World Class Tuna fishing continues (Part 2)
by Jarrod Day on 20 May 2011
Fresh out of the water, Southern Blue fin are a lot of fun. Jarrod Day
www.jarrodday.com
In Part one of this two part feature series, well known Victorian fishing writer Jarrod Day, last week provided the low down on time, place, rod and reels for catch 100kg Southern Blue fin tuna.
Now in Part 2 Jarrod will take you through the rationale of his Lure selection and Trolling tactics.
Portland in Victoria’s west is undoubtedly the tuna capital of this Australian State providing anglers with easy access to the shelf for undoubtedly world class fishing.
The season begins just after the southern hemisphere summer as the water temperature begins to drop. By April to June it hovers around sixteen to seventeen degrees, the prime tuna temperature.
The average fish caught may fluctuate in weight but most of the tuna range in size from 12 to 30kg’s depending on the schools. But Portland can deliver world class fishing, imagine seeing an acre of 100kg Southern Blue fin tuna busting the surface on bait balls.
These larger models often appear for only a week or so at the most, so as soon as the latest reports begin flooding in, it is worth heading down immediately to get your chance at hooking the tuna of a life time.
Whether it is schoolies or barrels that are the target, trolling lures is the main and most successful technique.
Lure selection is critical
Lure selection in tuna fishing is very circuital in the fact that some days they may just not want to eat what you have out. A basic spread consists of trolling five lures, three skirts on the surface followed by either two bibless minnows or two deep diving lures. These days, tackle store walls are overloaded with lures and picking which ones work can be a daunting task. Over the years, I have finetuned my selection but each season a different lure colour will be a hot favourite.
With this in mind, it pays to vary your colours and build a selection from a base range. A base range should consist of a range of colours including pinks, purples, blacks, lumo and blue/whites. My spread has been finetuned over the past five years and now is set at trolling a Richter Soft Grassy 502/506, Richter Dart 93/Lum and Richter Dorado 46/46.
From there I have a wider selection in which I change depending on what is favoured on the day. Should the 502/506 be taken, I will change my spread to lures containing black or purple, a hot favourite each season. All skirts are rigged with a single hook to ensure a solid hook-set. Twin hooks in skirts can work against one another should a fish have each hook embedded in either side of their mouth.
Hard body lures on the other hand are kept in much the same mindset. My two go to lures are a Yo-Zuri Hydro Magnum PDRD and Bolt Mystique 'Red Barron'. Both these lures have proven worthy catching their far share of bluefin over past seasons. Hard bodies should have the treble hooks removed and replaced with a single hook on the rear.
Specially designed inline single lure hooks such as the Decoy SJ-1 7/0 work very well. Alternatively a single Owner Jobu 9/0 is effective but will warrant two 11H split rings to keep the hook in line. Occasionally when trolling hard bodies, you will get one that won’t track straight and keep pulling out. It is recommended a 3ft length of single strand wire be attached to the lures tow point. The wire is far thinner than a mono leader or swivel that is usually attached directly to the bib of a hard body. Most of the time, the reason the lure is pulling out is due to the water catching on the thicker leader or swivel causing it to tilt left or right and pull out.
In combination with skirted lures and hard body lures, Bibbless lures are a vital in the lure spread. River 2 Sea Killer Vibes come standard with twin single hooks attached via welded rings on Torpedo swivels. In the spread, they are situated in the prop wash where most of the hook-ups will occur. Blue fin tuna favour lures in a tight spread, this means once the bobbles lures are in the prop wash, the hard bodies can be situated ten or so meters from them, with the skirts just above on the surface. The longest lure out should be no more than 50 meters being the shotgun lure.
Trolling Tactics
When trolling for tuna, it is imperative you take in and watch everything that is happening around you. On arrival to your destination which may be the horseshoe located out on the shelf, watch the other boats in the area. Often you will see one or more hooks up on fish. This is a good indication as to in which direction to troll in order to get a hook up. You may find anglers are saying that the fish are only hitting the lures while heading into the swell. This obviously has the lures working at the right speed in which the tuna a favouring. In saying that, the desired troll speed is 6-7 knots.
Lures should be kept relatively close to the boat. The two hard bodies or bibbless minnows should be situated just under the pro wash while the two skirts on either side should be set 10 metres back or so the plaited double is just off the rod tip. The last skirt is placed in the rocket launcher and set at the end of the prop wash. In the mix you can also run teasers. I also run a 12' or 24' Strike Point Dredge Bar. The dredge is a three dimensional bait school designed to raise fish to the surface. With this sitting just under the surface and a lure situated just back from it, the lure becomes an irresistible meal to any fish lured up.
All this information is invaluable and when on the water, when you can work this out, you will have a higher success rate. Trolling can become technical but with these basic techniques noted catching tuna will become easier.
Good luck and fish hard, Jarrod Day
*Jarrod Day is a co-host of the 97.7fm 3SER radio program 'The Fishing Show', He contributes a weekly fishing report on 3AW, Friday's @ 7.10pm and 3 MDR Wednesday morning’s.
He also writes regularly for Victorian Fishing Monthly, Go-Fishing, Saltwater Fishing Australia, Fishing Tips and Techniques, South East and West Fishing, TrailerBoat Fisherman, Bream, bass and Barra and NAFA.
He co-wrote 'The Western Port and Phillip Island Land Based Fishing Guide' and has re-written the updated version and 'The Western Port, Phillip Island and surrounding ocean beaches Land Based Fishing Guide along with editing 'The South Coast New South Wales Land Based Fishing Guide.
His website can be found at www.jarrodday.com click here
Jarrod will be providing a story each week for FishingBoating-World.com
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