Pelagic Magic: Bluefin, Yellowtail Join Albacore Off Washington Coast

By Dave Anderson

This past weekend (Aug. 17-18) I had the opportunity to get out on the ocean and help out my friend Patrick Walker, owner of TailWalker Charters.

We headed south outside the Grays Harbor bar and we were greeted by some great ocean conditions. We were in the trough the whole way out.

We got about 10 miles from our planned coordinates and slowed down for a few minutes to get all our gear ready and go over instructions with our clients.

We decided to throw out troll gear and track southwest since both Pat and I were seeing marks on the Raymarine display. Not even five minutes went by and the troll rod went off and we were on!

We picked up a dozen nice albacore on our first bait stop before we lost the school. We ended up going back on the troll and after about 20 minutes we were back on.

About two or three fish into this bait stop we ended up picking up a nice yellowtail and there were high fives all around. We kept the bait stop going for another 20 minutes.

After cleaning up the boat, we went back to trolling. About a half hour later, bingo, another fish on the troll. However, this time as we converted to a bait stop I heard Pat yell, “Bluefin!”

This was probably one of the most exciting days I’ve had in quite some time on the tuna grounds. Tuna fishing is on fire right now and some of the best that I’ve seen in the past few years. There have also been numerous catches of bluefin tuna and yellowtail, which makes this fishery so fun right now.

I would highly recommend getting out to the coast to take part in some world-class fishing!

Tight lines!

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