Catching Albacore Tuna In Bandon!
Deckhand Mark brings in a Tuna
Yesterday I was fortunate to have picked the perfect day for tuna fishing off of the Oregon Coast.
The time was 5:30 am and the fog was still keeping the sun at bay. 10 anglers left bandon aboard the Prowler owned by Prowler Charters of Bandon. As we came across the bar there were rolling 4 foot swells and all was well.
By 7:15 the water temperature was around 62.5 degrees. We set 8 lines in the water and drew our numbers for the order we would land fish. I drew number 2 which means when number one catches his fish, I get the next one.
After trolling for probably 5 minutes all the sudden “FISH ON” rings out as pole number 2 is buried and pulling hard. The first guy gets up and struggles to get the pole out of the holder while the captain slows the boat down from the 7 or so knots we were trolling at. The fight is on.
For about 2 minutes we all watch anxiously as number 1 fights his fish when all of the sudden someone spots another pole get hit. I am on it and start fighting my first tuna of the day. Then I hear somone yell FISH ON again as a third angler starts his play on yet another tuna.
After about 10 minutes we have all 3 fish on board. A couple right near the 18 pound mark and one that is probably more like 14.
Off we go trolling some more. The fish are just dying to get caught when the sounds of “FISH ON” rings out time after time. We cycle through our numbers time and again just hoping we will have a good day at the end.
Number 8 hooks up another tuna
By around 10:30 we beat the previous days catch of 67 fish and things are only getting better. Time and again we’d have 2 to 3 fish on at a time and the deck was in chaos as poles were moved, fish were landed and bled out and others were just itching to get another chance at a fish.
The storage bin on the back of the boat was almost completely full with fish and it was time to go to storage plan B which was a big burlap sack which we tied along the side of the boat.
Once again ready to go we kept on fishing. At about 11:30 or so one pole hit, then another right after, then 3 more hit. We have 5 fish hooked up at one time. I was on one rod and can tell the fish is a good one. Unfortunately I was on the longest line we had out. It took me nearly 10 minutes to land this one and it probably weighed in at pretty close to 30 pounds.
It was my 7th or 8th fish of the day! My arms are shaking, my hands are sore, but I was doing my favorite thing in the world, fishing off of the Oregon Coast.
As the day went on we continued to catch fish. We did another 5 pack and several 3 at-a-times. It was absolutely phenomenal!
The other really awesome part of this trip was how beautiful the water was. At about noon the sun started peeking through the cloud bank from time to time showing us the most beautiful blue waters. It looked like the waters I had seen off of Caba San Lucas several times. And still the fish kept biting.
Finally about 2 o’clock the whole team voted to head in as we knew we had a huge amount of fish and it’d take a long time to get that many filleted at the docks. Also by coming in early several of us would be able to get our fish out to Chuck’s Seafood in Charleston for canning!
At the final tally we had 13 fish each except one guy who only got 12. We had 129 fish on board with an average of around 18 pounds.
I took my fish to Chuck’s and had 13 fish that weighed in at 208 pounds.
It was an excellent day!
Today as I write this my arms are still sore, my legs hurt and I have a few bruises and a slight sunburn. But I still have to say this was the best fishing trip I have ever been on.
Kudos to Capt. Ken of the Prowler, Mark the deckhand, and of course the Tuna that just couldn’t resist the lure of our lines. And lastly to Wesley who spent another 4-5 hours filleting fish on the docks.
Later today I will post some videos of guys landing tuna.
nice one!
Good turn around from last time man!
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[...] The tuna fishing is unpredictable. You can be just cruising along when you hear “Fish On” and you see a rod buried. Our rods are heavy duty fishing poles with Penn 114 reels. We fish [...]