I was thinking on making my first ever Albacore tuna fishing trip out of Santa cruz. I have never been tuna fishing. I'm hoping somebody can help me out with a few tips and answer a few questions. like, How far out are the tuna bitting this season and in what direction? also, What is the most effective fishing method for tuna in this area? would trolling be my best bet? also, What weight line should I be using? what size of hook? if anybody can help me I would greatly appreciate it.

Keep an eye on this site for Santa Cruz albacore info.

http://www.baysidemarinesc.com/

I thik so far this year it has been scratchy and mostly small fish. It's early still though. I'm not sure how they fish them in Santa Cruz so I don't know about gear recommendations.

http://www.offshoreanglers.com/tunaGuide/
This link has some good info
If you wouldn't mind taking me I'd love to go and can pitch in on gas and provide all of my own gear and maybe a few extra pieces for others.
Tight lines,
Wade

Thanks wade for the info. the link u gave me sure has a lot of good information about tuna. I was thinking about making a trip sometime next week and ur more than welcomed to ride along. what type of fish do u often go for. I normally fish 4 rockcod out of morro bay. to me, morro bay is a wonderful place to fish. I have a few way pionts saved to my G.P.S were i get a huge score of good size reds. now, I wanna try something different. I wanna start fishing tuna and salmon. I know it will tougher but i know that i can have some fun with it. anyhow, I'll stop yaping, let me know if u ever want to come along.

Carlos

Let me know the next time you go on a weekend. Typically I go for Halibut and other near-shore species when I'm in the salt lately, but that's just due to limitations from using a Kickboat rather than a real boat (I just got one I'm working on but it's still just a skiff). I've caught most of the more common sportfish that are found in this part of the ocean and a few that are pretty rare.
Tight lines,
Wade