Fighting a big Tuna

[otcutshine]

I have only caught tuna less than 200lbs. While fishing out of a center console and fighting the larger fish, I found that spinning circles around the fish in opposite directions than he is going seemed to workwell during the battle. My new boat is not quite as nimble, somewhat larger. Do you guys place the boat for optimum positioning of the angler or do you work the fish with the boat?

May sound stupid but oh well.

[wahoonbox]

HELLO OTCUT'..........GREAT QUESTION.....AND REMEMBER THERE ARE NO DUMB QUESTIONS.......SO ALWAYS ASK....

PUT A BIG TUNA ON THE INBOARD SIDE OF A CC AND ROTATE THE CIRCLE WITH HIM....IF THIS IS WHAT HE ALLOWS.....I KEEP ONE EYE ON THE UP AND DOWN MONO AND TRY TO WEAR HIM DOWN.........DO NOT BE AFRAID TO THROTTLE UP RPM'S IF NECESSARY......TO KEEP HIM AWAY FROM STERN AND PROPS....I'VE PUSHED IT TO 16-17 KNOTS IN A TIGHT CIRCLE JUST TO KEEP OUT IN FRONT OF CIRCLE

IF YOU ARE DOING THIS WITH STAND-UP GEAR...YOU ARE MORE MOBILE............THAN IF YOU HAVE A SWIVEL HOLDER

DENNIS BRAID OF BRAID TACKLE IS THE FINEST STAND-UP ANGLER I HAVE EVER SEEN...........I THINK HE HAS A VIDEO OUT STAND-UP IN SMALL BOAT......I DO KNOW HE HAS ONE STAND-UP IN LARGE BOAT............

I DUPED A VIDEO FOR A FRIEND THAT HE MADE JUST YESTERDAY IN N.C.............I COULDN'T BELIEVE HOW EASY HE MADE IT LOOK..........DRINKING A CUP OF COFFEE LOOKS HARDER...........

HE ALSO BUILDS THE WORLDS FINEST....THE FINEST SHORT HEAVY-DUTY STAND-UP ROD ON THE MARKET............IT GIVES AND BENDS OVER DOUBLE ITSELF!!!!
SORRY, I GOT SIDE TRACKED HERE...

WHAT SIZE BOAT AND STYLE?

[DD]

There's an article in this months Big Game magazine on this very topic, written by Tred. I found it very informative

http://www.biggamefishingjournal.com...redvstuna.html

[otcutshine]

We used to fish on a 231 Mako. This will be the second season with a 28' Carolina Classic. The most noticeable difference being bow access. A lot of our Tuna fishing is by chunk/ anchored. Sharking by drift.Knowing when to release the ball and follow is always a judgement decision. While sharking I can't tell you how many times "it's just a blue shark" has turned into ,!!!>

[Fubar512]

I like it when I see a tuna pinwheeling (circling), as the fight is just about over at this point.

Assuming that you're using stand-up tackle, lift the rod and try to force the tuna to plane up as it pinwheels away from the boat. When the tuna reaches the apex of its arc away from you, and is starting to pinwheel back, start reeling. At this point, you should lower the rod tip. When it's at the bottom of its pinwheel, start raising the rod again. In short, let the fish work against itself.

The only maneuvering I do with the boat during this stage of the fight is to keep the fish off whichever corner of the stern affords me the best visibility.

[junior11]

The most important thing you have to tell us before we can give you much advice is it you are fishing stand-up or in a swivel rod holder. We fish out of MA so we aren't gonna stand up to the potential grander we could find our selves at battle with, THe boat I fish on got a fish that was close to 750 lbs estimated in the round (dressed 575 I believe) and although we don't know for sure we feel as though we lost the biggest fish we had all season after about an hour fight in a swivel rod holder with 130 gear. If you are fishing swivels and have bow access, put the rod holder either right in the middle of the bow or one on each side of the bow. As for where to position the fish, it depends how deep you are fishing. In NC most of the time it seems you are fishing in 40-120 feet of water, up here we typically fish in 150-200+ feet of water. the shallower the water the less depth the tuna can get and will take runs that will go out rather than down, up here the fish could take a 150 foot run straight down. At the end of the fight the tuna will "death circle" when it goes sideways in the water and uses every inch and ounce of strength it has left to try and stay down, often the line at this point is straight up and down, when this happens it is a huge advantage to have the line in the bow cause you don't have to worry abou tthe outboards. We have a cuddy in the front so we fight ours off of one corner and try to keep the line directly off the corner to avoid rub on the boat or a cut off in the engines. Tuna's are so strong and powerful and can suprise you with a run out of no where at any time so the most important thing is just goin with it. Also After you fight it zoom in on your GPS (if it shows your tracks) and look at the manuevers you had to do. Often times it looks like connected circles spun off from eachother. This is just expirience from fishing in an outboard boat. The inboard boats probably have a completely different stradegy when bow thrusters are used and there is more of an opportunity to back down on the fish.

-Mark

[John_Madison CT]

Somebody PLEASE drive over to WahoonBox's house and show him where the Cap Lock key is !!!