August found us heading west in search of the Bluefin Tuna. They had been biting fairly well lately, so we filled the bait wells with some nice sardines and went in pursuit. We had been warned that the weather was on the nasty side, and it was. Wind to 25 knots and large waves topped with whitecaps resulted in a very bumpy ride out that night. The weather didn't improve after we arrived at the grounds, so it was really Rock and Roll fishing.
We started trolling at 6:00, with a meter stop about 7:45 yielding a good snap at the bluefin. I found that the best way to get the bite started was to sit down to one of Otis's great breakfasts. We kept picking away at the Bluefin throughout the morning, but the bite transitioned to Albacore as the morning waned. A wide open bite never developed, but we picked away at both Bluefin and Albacore of the nicer size. The Albies were in one of two sizes, with the smaller running from 12 to 18 pounds, and the larger from 25 to 30 pounds. They were fairly evenly divided into the two sizes. The Bluefin ranged from 30 to 40 pounds. The first day jackpot was won by Steve Green and the second day by Matt Borgen. Both jackpots were won with nice Bluefin close to 40 pounds. The trip ended with 49 Albacore, 36 Bluefin and 2 Dorado. A nice trip in spite of the weather.
After we got back to the dock we really knew we had made the right move by staying out west. A lot of the boats gave up on the weather and headed south to get the Yellowfin. They found the numbers all right, but they were all in the 3# range! You read that right, trout size tuna. It would take a lot of those to equal one of even the smaller tuna we brought in! Oh well, different strokes for different folks.