Albacore tuna ?

[norcal tom]

Looking at making a trip of the Oregon coast has any one ever made this trip ? There seems to be a few charters doing this trip on the fly . Any experience with these trips . Thanks Tom

[lee s.]

Tom,
Get ahold of Joe Stoops in Brookings. He was the ONLY skipper we would use when he had his boat in Santa Cruz and he thoroughly understands the fly too. Since he left SC we have not gone out and are trying to get together a group for a Brookings run.
....lee s.

[bubzilla]

There was a time when there was basically nobody fly fishing for albicore off the Oregon coast. In fact, the first captain that did it regularly several years ago, and was purportedly "the guy", has long since been involved in a big blow out associated with his vessel sinking and not everyone making it out. Now there are a several captains doing it. A buddy and I went in 2007 with an outfit out of Harbor, OR that was subsequently featured in Northwest Fly Fishing and that acted like they had invented fly fishing for tuna. Pretty funny. If they had only been on one pass through the "Bonita Pit" in La Ventana when the skippies are around! ;) It really isn't rocket science. We put like 20 on the boat that day after being told by the "expert" from a fly shop in Seattle that we were set up all wrong.

Same buddy has an ocean boat now, and we clobber them every year off the Southern Oregon coast. Seems like they are dumber early in the year, but way more open to being on the surface later in the year. Typical Catch 22 of fly fishing, I guess. Like all things salt water, finding them is the hard part.

Any way, for most intents and purposes I would not be affraid of most of the reputable guys at this point. The one piece of advice is that you should get the whole boat if you can. A lot of the best boats say they can run 6 guys. Reality is 2 guys can fly fish at once out of the back, and one brave soul can risk life, limb and very expensive fly tackle hanging off the bow. Last time we chartered a boat we did 4 guys. Boat was like $1300 for the day. We took turns. Everyone had a blast. If it's a boat that takes more than 6, and you are going to be the only fly guy, you'll want to leave your fly gear at home as there is not going to be a lot of tolerance for you interferring with the other guys filling their coolers. Not a good scene.

[Darian]

Hey Bubz,.... It sounds like Albie fishin' in OR is about the same as it is in SoCal. Too many guys on the boat. A couple of guys in the stern with trolling gear. The boat trolls 'til the first hook-up and then everyone puts in a bait while the school sticks around. If the guy that hooks up first loses that fish, the school leaves with it. Tends to make a bunch of people upset. Not much fly fishin' allowed on those party boats as they take a crowd out.

I never saw any Albie up on top but that doesn't mean they weren't there. We just never tried for them with a fly. 8)

[norcal tom]

Thanks guys . Looking at few charters that book fly trips . What kind gear heard 12 thru 14 wt ?