‘Sound The Alarm’ – Tuna Fishing’s Back

Editor’s note: The following fishing report was submitted by writer Jeff Holmes today.

Andy, sound the alarm: tuna are back close to our coast again and in big, big numbers.

For Northwest Sportsman readers and blog followers who already know why tuna fishing in unequaled in the Northwest and for those who have never gone, now is the time to secure some of the last remaining seats for what is set to be an epic season. It looks like that couple-year streak of fish being further offshore is a thing of the past because boats have come back to Westport plugged for the last week, and I just encountered one of my best ever days of tuna fishing out of a pretty decent sample set, and we never went further than 45 nautical miles offshore.

On Monday, August 8, I joined a mixed crew of tuna virgins and old sticks headed west to the continental shelf from Westport. The ocean was sporty on the way out, but Anglers Edge Sportfishing’s Mitch Coleman got us out to the grounds and trolling in just over two hours despite the secondary swells.

We hooked up our first troll fish within two seconds of putting the first troll rod in the rod holder! We weren’t prepared for a bait stop quite yet, but we still landed several fish on anchovies before we were off on the troll again, only to hook up a triple on the next troll, followed by another successful bait stop. We repeated this pattern until we had 53 albacore aboard for six anglers!

We were back to the dock with all tuna butchered and bagged by early afternoon, despite a whole lot of broken off tuna that sent schools away from our boat. Had we all been practiced at landing tuna, we could have shaved hours off of our fishing time. Still, it was pretty amazing.

Anglers Edge Sportfishing blew me away with their talent, teaching and fun attitudes, and I highly recommend seeking out their remaining September seats. All Rivers and Saltwater Charters is my all-time favorite outfit, and they are plugging boats too. If you can get a seat on any tuna boat out of Westport over the next two months, odds are very high you’ll come back to port with an overwhelming amount of tuna.

I just froze 16 trimmed top loins, ate two fresh, and canned 42 pints. Then there’s all the trim and bloodlines I’ll use for salmon fishing and enough frozen cat treats to keep my 18-year-old orange cat yowling for months.

Go tuna fishing. Go now. This is solid advice. 

Editor’s notes: Full disclosure, Anglers Edge Sportfishing and All Rivers and Saltwater Charters are Northwest Sportsman advertisers. And for more on fishing the Northwest Coast for tuna, check out the August 2022 issue of Northwest Sportsman magazine for two great stories from authors Jeff Holmes and Sara Ichtertz!