Bait and switch

Hunting season is right around the corner. Actually, it is already here with the kick-off of bear season last weekend. This time of the year is a big deal in my house. It is time for me to turn off my fishing switch and turn on my hunting switch; I call it the annual bait and switch...

I love to fish but I love hunting even more. I fish during the hunting off-season. The problem is some of the best fishing occurs during late summer and early fall at the same time as hunting season. I recently made a couple big fishing trips hoping it would make my transition to hunting season much easier and maybe I'd even get a little sick of fishing for awhile; I was wrong.

My first mistake was to take the ol' Loomis flyrod to eastern Oregon's Owyhee River for some of the most exciting brown trout fishing. The fishing was short of incredible. In a few hours, my good friend Ron and I were able to hook into 20-30 browns and 'bows ranging between 16"-24". The desert rimrock, dry aroma of willow and sage, and 40 degree pristine water was a perfect combination.

My second and biggest mistake was to go albacore tuna fishing off of the Oregon coast. In order to have a good tuna day, the stars must align. First, the Pacific's temper must be mild enough to allow boating. Second, the water temperature needs to be around 60-62 degrees; third, you must know somebody with a good boat and good navigational skills. Everything aligned for me and some friends last week and we experienced one of the most exciting fishing days of our entire lives.

The difficult part of tuna fishing is getting out to the fish 20-30 miles off the coastline. Once you are out there, tuna fishing is faily simple. You find the fish and drag big plugs 7 mph behind the boat...that's it. My favorite lure of the day was a incense cedar plug tipped with 3oz of leadnose. I still don't know what the cedar dowel resembles to a tuna but it must look mighty tasty; to me, the cedar lure looks like what it is, a stick. Mostly we used clones, colorful squid-like lures.

The lures bounce along the surface until a tuna hits it with tremendous force. We burned out at least one reel's drag and broke one or two rod holders to these hard-fighting tasty morsels.

I was amazed with the tuna's anatomy. They are made for speed and it is obvious when you observe their aqua-dynamic traits. Their side fins look more like large wings, much like a penguin. The back of a tuna has more than a dozen small fins all angled differently along the backbone but all working in a concerted effort. Each fin can fold flush against the body into small ports to minimize drag. Their entire body feels as if a laquer coating was brushed over them. If you run your fingers over the tuna's eye you will not feel the sockets because this coating also covers the tuna's eyes, even the tuna's scales are under the coating, once again minimizing any drag as they speed along the waters between Asia and America in search of baitfish.

After 31 fish in the boat at roughly 20-25 lbs. a piece, our elbows were tired. We split the fish and each took home 8. 55% of a tuna is premium fillet...you do the math.

This video will give you a good idea how hard a tuna hits the line, listen to the ol' drag sing!