Its all about the X's

[Chilli]

Hey Guys,

I've been off the web for awhile doing some work... Figured I'd pony up and say hi.

Where: Dock Box in Port St. Lucie Florida.
When: A few Nights ago...
What: Talkin tuna
Who: Me (OC, MD), One Hatteras Mate and three local (FL) charter Capt.

We where talking tuna. Not neccesarily the strong point of the FL fleet. They catch them, but they don't have the shots that we do up north. They where enquiring about our methods... Well HI and OC are two different worlds. In HI they pull single witchs, often on wire. They load the spread with lots of baits and the term "blended witch" turns stomachs... Contrast, Contast.... Give em a piece of 9 or 10 wire and a witch to two brash colors side by side and they fill the boat.... Then there I was talking spreader bars, witchs, hawiian eyes... You know the kitchen sink.... The whole while the Fl guys where scratching thier heads and asking questions about cedar plugs.... (Thats thier tuna bread and butter)...

Now the ironic part... We all agreed on the same thing... Impossible???? naaaaa. We found a common ground. That ground was the X. What ever bait you care to use, it is important WHERE YOU PUT IT. Now here is where the X shines. The goal is to have at least two baits in line from almost any direction of attack. When the baits are in the water and I look down from the bridge, I don't want to see them together. I want my baits staggered off the transome so that they line up in 45* rows. The long riggers can be an exception on this and pair up with a bridge rod as a semi-seperate pattern so lets leave them out of the discussion for now.

Short riggers are out. I have two chair rods running inside and slightly closer to the boat... Keeping the inward angle alive. Now my chair rods lead into my flat lines. Now down the middle and behind the flats lays another bait. If done properly any angle of attack a tuna may take it will find at least two baits in its way... They miss. They are not perfect. I understand that, so I want to give them two, three and if I'm feeling gracious four chances to score a hook on thier straffing run....

Keep in mind that when tuna come up in the baits it is often (at least this is what I see) one fish that comes up first... Splash... Missed the bait.... Then frequently there is a second or two delay before the school shows up in force... Bang bang bang... Once the main stem of th school shows up fish are following each other tip to tail in a race for the baits. First fish misses, second fish scores. First fish scores, second fish keys in on the secondary bait that you have convieniently left well within his reach...

That is what we agreed upon... The only thing we agreed upon. It is true. Different strokes for different folks, but the heart of the beast was the same. Keep it tight and don't let it get flat in either direction. I guess thats all I have to say about that... Although I'd imagine a diagram would go along way on this one... Perhaps latter.

[Persistence]

Some great points...it always amazes me how different the approach is based on geographic area. Personally, I sometimes think too much about it but hey, I'm trying to get better at the game

I definitely agree that if you keep everything tight to the transom and spread looks good, they'll come up in groups rather than singles and man, there is nothing like watching the flats and shorts get bombed. Flat line tuna bites are my favorite...although watching a super hot white come piling in on the flat this past year was great. There was barely enough time to get to the rod and feed the fish...it just pilied in, gobbled it down and was off to the races.

Anyway, love hearing about the techniques...thanks for sharing.

Glenn

[rich]

1 vote for the diagram. Great explanation but a picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks for the tips.

[jayjysmth]

Lets see this diagram. I would like to score some tuna off the nc coast this spring as well and the diagram would be very informative to someone like me.

[Streamweaver]

Travis great info and thanks for not rubbing it in about the weather down there

[Bay Fishin]

I sorta get it. But a picture or a diagram would help.

[Tunaman]

Man you need a job that wil get you on the water more... Travis I was finding more fish esp last year messing w/the close flats more.I was at first reluctant to keep em so close as the first couple of baits in a chain or bar were more out of the water than in.Now I see that as a Good thing.Nice observations Son.Good talking w/you Fri. will let you know whats out there when the hardwater is gone.

[hotrodmarlin]

Thanks for the info. I would like to see a diagram

[Surfperch1]

I like the X factor!!!

[Bite Me]

Confused as hell, as usual but just glad to see that you are still alive.