Gyros Gyros Gyros...Hold the Lamb, No Tzatziki Needed!

[Swami]

Pretty work there Josh, way to save the day. If there's one lesson I've learned from the West Coast style of fishing, it's the importance of using the gyros, something that few captains hardly ever do anywhere else in the world. All those boats with pretty, tall towers that barely get used...shame.

Maybe when you have a few minutes, you could expand on the subject for my East Coast brothers?

[Capt Josh]

what's up with the lobotomy on the first YFT?

Surgical incision by Dr Bogii to gain access to the spinal column. The good Dr then inserts a stiff piece of mono down the spinal column to stop the spread of lactic acid. There's no comparison in the quality of "cored" fish to non-cored fish. Smooth as buttah....

[Roddy Hays]

Roddy, thanks for all the Legend lures you sent we'll no doubt be hammering the blacks and blues with them by the next moon.

No worries, Josh. You owe me some pics though, so don't forget !!

[Patudo]

I see quite a bit written about the use of radar to find birds in the east coast fishery, particularly the Florida gulf stream fishery where conditions seem very similar to west coast tuna fishing - deep open water, little structure, fast moving schools etc.

Is bird radar used much on the west coast or is it preferred to use gyro binoculars?

I have fished with skippers that checked out the area with binoculars pretty regularly in Kona and a couple other places but they don't seem to be used as regularly as in southern california.

[Capt Josh]

Guys tried to answer all of these questions with another post specifically about the use of gyros. Hope this helps!

Roddy, ne t'en fait pas...photos and action on the way!!!

[Captain Fred Archer]

Gyro binos are a near religion for top Southern California marlin fishermen. In fact, the best of the best often have four or five guys in them, each with his own quadrant of water to cover. A lot of daytime, finner swords are spotted with them by both sporties and plank boat guys.

I don't believe that they are all that common among the average So Cal tuna hunters, but some do use them.

We used them extensively down in The Baja, but much moreso for tuna and swords than marlin...There are so many of the latter down there, you don't really need them to catch good numbers of marlin. Tuna are a different story.

Marry a tall tuna tower (one of my great loves and something that I am simply miserable fishing without - it truly is "The Jaybird Seat") with a set or two of gyros and you will spot bird schools and holehead pods at downright unbelievable distances and this, in turn, will put you on some big tuna schools - and there are often dorado, wahoo and marlin among them - that no one else has seen. Some Mexican crew have incredible vision, but none could match what those gyros saw.

Ditto on locating big bird schools on the radar. As soon as you learn what to look for, your "range of sight" increases dramatically and you get the same results as you do with the gyros, only much further out. I had a screen in the tower and on the bridge and used it regularly to find the birds that, in Cabo at least, if you found, there were always fish on them.

As it is in many aspects of fishing, I don't consider any of this a "specialized, West Coast thing". As far as I'm concerned gyros, radar bird hunting, the right lures and spreads, teasers and bait and switch fishing and a lot more stuff that I write about in my books works anywhere and everywhere. One need look no further than our own JT here, to see vivid proof of that.

Yes, it all works; unless, of course, regional fishermen don't know the where and how of such things. And there is way too much of that, as far as this fisherman and author is concerned.

"Knowledge is the key to success...Get it!"

OUR NEW Website www.fredarchersworldoffishing

[molokaipake]

Aloha Capt Josh, I recently started using some Archer bars and think they are the bomb. I just wanted to ask you which bars you were using on the tunas and what size and colors? Thanks Capt Clay

[Capt Josh]

Aloha Capt Josh, I recently started using some Archer bars and think they are the bomb. I just wanted to ask you which bars you were using on the tunas and what size and colors? Thanks Capt Clay

We started off using the the Ruckus bars (both small and large), and the smash bars. Now we use the "JT Specials" pretty much exclusively. Every bar of Fred's i've tried we've caught fish on, but if you're after tuna those Ruckus bars are the BOMB!!!

I'd be stoked to see some shots of you guys from over there so post up some photos and reports!!!