To Troll or not to troll? Cape Cod Bay.

[Gone Phishin]

My best friend just bought a 21 ft mako and we are going to be fishing mostly in Cape Cod Bay doing bass and hopefully some school Bluefin Tuna. I have been talking to a lot of people and I just don't know what type of reel/rod setup to get myself into. Should I be casting to these fish with a VS 275 or stella 20000 on a custom rod or something a little cheaper or trolling using a Tiagra or something comparable? The boat isn't rigged up to troll for tuna yet so that would be an added expense. What do you think is the best way to go for a boat this size? I have very little experience trolling for tuna so I am learning as I go and easing myself into these species and with some luck maybe years down the road I could target giants which I know is a whole different game. Anyways, some people have said that we would have more luck casting to these tuna. But before I committed to anything, I just wanted to ask some people on this site for their opinion because nothing beats experience, And I just want to be well informed before I make a big purchase.

Thanks in advance for your time and I hope you guys have a great season!
Mike D.

[Rhode Island Popper]

Well trolling works out there I've gotten some sweet bluefin up to 180 pounds trolling and it's not that difficult as you would imagion to troll them up with a simple 5 rod spread. You don't need to bother with the outriggers depending on how you do yoru spread. I've done seminars on small boat tuna fishing and it's really pretty simple to do. But you can also do the casting topwater to them or butterfly jigging. For topwater *(popping) you'll be much better off with the stella than the VS those just don't have the drag for large fish. Also It's very easy to do live bait fishing for them. Feel free to email me at: armandt@atlanticoffshorelures.com if you have any questions I can help with.

Armand

[The Codfather]

I used to fish commercially for giants in Maine/NH with a 21' mako. You should be fine. Troll on shitty days, chunk on calm days.