basic tuna gear
- Thread starter B~C
- Start date
Ken, this recent thread had a little information on that. I think the basics are:
1) Some cedar plugs
2) Some "feathers" - like these
3) And apparently some rapala's like the one Mark recommended in the other thread.
Also, it's best if you have live bait so that once you locate a school you can free-spool the bait out for them. So far, I've only done it once and I only caught 3. This year will be better.
1) Some cedar plugs
2) Some "feathers" - like these
3) And apparently some rapala's like the one Mark recommended in the other thread.
Also, it's best if you have live bait so that once you locate a school you can free-spool the bait out for them. So far, I've only done it once and I only caught 3. This year will be better.
starcrafttom
Active member
I have seen on tv people using large soft shad baits instead of live bait at the boat. They chumed with cut bait and then tossed the soft plastic baits in and jerked them until hit.
Wandering Sagebrush
Free Range Human
B~C":2gl0cg28 said:
Use a beefy open reel. That is, not a level wind. When you hook into one, it's like having a Buick on the other end. Some level wind reels will jam as the tuna strips line. Be prepared to get bloody.
On the east coast basic gear for 40 to 80 pound yellow fins is a Penn 114 loaded with 80 pound Ande. Penn Senator rods rated 60 to 80 pound work fine and can be found on ebay for a reasonable cost. They are usually 6' fiberglass seem to stand up to a lot of abuse. Lots of people think they have to have graphite composite rods with two speed reels. This has made the older proven gear pretty cheap on ebay. Out east right around first light sometimes smaller long fin show up and respond to jigs, Those Shimano Trevala jigging rods with a Shimano Torium 30 or a Daiwa Saltist of the same size with 60 or 80 pound braid gets them in the boat. The rods don't look any heavier than a fresh water bass rod but I have seen people put butt of the rod under their shoulder and the rod on the rail lower there shoulder using the rail as a fulcrom and work 55 to 60 pound long fin up and in the boat in short order.
D.D.
D.D.
thanks, input duly noted. What is the life span of those feather rigs? I picked up that very assortment pictured, should I get more.
Is mono the perfered line for tuna?
Live bait sounds like the bomb but I'm stocking up on lures now while the iron is hot for summers to come. I don't think I can make it out tuna fishing untill I retire from my summer job (unless this global warming thing really takes off)
Is mono the perfered line for tuna?
Live bait sounds like the bomb but I'm stocking up on lures now while the iron is hot for summers to come. I don't think I can make it out tuna fishing untill I retire from my summer job (unless this global warming thing really takes off)
Gene Morris
New member
Good morning Ken;
Will Joe let you have some summer time off to tuna fish?????
There are a couple of go to lures that I will always have in my spread. Cedar Plugs (Purple....Green/Yellow.....Natural) Color depends on brightness of the day and feed that the albacore are targeting. Cedar plugs need to be run farther back in the spread and separated by a good distance. Another lure that I will run always is a fish trap run down the center of the spread but, way way back (150-250ft) of the boat. Call or e-mail me and I would be glad to talk to you about specifics. Live bait fishing on the stop from a trolled fish is the greatest experience there is (BAR NONE). Here is a link to a small boaters guide to tuna fishing. From our tuna club web site.
http://humboldttuna.com/smf/index.php?topic=147.0
We'll see you in the Cove In August as we will take Tootsie Two to KTN for Bud and transport
Gene 707-444-3918
Will Joe let you have some summer time off to tuna fish?????
There are a couple of go to lures that I will always have in my spread. Cedar Plugs (Purple....Green/Yellow.....Natural) Color depends on brightness of the day and feed that the albacore are targeting. Cedar plugs need to be run farther back in the spread and separated by a good distance. Another lure that I will run always is a fish trap run down the center of the spread but, way way back (150-250ft) of the boat. Call or e-mail me and I would be glad to talk to you about specifics. Live bait fishing on the stop from a trolled fish is the greatest experience there is (BAR NONE). Here is a link to a small boaters guide to tuna fishing. From our tuna club web site.
http://humboldttuna.com/smf/index.php?topic=147.0
We'll see you in the Cove In August as we will take Tootsie Two to KTN for Bud and transport
Gene 707-444-3918
Mono would be my choice for trolling, as if anything does get tangled that braid is *&^%$#@ to get unraveled if something goes wrong in your spread on a turn or in a multiple hook situation. Plus the stretch from the hit while trolling probably better aborbed by the mono. Braid is nice because you can get a bunch on a smaller reel and IMHO for jigging braid is king. Most use about 20 to 30 feet of mono or flourocarbon leader when using braid to avoid pulling hooks as braid does not have much stretch. And because tuna have good eyesight.
D.D.
D.D.
1TUBERIDER
New member
I prefer to drag them in with a hand line. I don't have to stop the boat. Many times when on fish I have multiple hookups and drag them in and toss them in the fish box. The hand line I use is 300 lb test and I use a bicycle tire tube cut up to fit like a glove to protect my hand.
We have five lines out when trolling. One off the gunnels about 5 foot, one off the corner cleats on each side and one down the middle off my rod rack. Two men on the deck and one on the helm. Fun, fun fun.
We have five lines out when trolling. One off the gunnels about 5 foot, one off the corner cleats on each side and one down the middle off my rod rack. Two men on the deck and one on the helm. Fun, fun fun.
boy that braided line sure does make a fine mess when it gets tangled.
Gene- heck yes Joe will give me some time off, why just last summer I had a couple of half days that I was able to get out and hammer some halibut, now if the tuna would range a bit farther north...I'll be looking for you come August.
I'm just gathering up some gear now, it will be a bit before I'm able to chase after those bullit fish.....it sure sounds like a kick
Hey,it tuna have such good eye sight, why does every picture of Charlie Tuna show him wearing glasses?
Gene- heck yes Joe will give me some time off, why just last summer I had a couple of half days that I was able to get out and hammer some halibut, now if the tuna would range a bit farther north...I'll be looking for you come August.
I'm just gathering up some gear now, it will be a bit before I'm able to chase after those bullit fish.....it sure sounds like a kick
Hey,it tuna have such good eye sight, why does every picture of Charlie Tuna show him wearing glasses?
Bringing this thread back to the top. I still haven't put outriggers or a bait well on the Tomcat but I have added more rod holders, bought some rods that double as tuna/halibut rods, put on some decent reels with 65lb braid and obtained some Rapala X-Raps in the purple/black and blue patterns. This past Saturday, we fished for albacore out of Neah Bay.
We got off the dock around 9AM and ran southwest of Tatoosh along the north edge of Juan de Fuca canyon. Got out to the Prairie (a flat area on the N side of the canyon) and water was already up to 61F. Trolled there for about 1-2 hours with no bites so I ran out farther. Got to about 47°58'N and 125°26'W and the water was blue and up to 64F/65F.
Dropped the lines and trolled. Was running 4 Rapala X-Rap 20' divers in the purple/black mackerel pattern (as recommended by Mark at Wefings - THANKS Mark). Wound up picking up 6 fish. Two in the 12-15# range and 4 in the 20-25# range. Ran a bit father south on the way to some prawn pots I dropped the day before and as we crossed the canyon, we found water up to 68.8F. Even got a 9 year old his first albacore.
My buddy Brad with a smaller fish.
Note that the water was lake-like flat. We could run 35kts with no worries other than the fuel being burned.
Last year was my first attempt at albacore fishing and I got 3 on tuna clones. I was trolling too fast (10MPH), 1/2 the baits were in white froth from the engines and when we did catch a fish, we let it run out a lot of line in the hopes of hooking up another. By the time we landed a fish, killed it and got it bleeding, we were a long ways away from the point at which it hit and I didn't execute any kind of search pattern in the area. This year I trolled more slowly (7-8MPH) and with the X-raps, the baits were below the turbulence from the engines. We slowed the boat a bit quicker after the first hit and got the fish in an dealt with much more efficiently. I could then execute a search pattern near the original hit and would pick up another fish in the area. So the knowledge gained here plus some experience from last year helped me go from 3 to the boat the first time to 6 to the boat on a shorter day the 2nd time around. I'll be out in another 2 weeks for tuna again. Then we get to find out how these 2 data points extrapolate. Will it be a linear fit (in which case I get 9 next time out) or is it doubling each trip (in which case I get 12 next time out)? We'll see.
We got off the dock around 9AM and ran southwest of Tatoosh along the north edge of Juan de Fuca canyon. Got out to the Prairie (a flat area on the N side of the canyon) and water was already up to 61F. Trolled there for about 1-2 hours with no bites so I ran out farther. Got to about 47°58'N and 125°26'W and the water was blue and up to 64F/65F.
Dropped the lines and trolled. Was running 4 Rapala X-Rap 20' divers in the purple/black mackerel pattern (as recommended by Mark at Wefings - THANKS Mark). Wound up picking up 6 fish. Two in the 12-15# range and 4 in the 20-25# range. Ran a bit father south on the way to some prawn pots I dropped the day before and as we crossed the canyon, we found water up to 68.8F. Even got a 9 year old his first albacore.
My buddy Brad with a smaller fish.
Note that the water was lake-like flat. We could run 35kts with no worries other than the fuel being burned.
Last year was my first attempt at albacore fishing and I got 3 on tuna clones. I was trolling too fast (10MPH), 1/2 the baits were in white froth from the engines and when we did catch a fish, we let it run out a lot of line in the hopes of hooking up another. By the time we landed a fish, killed it and got it bleeding, we were a long ways away from the point at which it hit and I didn't execute any kind of search pattern in the area. This year I trolled more slowly (7-8MPH) and with the X-raps, the baits were below the turbulence from the engines. We slowed the boat a bit quicker after the first hit and got the fish in an dealt with much more efficiently. I could then execute a search pattern near the original hit and would pick up another fish in the area. So the knowledge gained here plus some experience from last year helped me go from 3 to the boat the first time to 6 to the boat on a shorter day the 2nd time around. I'll be out in another 2 weeks for tuna again. Then we get to find out how these 2 data points extrapolate. Will it be a linear fit (in which case I get 9 next time out) or is it doubling each trip (in which case I get 12 next time out)? We'll see.
Captains Cat
New member
By the tenth trip, you'll need a bigger boat! 
Charlie
Charlie
starcrafttom
Active member
do you need a deck hand in two weeks? I could cut loose for a day.
Tom - unfortunately, that trip is fully booked with three other guys. The great thing about having a co-owner is that I always have someone to fish with and everything for the boat is 1/2 price. The slight downside is that I don't have the flexibility I used to have to bring as many guests as now we each contribute guests. However, I have met some new and cool people through Brad.starcrafttom":38im3q1h said:
Maybe later in the season we'll have a good weather window and we can both drop everything and run for tuna.
Roger , glad you are catching on the Tomcat.Black and purple always catches fish .Albacore love Rapalas.The Magnums are what we used to use . Black and Purple is what we will troll [high speed 12-15 Kts.with 2 or 3 Lb torpeedos on heavy cable] for wahoo tomorrow in the gulf o' mex. Zukers are good feathers and we always did well with the dorado colors with the stiff nylon lawnchair webbing type skirt.
One old commercial albie trick is bring a couple boxes of cheerios . If you see them on the sonar but they arent biting leave a trail of cheerios and sometimes that brings em up.
Here , the dorado bite the dorado colors . Might run into some tomorrow if we get lucky. Maybe blackfin tuna too.
We were 6 knots for albies .
Marc
One old commercial albie trick is bring a couple boxes of cheerios . If you see them on the sonar but they arent biting leave a trail of cheerios and sometimes that brings em up.
Here , the dorado bite the dorado colors . Might run into some tomorrow if we get lucky. Maybe blackfin tuna too.
We were 6 knots for albies .
Marc
starcrafttom
Active member
Sounds good to me. How are you doing on salmon? Looks like the port townsend to possesion area is lite up right now. Going out sunday but not sure where.