Albacore 2020?

[cabezon]

So I finally had a slow night when I could do important stuff like research bluefin tuna migration patterns in the north Pacific. Found some newer studies that shed some light on the resurgence of BFT in Southern Cal, and what we're starting to see of our coast.

Also stumbled on some useful tidbits on albacore, including this NOAA page on albacore prey selection relative to the PDO cycle off the OR/WA coast. We are currently in a mild negative cycle which should correlate towards anchovy, vs krill in positive PDO years. So stock your boxes accordingly,... Although I wouldn't have guessed that rockfish are a primary prey item for albacore (file that under WTF). One personal data point supporting this info was remembering albacore puking up massive amounts of really big (like 2") krill back in 2014.

https://www.pcouncil.org/documents/2020/03/i-1-b-supplemental-swfsc-presentation-1-nmfs-report-swfsc-activities-highly-migratory-species-2.pdf/

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https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/teleconnections/pdo/

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Hi Silverfly,
Always love real diet data. If the albacore are feeding on amphipods (i.e., prey smaller than 1/4" typically), those fish might be feeding on larval rockfish, especially for the deeper, offshore rockfish such as Sebastolobus altivelis (longspine thornyhead). The adults of this species are found on the benthos between 500ft. and 5000 ft. The diet data indicate taxa but not life stage.
Steve

 

[DenWor54]

If its helpful I will ask my fishing buddy to take some samples of what the albacore and bluefin are eating and we can have real-time data. Also on the Oregon coast they also mentioned the large krill were what the sea bass were feeding on. And they described them as somewhere in the 11/2 to 2 inch size.

 

[SilverFly]

I also talked with some of the guys I fish with on the Oregon coast and there saying there’s a lot of squid inshore. So I think you might want to tie a few squid flies

I'm on it.



Spent a few hours this afternoon stockpiling some squid blends.



If the literature is correct, the "boreal clubhook squid" (Onychoteuthis borealijaponica) the target squid imitation to tie .

 

[SilverFly]

If its helpful I will ask my fishing buddy to take some samples of what the albacore and bluefin are eating and we can have real-time data. Also on the Oregon coast they also mentioned the large krill were what the sea bass were feeding on. And they described them as somewhere in the 11/2 to 2 inch size.

Yes, that is VERY helpful.

 

[Clarkman]

If its helpful I will ask my fishing buddy to take some samples of what the albacore and bluefin are eating and we can have real-time data. Also on the Oregon coast they also mentioned the large krill were what the sea bass were feeding on. And they described them as somewhere in the 11/2 to 2 inch size.

I think the answer is always yes!

 

[Evan Burck]

Made an attempt yesterday out of Newport Oregon and I had to make the hard business decision to turn around about 35mi out. Lots of others made the same call. Great ocean until 30ish miles out and things got really steep. Not really big, but steep enough it slowed us down to a speed that made it not feasible.

Soooo, still waiting on that first tuna blood. Got lots of time left.

 

[Nick Clayton]

Made an attempt yesterday out of Newport Oregon and I had to make the hard business decision to turn around about 35mi out. Lots of others made the same call. Great ocean until 30ish miles out and things got really steep. Not really big, but steep enough it slowed us down to a speed that made it not feasible.

Soooo, still waiting on that first tuna blood. Got lots of time left.

Good call. Not an easy decision to make, but its always better to err on the side of caution out there. Kudos for making the tough decision

 

[Evan Burck]

Good call. Not an easy decision to make, but its always better to err on the side of caution out there. Kudos for making the tough decision

Yeah we plowed through the slop for a half hour before we decided we didn't want to do that for 2more hours just to get to where we'd put lines out. Would've been a really long, much more expensive day to keep burning fuel in that. and we'd probably only have time to fish for like an hour once we got there... and that's just assuming it didn't get bigger/worse, which the ocean has been known to do. Still, the sunk cost fallacy really makes it tough to make that call when you're already 30mi out.

 

[SilverFly]

Not a perfect onychoteuthis imitation but its a start. Tied on a tube attached to an Ahrex 6/0 bluewater hook. The tube is functional but I like the weight of the hook forward for better balance. Couldn't find any eyes online big enough for a 9 inch squid so I fabricated my own.

 

[Clarkman]

Couldn't find any eyes online big enough for a 9 inch squid so I fabricated my own.

would 15mm be too big?

 

[SilverFly]

Those would be about right. Do they come in a pearl or silver color? The homemade ones are 17 x 14.

 

[Clarkman]

Those would be about right. Do they come in a pearl or silver color? The homemade ones are 17 x 14.

probably. I bought these for musky flies....they're too big for what I need.

 

[DenWor54]

A few squid ties

 

[Tacoma Red]

 

[DenWor54]

Those would be about right. Do they come in a pearl or silver color? The homemade ones are 17 x 14.

View attachment 248387

How would you like some of these eyes, tied this up and my wife called it the kraken which seemed like a fitting name. Back in the late eighties I tied sailfish flies commercially for a well known saltwater fly guy and I remembered having these eyes around. If you want some I have them in red and silver.