Yellowfin and bluefin tuna are the backbone of Southern California’s pelagic fishing fleet. Farther north in the Pacific, Oregon sees a run of albacore tuna 30 miles offshore from late June to August. But what about Alaska, the Last Frontier. Isn’t that the place of snow, salmon, halibut, caribou, and long winter nights? As Bob Dylan said, well, the times they are a-changin’.
“People have caught tuna occasionally out of southern Alaska for many years, but it’s still uncommon and mostly incidental,” said Fish and Game Sitka-area biologist Troy Tydingco to Wired2fish. “Sport anglers have successfully targeted tuna out of Prince of Wales Island from time to time, but this is the first time I’m aware that sport anglers have successfully targeted tuna from Sitka.”
Albacore off Alaska
In early September, anglers landed albacore tuna — lots of them — on rod and reel out of Sitka, Alaska. No incidental catches here. Their success wasn’t just a single or double; boats were filled with tuna if they were able to find schools. Tydingco, who works in the Sport Fish Division, was one of those anglers himself. He went fishing with a fellow angler Steve Ramp, the mastermind behind the tuna trip.
“Our first trip was on Sept. 4, and anglers have been out there most days since when weather allows,” explained Tydingco. “Anglers have talked about trying to find them for years, but the temperature band [60 degrees F] typically doesn’t make it up this far. We went out with high hopes, but low expectations.”
They planned to target a single species far outside their typical fishing grounds. But the gamble was a success.
“All the factors lined up for a try — good weather, calm seas, and most importantly the warm band of water made it up near Sitka,” he said. “We essentially drove out offshore until the water turned blue and hit 60F. About 30-plus miles from Sitka.”
The area was west of Cape Edgcumbe off the continental shelf in 6,000 feet of blue water. They trolled on the surface with tuna jigs at 7 knots — much faster than one would typically troll for salmon.
“We had singles, doubles and triples, putting two dozen albacore onboard before heading home,” said Ramp. “I’ve been dreaming about trying this for over 12 years — watching temperature readings offshore, reading sea surface charts and watching the weather forecasts.
“We needed a calm forecast since we were 36 miles out from Sitka and 22 miles out from the westernmost land. Troy and I decided on the way in to share the ‘what, where, when and how’ so others could take advantage of what we found.”
What the Future Holds
Looking toward next season, will tuna fishing off Sitka become a yearly thing? Tydingco doesn’t think so, although he heard of some commercial efforts targeting albacore out of Sitka several years ago.
“We found the preferred temperature band,” he explained. “Albacore typically occur just south of Alaska — like in British Columbia. I suspect that there’s substantial biomass and they were just following the temperature.”
So don’t expect a tuna fishery to pop up in the imminent future off Sitka. But anglers should definitely keep an eye on the conditions that are conducive to tuna fishing, especially toward the end of the fishing season locally.
“Typical sport fishing boats in Sitka have gotten bigger, faster, and more reliable and that allows them to safely go out offshore farther,” said Tydingco. “And anyone can track sea surface temperatures without even going out.”
If September is the season for tuna in Alaska, it won’t be a large window. The weather commonly shifts this time of year to a fall pattern with much more wind and rain that could make offshore fishing difficult, if not impossible.
