or so in front of its nose. If your aim at the "kill zone" you will hit it in the tail or miss completely.

3. If you can't have all your gear on and be off the boat in less than 10 seconds at the time of a hook up, don't waste your time. I would sit on the boat fully geared up, mask, fins, and all. I could get off the boat, in the water, in litterally seconds. Others litterally took 5 or 10 seconds longer than me would either see nothing or see the school swimming away.

4. Your gun needs to already be loaded and float line untagled, once again you need to litterally be ready to dive and shoot within seconds of hitting the water.

5. Prepare your mind, anticipate the shot. The sight of these tuna zig zagging all over the place is going to have your head spinning, if your not ready for it they will be gone while you are trying to still assess the situation."

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=135051

http://www.freedive.net/ibsrc/fish_pgs/albacor.htm

http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=164356

Albacore:

Cape Point Tuna and Mako:

Spearing a ±15kg Long fin Tuna:
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Old 07-10-2014, 10:43 PM   #34
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Re: Albacore 2013

Not what we are going to be seeing, but wow.
http://www.spearboard.com/showthread...71#post1969671
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Old 08-05-2014, 05:36 PM   #35
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Re: Albacore 2013

Anyone been spearing tuna (or out there looking for them) yet this year? Reports?
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Old 08-10-2014, 09:52 AM   #36
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Re: Albacore 2013

My buddy just went out of Garabaldi h&l albacore fishing this week. They went out approx 45 miles and he took home 100 pounds of fillets. As a side note he landed a 3 foot blue shark and had a 10 great white following a tuna he had hooked. I'm starting to second guess getting in the water out there!
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Old 08-10-2014, 01:56 PM   #37
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Re: Albacore 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff_D View Post
My buddy just went out of Garabaldi h&l albacore fishing this week. They went out approx 45 miles and he took home 100 pounds of fillets. As a side note he landed a 3 foot blue shark and had a 10 great white following a tuna he had hooked. I'm starting to second guess getting in the water out there!
100 pounds of fillets has got to be >10 tuna per person. Sounds good to me!

That actually sounds pretty minimal for shark sightings based on what I've read/heard. Was he pretty convinced it was a gws and not a mako? Haven't heard of any gws sightings out there, but I'm sure its possible.
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Old 08-10-2014, 02:02 PM   #38
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Re: Albacore 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff_D View Post
My buddy just went out of Garabaldi h&l albacore fishing this week. They went out approx 45 miles and he took home 100 pounds of fillets. As a side note he landed a 3 foot blue shark and had a 10 great white following a tuna he had hooked. I'm starting to second guess getting in the water out there!
Wanna be sure to have a go-pro on so everyone can check out the inside of a great white. That is, if the camera washes up on the shore somewhere.
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Old 08-10-2014, 02:08 PM   #39
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Re: Albacore 2013

Well, I'm bringing my GoPro for the albacore trip, and I've already lost it once only for it to be later found on shore, so...we'll see what happens.
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Old 08-10-2014, 02:10 PM   #40
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Re: Albacore 2013

He said the captain made the ID. I'm not 100% convinced, but it makes interesting conversation.
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Old 08-10-2014, 02:33 PM   #41
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Re: Albacore 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by juanacity View Post
Well, I'm bringing my GoPro for the albacore trip, and I've already lost it once only for it to be later found on shore, so...we'll see what happens.
Since we will probably all have camera's, it should be possible to put together an entertaining video. I have a go-pro 1 that we could mount over the stern deck if that is not already covered.
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Old 08-11-2014, 02:50 PM   #42
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Re: Albacore 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by tomo
Wanna be sure to have a go-pro on so everyone can check out the inside of a great white. That is, if the camera washes up on the shore somewhere. !
lol Nice thing is, you won't see them coming anyways...
GWS SharkCAM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff_D View Post
As a side note he landed a 3 foot blue shark and had a 10 great white following a tuna he had hooked. I'm starting to second guess getting in the water out there!
We are pretty lucky not to have to think much about sharks in the PNW. In most other parts of the world, diving with sharks is a ~daily occurance. Once you wrap your mind around it, they key is reading their body language (ie: pec fins down = aggressive). With buckets of chum in the murky PNW waters, it could get interesting!..

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Old 08-11-2014, 05:07 PM   #43
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Re: Albacore 2013

breakaway rig is us :-) nice to have a pointy stick left in yur hands in case of sharks :-O, though they probably way more interesting in scarfing up easy-peasy chum rather than mammals with pointy sticks ~ as big as they are.
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Old 08-11-2014, 08:58 PM   #44
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Re: Albacore 2013

Quote:
Originally Posted by quattroluvr View Post
breakaway rig is us :-) nice to have a pointy stick left in yur hands in case of sharks :-O, though they probably way more interesting in scarfing up easy-peasy chum rather than mammals with pointy sticks ~ as big as they are.
It's a mental game in sharky waters, especially when it's murky. I look forward to the report!

Things can go sideways pretty quick when there is blood in the water. On a gloomy day 50 miles out, & my partners 50m away, a whitetip & a pack of 6 whalers (who appeared out of the gloom) vapourized my trevally too close to my feet & made their own breakaway...




I was a little puckered, but eventually got my spear back.

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Old 08-11-2014, 11:35 PM   #45
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Re: Albacore 2013

If anyone wants to run down to LA real quick and tow my boat back you can have free tuna fishing trips forever I'd love to run out there and get some and my boat really misses having tuna blood on it. I need to check an albacore off my species list anyway.
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