Fishing for Tuna need help presenting butter fish while chunking

[Hugegoose]

Could any one please help me? I am trying to find some pictures or diagrams of how to hook butter fish while chunking. Also what should my reels be spooled with and how? Thx

[turbocc]

don't got any pictures for you but i will try to explain it the best i can. I like to run my hook through the mouth. There is a patch of skin that is pretty tough right below the gills, beginning of the belly where you can poke the tip of the hook out enough that it will tear through when a fish hits but remains hidden in the bait. It is also a good idea to use some styrofoam stuffed in its mouth to counter the weight of the hook. This way when you throw it in the water with your chunks it sinks at the same rate. then stitch the mouth shut with a couple half hitches to finish it off this way there is no tension on the hook. Then you have those awsome nights where the yellowfin are swarming around the boat and you can just hook a butter anywhere toss it in and your on.

[Hugegoose]

Should i cut the tail of the butter fish so it does not spin?

[Bert Rodgers]

Should i cut the tail of the butter fish so it does not spin?

Yes

Bert

[canyongear]

HugeGoose..this is from an old post, I highlighted the hook to butter description for you..hope it helps.

Over the years..alot of em'..we tried it all..for chunk a' dunk..at night.

Here's a couple of things we learned..take it..leave it or add to it, your choice. Let' suffice it to say..you know you need good fresh butters or squidlies however you came upon those. If you have the energy when the peanut bunker come in..get the nets out and corral as many as you can the night before..tuna candy for the night bite.

A few tips:

1. Get a hydro glow or install some lights in the hull and transom if your ambitous..takes away the dark area behind the boat and the squidders come in like it's a first date.

2. Fine mesh scoop net..long as possible handle that you can acquire..squids get em somehow fresh if they are in your slick and pull up the butters and put em out.

3. Get a Chumchucker, guys that stay up in the pit, nothing worse than being on the 2-4 shift and having to cut butters..check baits..fix tangles..move rods cuz the tide changed..yo-yo..and then start over and have to deal with cutting flats..that ain't right..your only out there for a short time..cutting butters is non-productive. By the way butter cut easier and cleaner if they be half frozen, so don't take out all the flats 4pm..

3. Use lighter gear at night..we use 30 two speeds..great biscanyne rods with WT guides and Spectra top-shotted.. which was not my choice, I don't like spectra for chunking id rather have mono, since your handling the line alot..most times thats' all you need unless you get into some slob's..deep rods should be 70's or 50's, but keep the yo-yo gear light..IMHO.

4. 3 rods..30-60-90..out and 30 above the thermocline and 30 and 60 below..thermo coverd..two or three yo-yo rods take care of the surface.

5. Line or Leader..this is why I really started this thread. For years we tied the hook direct, palomar, taped the weight and tied a ballon at the correct depth. Then came fluoro..which required a connection..so what is the best..or how do you do it?

Here's our choice..first off leaders are made up in-advance of a trip..and crimped.

6' flouro..40#, 50#, 60#, 80# - 15 to 20 of each, gama's or owner hd live bait hooks, 7/0 or 8/0..crimped by hand..coiled and wire tied and zip baged and labeled. Seems like a pain ..huh.. the leader gets a 100 or 150 spro swivel crimped at the other end..then the knot is simply up to you..

Hook to Butter..my way.

Whole butter in your right hand..hook in left. Feed the hook point into the butters mouth..hook eye pointed toward the the tail..right thumb open gill plate..feed hook into mouth and out gills...pull some leader with it about 6"inches..now feed the hook back into the gills and into the body cavity centering the hook as you feed it so it stays hidden..allow the point to peek out somewhere if it wants..now pull the leader back from the mouth side and it will feed back thru the gills..close the gill plate..hook is now buried and the leader is centered..lay butterfish on the cutting board..cut a 30 degree angle cutting off the / last third of the butter..

This allows the butter to sink nicely and not spin if the angle is correct.

Jinkai ..sleeve J and K will cover the Seaguar fluoro from 40 to 80..don't deviate..never had a crimp pull at night.

Ive watched over the years fighting to rig stuff especially if it's a bit windy, it's not worth it...make life easy get it done ahead of time..trust me..changing leader up in size ..down in size..quick change after a fish..back in business..your always after the bite and always assume it's a short bite..

Now here's a good one..when the bite starts..what do you do?

Chum heavier..Stop Chumming..Slow up the Chum?

I feel slow the chum don't ever stop.

Chum by hand with the yo-yo..that alwasys seems to keep them close.

Sinker slides on the mainline if you like or not..either use them for the sinker..or the ballon or both..i prefer..good electrical tape for a sinker..and tying balloons on by hand..

The pre-rigged leaders has been key to many more fish..when they get turned on by our slick..no delay..extra rod or two rigged and always ready..to go.

That's about it..!

[bigfish4me]

Yup the way canyon gear just described it is how we do it.....one other thing is to be gentle with the butters, hold them in the palm of your hand and lay them in the water if possible.....dont just hold the leader and toss it...the hook may become exposed in the process.

[canyongear]

A couple other things came to mind...

Crimps work better on fluoro..in my opine, fluoro doesn't knot well, seems better suited to crimp it, however, don't mean you can't tie it. Palomar knot seems to work the best on fluoro.

Tying balloons..sounds simple, well it is or not. Try it this way, two man operation tho..
Make a loop in the mainline at desired depth (1st man), this means your bait is allready down to depth, (second man) with balloon blown up takes 2 wraps around the doubled mainline with the neck of the ballon then ties an overhand knot nice and tight.
This accomplishes two things, the mainline loop pulls right out of the balloon knot when bit so no balloon knots staying on your line and you also know when the hit happens as the ballon will float free..if you get bit with no hookup..time to checkie the bait.

When rigging the butters, we sometimes stich the mouth closed with floss with one quick half hitch when the current or drift is strong. This helps with any spinning and kinda locks the butter so the leader and hook doesn't pull thru the soft insides of the butter.

[Double D]

From a way old post

[jbones11]

Thanks for the picture to use as a reference. Everyone has their own way, but just something you may want to try is to cut that butter starting under the chin. Follow the same line/angle as the pec fin goes in that picture and end your cut just before the tail.This way you have all the "thick meat" and someplace to bury the hook into that it will stay. You also may want to take a small 1" piece of monel and close the mouth up. Put the monel through the bottom chin and come out just about the nostrils and all you do is twist a few times.
Good luck

[John from Madison CT]

I like the Monel tip. Much easier than floss.