Tuna Fishing... Noob questions

[Parapapam]

I think everyone is talking around a central point here... which is:

Running one line correctly is more important than running 11 lines poorly. Only run the number of lines your crew can handle. A year or two ago my kids were younger and I ran 4 lines.... because that is all we could handle. This year I had 2 guys with me who were very experienced. We ran 9 lines and they wanted to run more. (BTW, this was without out riggers...)

But back to your central point.... even though you own your own boat, go with a guide or even better, go with a couple different guides. They will put you on fish and they will teach you hands on what works and what doesn't.

Mike

[tlasbill]

quick question what kind and size boat do you have, that will make a large difference on how many rods and such and if its a CC or WA or express.

[Boatless33]

2009 Boston Whaler 305 Conquest (with every factory option minus the graphics). After some of the other responses, we will be able to troll with 7 lines. We'll probably start with a lesser amount however.

Now, another pair of noob questions?
1) Should we invest in downriggers?
2) What is the recommended trolling speed?

[rat_catcher]

Originally Posted by Boatless33

How many people would you suggest for trolling with 5-7 lines? There will most likely be 4 people on board when we go fishing.

A rough rule of thumb I use for trolling is one more line than the number of people on board. Sounds like you guys like to run many more lines than this, which I would think could get a little messy when chasing a schooling fish such as tuna. Multiple hookups will not be uncommon and with an inexperienced crew it will turn into a nightmare real quick.

I would start simple and build up as you get some experience.

The real trick is to get out on the water and get some experience under your belt, whether it be with 2 lines or 10 lines.

[Boatless33]

Yeah we're not going to jump straight into 7 lines. We know some people who go tuna fishing fairly regularly so they will accompany us on our first few trips. The boat has already been winterized and will be going in the water in April. Our last boat was a 23' walkaround a few years ago so we first have to get used to the new boat. We will be using it a few times a week so with any luck, we will be comfortable taking her offshore by late summer/fall. If we're not ready for the canyons by then, we should be at least up to a few trips to the mudhole.

[rat_catcher]

Originally Posted by Boatless33

The boat has already been winterized and will be going in the water in April.

Oh yeah I keep forgetting about the whole winterizing thing and not being able to use the boat year round! Where I come from in Australia it was a 12 month per year sport.

[Boatless33]

Originally Posted by rat_catcher

Oh yeah I keep forgetting about the whole winterizing thing and not being able to use the boat year round! Where I come from in Australia it was a 12 month per year sport.

Lucky! I am hoping to study abroad in Australia before I graduate.

Unrelated to the quote here, but, if we can get this whole tuna fishing thing down, my podiatrist said that if we take him out a few times and get him into some fish, he'd hook me up with the foot surgery that I need. Free of charge

[tlasbill]

boatless for your size boat you can easily run 7 lines or more...we run a 23 alot of morehead and for offshore fishing were fishing 5-6 lines and thats only my dad and me on the boat, however hes been doing it for 40 years and ive been doin it for 15 or so. the key is to space your lines. as for downriggers i love them for slowtrolling king macs however for offshore you gotta go with the planers the easiest is to use them on a handline and use a release clip. but if you have some deeper funds a planer rod is the best thing you can buy next. have a shotgun a short center, long corner on the planer and short corner as flat line, then you can run 4 lines off of your riggers just stagger the length. just get some seawitchs cedar plus and greenmachines and some naked bally rigs and spreader bars and thats all you need man. most of the new tackle is made to grab a fisherman not the fish. I prolly could easily outfish most of the guys on here that are "professionals" using old penn senators and seawitches with ballyhoo and splittail mullet. Just practice with a couple things and get good at those really well and fish as much as you can the rest will fall right into place. and accurate reels are fantastic by far the best made reel out there however you will pay top dollar for them. Personally I like avet for everything up to 80 and then I use shimano tiagra 130s for marlin and bluefin reels. Avets customer service is second to none and there product is great. hope this helps.

[250 sportsman]

Disagree with all of the above...too much$$ for me I had good luck this year 2 lines off the back and one on the Kite using live bait pogies(menhaden) and mackerel, although no giants all 160 to 200#. I had some takes, but no hook ups with artificials. I have 2 VSW 50s on mini bent butts and a 50tw on an old international rod.

Although I have no clue about Jersey fishing the guys fishing live bait did better then the guys using bars, chains ect. you need a good live well tho for live bait. Maybe a cheaper option then buying 7+ setups at over a grand for new stuff

[Boatless33]

As far as budget goes, for now, anywhere from 5000-10,000. Obviously, a giant would be cool, but there'd be no complaints about fish in the 160-200# class. I don't even weigh 160 myself haha. Hell, my biggest fish ever was a 27 pound striper taken off the surf.

I don't know the exact details on the baitwell. Its a brand new 30' boat. Hopefully it will be good.

I'm looking at the specs of the boat right now so it it helps anyone in visualizing the setup, there are 5 rod holders on the hardtop, 4 in the gunnels and 3 on the transom. 58 sq ft cockpit and it is rigged for downriggers but I doubt we're going to go that way

[250 sportsman]

All my luck has been drifting over/along ledges, not trolling. More time to drink and less gas Not saying other guys don't know what they're talking about but theres other ways then running a bunch of lines and on the weekends thats what everyone else is doing, and when someone runs over a couple lines it sucks to lose a couple bars (or prop seals depends). This was my first year for tuna. I bought my reels used for ~$350 ea and had them gone through and lined, and had the rods custom built. I like the avets the best but couldn't find any used, we just bought another house and had a baby so my fishing/boat budget was slashed. Stupid reel life j/k

[tlasbill]

well 250 has his way of doing it and chunking and live baiting is a great technique up north but if you walked down the docks in MHC or hatteras theyd laugh at you for doing that but to each there own....and to be honest 250 the man has spent a lot of money on a boat so far so why skimp on the tackle just my 2 cents been doing it for awhile and pretty good at it. trolling is the most effective way to find fish, after you find them sure you can jig, chunk, live line, whatever but troll at 8 knots around and you can cover alot of ground quick to find fish. boatless lots of people are going to give you great advice but you need to do what your comfortable with. decide what you wanna do but the most successful fishermen never try one thing or the other they try it all and are always changin if one thing isnt producing but start with the basics and go from there....offshore fishing is an expensive hobby, If i only thought about the money id be sick and not wanna go...go with what you can afford and have fun and never look back man.......PS all of the northern boats that come down to NC for the giants in the winter are trolling(so there paychecks depend on catchin fish and thats what they do)...tightlines

[LI32]

Originally Posted by Boatless33

I'm looking at the specs of the boat right now so it it helps anyone in visualizing the setup, there are 5 rod holders on the hardtop, 4 in the gunnels and 3 on the transom. 58 sq ft cockpit and it is rigged for downriggers but I doubt we're going to go that way

It looks like the boat has 3 rod holders close together on the transom plus two in each gunnel. If you plan to troll effectively, you probably want to add another set of rod holders in the gunnels at the rear of the cockpit, especially if you plan to run two lines off each rigger.
You also should consider adding 3 or 4 Lee's vertical clamp on rod holders to each of the hard top legs so you can put the cleared rods out of the way.

The other thing to consider in looking over the specs for the boat is range - it shows 300 gal capacity and 1.13 nmpg @ 23 kts (with the 250 Verados - a little better (1.18 @ 25 kts with the 300 Verados, but only 1.36 @ 7.5 kts) in a light and best fuel economy loading, and only 1.85 @ 7.5 kts (which is about what offshore trolling speed is); with 5 guys and 1000-1,500 lbs or more of gear and ice, I'm betting you will be down to .95-1.0 nmpg, which will cut your range to 250-270 miles (without any adverse weather), which is marginal for canyon overnighters from Barnegat or Pt. Pleasant inlets - I would spend some time figuring out the range in all types of conditions on some of those 35-50 mile middle grounds trips first.
Also, have you figured a 6 man life raft, epirb and survival suits into your budget?

With a $9,000 buget, I would get 7 good setups for trolling, that can also be used for bait fishing with 3-50 VSW's and 4-30 VSW's matched to 6' stand-up all roller rods (6' is better for outboard boats), and spool them with 500 yards of braid plus 300-350 yards of mono (50lb on the 30 VSW's, 80 lb on the 50 VSW's) at about $800 each, 2 PennTorque 200's with Penn 6'6"H Torque rods with all braid (50 lb) for jigging Tuna ($425 each), 3 Penn 750 ssm's with Ugly Stik 1101 rods for $150 ea, a set of Aftco gaffs -1 Flyer with 6" hook, 1-3", 1-4" & 1-5", all with 6' handles ($400), 2 Braid Brute Buster Belts, drop straps and Fighting Harnesses ($185 each) and spend the rest on a smallish but decent assortment of tackle storage, lures and hooks.

[Innovator]

All great recommendations, many options and many opinions. Definitely check out the Canyon Runner Seminar. Also nobody has brought up safety equipment- life-raft, epirb, offshore flares, quality life jackets, proper tool kit, spare parts etc. Newcomers to the offshore game may not be fully aware of the things that can happen offshore. Its an expensive game don't skimp on the safety stuff.

[Boatless33]

Safety is definitely the number 1 priority.We definitely will get all of the proper safety gear. Also, good point with the fuel consumption. Those 300s really drink at trolling speeds. After we run the boat a few times, I'll do some calculations to get real world numbers with a canyon load

[250 sportsman]

Originally Posted by tlasbill

well 250 has his way of doing it and chunking and live baiting is a great technique up north but if you walked down the docks in MHC or hatteras theyd laugh at you for doing that but to each there own....and to be honest 250 the man has spent a lot of money on a boat so far so why skimp on the tackle just my 2 cents been doing it for awhile and pretty good at it

they snicker at me here too, on my old boat, funny looking livewell ect, but nothing better then coming back with a cow and the guys on the new cabo, running 10 Avet's and clean skins have nothing. The more money you spend dosn't equal more fish. I don't think live lining is skimping one bit, $60 for a dozen live pogies, or the fuel and time to go catch your own the night before, its cheaper but more work. Just telling boatless theres other techniques. And IMO live bait is always the best for all fish.

[auguste]

I was in your position a few years ago . . . starting from scratch

#1 Get someone with lots of experience WITH A SIMILAR SIZE BOAT and have them fish with you and help you work out a 'spread' that works for your boat

#2 Don't start with cheap gear . . . get good quality gear even if it is used . . . you will throw out the cheap gear and feel that you wasted your money

#3 Have fun and safe boating

[2dogs1949]

Another vote for Canyon Runner seminars. You will learn a bunch for sure.
Find someone with on water experience to help you set a spread. This doesn't have to be during the season either. Start in the spring, trolling off the beach is a great way to practice getting to know your boat, how many lines you can drag at what speed and where in the wake. Which lines to deploy first, what lures perform best in what position.
How to rig natural baits.
Canyon Runner, Canyon Runner, Canyon Runner, Canyon Runner,

You'll learn more in one day with these guys than you will in 6 months of dockside BS sesions.