August, 2012, was a successful month of giant bluefin tuna fishing as well for the Tony's Tuna Fishing fleet on Prince Edward Island. Although the herring were not bunched into tight schools to give us the opportunity to feed the tuna on a daily basis like we did in 2011, there was still enough herring and mackeral in the area to keep the tuna around, and alot of the hookups were from the high swimmer baits in the water column or the kite bait, suspended right on the surface. We hooked giants on a very regular basis, feeding them beside the boat on some occasions, with tuna being spotted and hooked on a large majority of the trips.
The weather conditions were ideal all month long, with only one day being lost to foul weather. Water temperatures were consistent which kept the tuna bite steady. We fished the majority of the month out of the port of Souris, and made some trips to both Cape George and Fishermen's Bank in August, when the bluefin were spotted in these areas. Although the trip was longer than what we usually contend with, it was worth it on most trips.
On the last week of August bluefin tuna were spotted on the north side of the island in large numbers, directly off our home port, North Lake, Prince Edward Island. It was a short trip back home from Souris, only 15 miles. We sailed back as soon as we had confirmation of the sightings, and finished off the month back at North Lake, with alot of fish being hooked and spotted daily. The herring were finally starting to show up in good numbers, congregating in one particular area daily so we could set our nets in them to attract the tuna to the area.
Although August, 2012, saw the bluefin being a little tougher to hook than in August,2011, I believe there were as many tuna in the area, they were just spread over a much larger area. We had days that all our boats would get hooked up, and there would be miles and miles between us. We just did not have the herring settle down in one small area to attract the tuna and hold them, so we had to work a little harder for our hookups some days. I believe that if the herring settle down earlier in the season in 2013, then it will mean easier fishing with feeding the bluefin beside the boat being the norm once again in the earlier part of the season. We did get to feed them regularly in 2012, but it was a little later in the season. This will be reported in the September report:)
Captain Tony
www.tonystunafishing.com
Copyright 2018, Tony's Tuna Fishing