New guy needs help for tuna

[PeteC]

Well this is where im at in life at the moment. I've got the bug bad to do some tuna fishing (yellow/blue). I had some extra coin to drop and a buddy of mine was selling his gear for a decent price so i jumped on it. only problem is now he left on some business type excursion and isnt around to show me the ropes on it. New penn int II 50vsw and a custom stick 50-130#. Now where my problem comes in i have been fishing since i can hold a pole but i have been reading things are very different for fish of the caliber. Basically i need the what and how to's of where i go from here. Like braid vs mono, top shot questions, leaders and rigging the whole bit. So if anyone has the patience to answer the newbie it would be most appreciated.
Thanks all,
pete

[dusky23fac]

Pete,
I am no expert by any means but here are some basic things you can do to get breifly acclimated.
1. Look into to the following websites for some general first hand tuna fishing techniques: www.bigmarinefish.com and find a website that demonstrates differant types of knots.
2. Get a Permit for tuna species. I think it's around $16.00 or $24.00 can't remember.
3. If your fishing from a boat the New Jersey Waters and your tuna chunking you need 4 set ups size 30# reels or two #50 and two #30. your choice. I personally like the #30 Class reels due to weight. The rods should be between 5.5ft to 6ft. The longer the rod the better for trolling. If you are going on a Head Boat then you should teo set-ups There are many articles on this so you need to do some homework.
4. For fishing line you can spool up the reels with 80 to 100lb braid and a top shot of 25 to 50 yds of momia mono clear. If you trolling you could use a high visability yellow so that you can see your lines.
5. For rods and reels for chunking there are many but I get the best that I can afford and they are 30EX AVETS and SHIMANO TIAGRA 30W LRSA. Wider reels are good for trolling because they hold more line but if your chunking with wide reels they have a tendency to wobble.
6.Hooks, swivels, and accessories. Build yourself a plano box for Gamakatsu tuna hooks with No#6,7,8,bait hooks. It would hurt to have some circle hooks as well. Extra line, 100 to 300 pd barrell swivels, and good fluro carbon in 50lb, 60lb, 80lb, and 100lb. Tuna fish get finicky a prefer a lighter fluro line.
( The basic set up is your top shot connected to you braid using a alberto - allbright knot, then at the end of your top shot u can tie a swivel, at the other side of the swivel tie 4-8ft of fluro, the tie your tuna hook. You can buy rids all ready made up from many differant tackle shops. There are many differant types of knots but the following knots I think are used and aren't that difficult.
a. Polamar, improved clinch knot, offshore swivel knot, allbright, reverse allbright, uni to uni knot, cat's paw, surgeons knot, spider hitch, and snelling a hook, also a loop to loop connection. With the loop to loop I think you need to know how to do a bimini twist or an Aussie Plait. I am still learning these two knots.Print out the knots place them in a clear sheet protector and keep them on board. By some mono and power pro and practice.
7. Dennis Briad has some nice information about Big Game fishing and you can learn something from his web site. Check it out!
Get out on a couple of head boats in August, September, October Tuna Fishing in North Jersey - Bellmarr, Brielle, Barnaget, Point Pleasant and you will learn alot.

[54bullwinkle]

My advice would be to charter a boat out of where you fish. Go down to the docks in the afternoon and meet the caps. Get a few buddies and split the cost of charter. Tell the cap and mate at the outset that you want to learn and would it be ok to ask a lot of questions. You will learn a LOT. Watch everything they do.
Another option would be to hire a cap or mate for the day.

[PeteC]

That was exactly the direction i needed to be pointed in. As for a few more specifics at first it seems i will be doing more chunking with charters then trolling due to my schedual at work. Like 22hrs out kind of thing. Now as far as the gear goes i have learned the bimini down well but where i lose my head on is if i do the bimini to the swivel of say an already made up rig where if i need one at all does any lead go. Do i need to put another streatch of leader between the bimini and the swivel to leader small things it may seem but i dont want to see like that big of a goog asking these things when im out there.
Thanks,
Pete

[dusky23fac]

Great Advise.
Get on a few Charters or head boats and get some first hand experiance.

[greatwhitwhunter]

Where do you live? I too, am new to tuna fishing, but have a boat and can always use some new fishing friends (the kind that are willing to split the fuel and bait). Planning a trip in the very near future. I don't know much about catching tuna. I figure the best way to learn is to go out there and do it.
slindsay@hvc.rr.com

[Double D]

I figure the best way to learn is to go out there and do it.

Go on a charter or 2. Very inexpensive compared to learning it on your own.

You'll learn more on one quality charter than 5 years of trial and error. You might just learn that chartering is less expensive than owning the boat

[PeteC]

Well i'm located in Passaic NJ right near the medowlands but i work just outside of trenton. Me im up for anything. I got girly friends that come up with some excuse or another and cant go. Im gonna say this month is hard for me to get out as im prepping for a week and a half camping trip ending the 10th of august so anytime after that maybe we could hook up and try the blue.
Thanks,
Pete

[Fortunamate]

also see if you have captains for hire around like for instance my uncle does charters but we also do guide trips were you can hire one of us for a day to teach you or help you fish on your boat for the day

[gradyfish265]

Either hop on a charter or get a guide service like shore catch to take you on your boat if you own one, they will teach you everything you need to know. As far as gear

as stated above, chunking, 30's are perfered, I use 30W and use a rod with a roller stripper and roller tip, no need for full rollers when chunking, but if you plan to troll, have rods with full rollers for pulling heavier gear like spreader bars, those whould have 50W reels on them. If your running your own boat you will need 4 rods to chunk, and atleast 6 rods to troll, start small and when you get the hang of it put more rods in. We troll 8-9 rods on my 26' boat at the canyon depending on conditions and such. I would recommend 80lb line for all your reels, it is what most charters use, going lighter is a mistake, if you do 60 would be a min though, but I've seen guys struggle with 60 on big eyes and bigger bluefin, especially when first starting out with less experience. I perfer hollowcore braid to mono top shot, I have 400 yards of Jerry Brown hollowcore to 140 yard Momoi smoked blue 80lb top shot, but this is the expensive method. The benefit is i hold as much line on my 30W reels as a 50W with straight mono, this gives the angler a big advantage since you have a lighter set up that will not fatigue you as quickly. The down side it costs more, but will last you much longer, hollowcore lasts long and can be respliced together to remove nicks in the line, the mono needs replacement as it is nicked or once a year is my recommendation at a minimum. In the long run straight mono vs hollowcore w/ topshot will cost roughly the same since you reuse the hollowcore and the mono gets respooled every season or two, but the initial investment is way different. As far as straight braid goes, I'm not a fan, if it nicks or wears it is ruined quickly and can break, and cannot be spliced together without forming a knot, something hollowcore avoids. It then needs either to be replaced or shortened which means less overall life, price wise there is not a huge difference in price between hollowcore and straight braid. Straight braid is a little thinner in dia but not by a huge amount so you would get more line on the spool with straight braid, but you will require a mono top shot regardless and that means a knot, any knot that passes through a guide, roller or eye will get kicked over time and need to be redone a bit or watched carefully for damage and weakness, another reason the splice of hollowcore to mno worsk better. My advice is either go with hollowcore to mono or straight mono. most guys who I know who fish braid are switching to hollowcore, especially after fishing my gear and seeing the advantages it has. There is nothing wrong with straight mono either, it is cheaper off the bat but does require new line atleast every 2 seasons if used rarely, and if used a lot maybe every season. Down side is putting 80lb mono on a 30W will not put a whole lot of line on a reel, enough for chunking, but it makes it harder to troll with, for a smaller to avg fish your ok, but bigger fish which you can enocounter might be more challenging.
As far as a rod, you want a rod rated for 50-80 or 50-100lbs, nothing lighter, you want the backbone to battle bigger fish, undersizing yourself will mean lost fish or very very sore body after a grueling fight you could have avoided. You want a rod that bends that loads nicely and is not a broom stick, it should heva a nice uniform bend and almost bend to the reel handle, this gives the angler the advantage. Skimping on a rod is a big mistake and in the end will cost you more money, you will likely upgrade to better stuff if you go cheap and then battle a big fish, my advice, buy right the first time and buy once only and keep it for years to come, this is a big investment, get your moneys worth even if it means putting a spread together over time slowly. A 5'6" rod if perfect for chunking, a longer rod for trolling, if trolling and fighting stand up, 6' is better length, I fish 5'9" custom rods and they work well for both applications on my boat. I run custom Kevin Bogan rods and love them, we've put fish to 200lbs in the boat on them in the last 2 years without a problem but still enjoy the fight out of smaller fish as well. A metal butt is perfered for trolling due to the abuse it handles, a slick butt is nicer for chunking because it is lighter but takes much more abuse and will not last as long. Personally all my gear has aluminum butts since I both troll and chunk with them. I also perfer a uni butt since you can remove the reel and makes for easier storage and transportation of your gear.

For chunking, you need to use flouro leaders, start with 80lb and work down to 40lb and have all sizes between. I pretie my rigs so they are ready before trips and carry about 10 of each size as well as spare leader and hooks. We use gamakatsu live bait hooks when we flatline a bait....we pull line off by hand to simulate the bait floating in the slick like the chum you are tossing in, once out to maybe 100-150yards its brought in and done over. If we set the lines to a certain depth we use egg sinkers of various sizes due to current and depth and use circle hooks, gamakatsu live bait HD circles are by far my favorite and the easiest to hide in a smaller bait, owner mutu hooks are good too but not as easy to hide. We use from a 4/0-7/0 hook, but typically 5/0-6/0 is the size of choice. Not a fan of cheaper mustad circles because they are hard to hide in a bait and have a smaller gap between the point and shaft which we've seen have a slightly smaller hook up ratio due to this design. I use small swivel's usually from spro and tsunami that are wind thru swivels, not so much that we can wind them on our rods, but because you want as little terminal tackle showing as possible. I use swivels rated for 130-200lbs typically.

For trolling, buy a good pair of crimpers, and ALWAYS use that crimper manufacturer's crimps and perferably their line. I use all momoi gear and it has been the most reliable over the years, other brands have given me issues from time to time. For smaller bluefin we troll using 100-200lb leader depending on lure style and size as well as the targeted fishes size. For offshore canyon trolling all lures have 150-200lb leaders, smaller single lures are 150lb, and bigger lures 200lb, all spreader bars are 200lb down the middle and 100-130lb on the outer wings. No need for bigger lb leaders for tuna, lighter will get more strikes but needs more attention to frays and might need more rigging, I'd rather rerig gear then catch less personally, most seasoned mates and captains I believe would agree. We use all SS hooks for lures, they last long and will not ruin the lure skirts over time from rust stains. For ballyhoo we use a 7/0 or 8/0 34007SS hook, it is a little sturdier then the traditional 3407 hook, it is a 2x hook and will keep from being straightened. We start off with 130lb mono leaders for our naked rigged and skirt rigged ballyhoo, but have leaders to 80lbs and 150lbs depending on how the bite is and the size of the fish, we also have some rigged with flouro for when the bite is slower or billfish are around.

As far as reel drags, get a decent drag scale and set your drags at the dock before ou leave to 15-17lbs, have someone run down the dock and run 100 yards off the reel 2 or 3 times to heat the drag, then set it between 15 and 17 lbs. We typically troll at strike with 17lb of drag at the canyon and 15 inshore unless fish over 80lbs are around. Always keep your drag below 1/3 of the lines rating at ALL times, otherwise you risk a break off if a nick is present, 1/4 is a better max for a strike rating, so on 60lb line you would never go over 15lb at strike, with 80 you could go to 20, but 17 really is plenty really. Also, always reset your drag after trolling and going on the chunk, sometimes depending on the reel it can change itself, newer reels have less problems with this but still can, or someone can sometimes knock into it and adjust it by mistake on a ricking boat as well.
Make sure you have a good fighting belt, you want one that is somewhat wider so it rests on your legs properly when standing up, a back harness might not be a bad idea either, especially for someone new to offshore fishing, gives you a better advantage on a fish that might fight harder then your used to, plus it takes the work off your arms and puts it on mostly your legs which are a lot stronger and made for endurance work. Don't buy a cheap belt, they do make a difference, braid belts are great and my choice, but aftco max belts are a very nice value as well.

Tuna fishing is very involved, this is the very basics of gear and such, the more you do it the more you will learn. I would highly recommend over the winter going to one of the canyon runner seminars, for the money it is a wealth of knowledge for a guy who is new to offshore fishing, it will pay for itself for years to come and can give you more detailed and hands on appraoches to teaching the basics of offshore fishing.

I would almost NEVER recommend a bunch of rookies go offshore to elarn themselves, always take someone or go with someone with good offshore expereince. It is not cheap enough to take chances and risks with this type of fishing, there are plenty of guys at the docks that would help you out and get hands on if asked nicely and when not overly busy, especially if you know them, and there are plenty that would never mind jumping on a boat with you to teach you. This is why chartering a boat or having a guide service come along is a great idea, it might cost more but it pays for itself in knowledge. Head boats are good to to learn to chunk although they are not always as willing to teach depending on the boat and crew, but most will, you will not get much in the way of trolling knowledge from them since they do little of it, but it is still a safe and fairlyeconomical way to get out there and learn the basics of tuna fishing.

Best of luck!!! It is addicting and very exciting!!!