No Skunks On My Boat

     He could see it now as clearly as that day many years ago, the ocean surface whipped into a frenzy of whitewater by the crazed school of tuna as they crashed the terrified baitfish that they had pushed to the surface.  Overhead gulls, petrels, and shearwaters joined the carnage, wheeling and diving into the mass below.  His pulse began to race, and not from the mug of coffee on the table in front of him.  Then he was startled out of his trance by his young friend who had just entered the harbor side diner.  “Reliving the good ole days again, Captain?  The response was a good-natured chuckle.  “Son, you know my philosophy by now.  The past can be a nostalgic memory or it can be something more.  It can give us a yardstick to gauge the present state of deep sea fishing, as well as many other things.  It can also provide information that keeps us from reinventing the wheel and lets us build on past mistakes and successes.”

     And you know, Tom, that today it is not like the more unspoiled days of years past when anyone with a little luck and adventurous spirit could catch fish on most days and most places.  Today one has to use knowledge, skills, and information along with good equipment to have a good chance at productive fishing.  Do this and there are still very good days to be had out there.

     The younger captain was all ears now as he was each time they met for coffee.  He sat and soaked up the stories like a sponge.  "Captain", he said, "since most of us West Coast anglers feel the excitement of albacore most every summer, why don’t you give me your take on this compelling fishery". 

Albacore

     Ah, albacore!  The word that lights a fire in the heart of most every fisherman.  A word that causes grown men and women to abandon all sense of control and the pursuit of the other goals in day-to-day life.  Just the hint of the annual arrival of these fish gets the phones jingling at party boat and charter landings along the Pacific Coast of California, Oregon, Washington, and Northern Baja California.  Boat maintenance and upgrading projects that crept along in the off-season are frantically wrapped up now.  Tackle shops are crowded as anglers buy more of what they need or what they don’t.

     Why does this bullet shaped bundle of muscles evoke such reaction?  It could be argued that a number of other game fish fight as hard or harder pound for pound: Yellowtail, Amberjack, Yellowfin Tuna, Bluefin Tuna, Swordfish, and the list goes on.  Aside from the fact that these fish have firm, white meat with little of the fishiness taste of other species, there is an excitement and mystery to the whole albacore experience.  Although life cycles and migrations are still not completely certain, much has been learned, as well as hypothesized, in favorite opinions voiced from all sides.  A rough pattern of circulation shows the fish possibly spawning in Mid-Pacific, maybe near Midway Island, or closer to Samoa, or even somewhere else west of the Hawaiian Islands.  About the 2^nd year of life, in the Spring, they begin to move across the Pacific Ocean in the Northern Hemisphere, first to enter the coastal waters of Northern Baja California, then Southern California, next Central California, and later the Pacific Northwest, even as far a Vancouver Island.  Usually the first fish are small, 9-12 pounds, increasing in size with later arrivals, which average 15-25 pounds, although some “slugs” of 40 plus pounds are caught every year.

     All summer they are fair game along the West Coast.  As winter approaches, they move West again along a more northerly route, eventually providing an important commercial bait/lift pole fishery for the Japanese off their islands.  Later, pushing into the South Pacific, another important commercial area is found in open ocean.  Even off the coast of Australia south of Sidney