The Outdoor Line Forum

Tuna fishing rocks! My first Westport tuna trip was on Wednesday. I went with a friend in the 23-footer I sold him a few years ago. The guy is a fishing machine, has 1,000 hours on his motor and is set up for tuna fishing big time, with cool bags and all the gear for trolling and bait fishing.

It was a blast and I’ve got to agree with Robbie Tobeck (sorry Nelly) these tuna would tow salmon. We had great friends and crew (my buddy Rock and his 10-year-old son Daniel, Scott, the skipper and his friend, also named Scott).

Water conditions were great, the bar was good and we hit warm water 42 miles out and put out the trolling gear. In short order we were hooked up and kept that fish on the line while we rigged with live bait and then it was ON!!!

A few rounds of this, hookups on bait, then troll to locate fish and bait’em again. By 1:30 we’d put 30 tuna on the deck, bled and cooled, and packed in ice in fish bags and coolers. Scott is a master at the process. The side bags are out of the way and proved perfect for fish care and storage.

With big smiles all around, we headed back in with good weather and again a good bar, plenty of daylight for taking care of the fish and heading for home. We could have caught more, but after looking at the bounty we all agreed six fish each was the ideal catch.

Next order of business is to do some serious canning tonight and in the morning. Needless to say it was a blast and I look forward to my next tuna outing!! Here are a few pictures from the trip, I did get some great GoPro footage which I will edit at some point.