Best Albacore Tuna Catch EVER!

Albacore On the Line

It is time for the yearly makeover here on The Harvester, taking her from a heavy hauling machine to a sleek albacore tracking machine. We start by taking off the hauling equipment like the crab block, long line hauler and the deck table that we use for holding and setting the long line gear. Then give the boat a heavy scrubbing, paint the trim, and add the small hydraulic tuna pullers and landing table. All this takes about four days. Meanwhile in the evenings we keep a close eye on the terrafin sea surface temperature charts. They tell us where the water temperature is ideal for the albacore,between 60 and 65 degrees. Over the past couple of  weeks we have seen that the warm water has moved from 100mi to 40mi off the coast of Charleston.

On the Hunt: Once we’re in the warmer waters we slow the boat to six knots and throw out nine jigs that vary from 5 to 150 feet behind the boat.   They drag a few inches below the surface in the prop wash “disturbed water behind boat”.   Albacore mostly travel in groups so they can corner schools of bait fish up against the surface.  When they do this the surface is disturbed just like the water behind the boat. So when the harvester drives over some albacore they rise up thinking all that action means chow time.  They bite the jigs swimming very fast, once hooked they dive down making the line behind the boat tight.

Video: Capt. Tyler Pulls a Beut

This is when the fun starts, we grab the line and slap it in the tuna puller that pulls the fish close to the boat then we hand pull them the last ten feet to the stern and yank them on. Once they are landed they are bled and packed in ice.  Last year we averaged 90 fish per day, the first half of the  season was more like 150 fish per day. As the season goes on they fatten up and don’t feed as much so they’re harder to catch, but if you want BBQ fresh tuna later season catch is the best. We can expect good albacore fishing now through the middle of October so get out  the BBQ and pressure canner because it’s tuna time.

First Trip:

We left at four in the morning on Tuesday the 9th of July and fished half the day afternoon Tuesday and all day Wednsday for 330 fish at 65 miles off the coast of Winchester bay average size 15 pounds for 6000 lbs total. Weather was good and we offloaded and are heading out again. We expect to have fresh canned tuna available by this Monday.

Happy Crew is Good Crew

Second Trip:

Best albacore fishing we’ve ever had. We pulled 527 fish on Saturday the 11th of July and 180 on Sunday  for more than 10,000 lbs of albacore tuna on our 34 foot boat (that’s a record) The guys at the cannery just about crapped their pants and had to hire on some more workers to finish processing (they are still cutting even now ha ha).  We were 32 miles off Winchester Bay taking a chance on close in fishing. We hit the mother load and plugged our little boat. No other ships in sight the whole time sorry guys.. you were too far out!

So the canned albacore we JUST CAUGHT are available for you and your family. You can order on line and/or visit our spot at the Eugene Farmers Market Sat 18th. We are working on local pickup locations in Coos/Curry  which will be ready soon — We’ll let you know.   A lot of other boats have fresh albacore on the docks, just keep a look out for signs near your local harbors.  We have some available  but we’re on a hot streak so not sticking around on shore too long!!

Local Pickup now Available for Langlois & Coos/Curry by arraignment.

Capt Tyler and the Harvester Crew

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