An old debate-Meat or plastic?

[Reel Fanatic]

Dang Marty!

Now I feel like a store whore! And I thought you loved my lures.... I feel so...so...cheap.

Just kidding Marty...I completely understand what you are saying and where you are coming from.

Arthurj-

As a lure maker who hears feedback from tackle shops and charter captains who fish your waters regularly, my opinion is this, all YF tunas are not created equal and some of the ones swimming in your waters can eat ours for breakfast. Also, fishing technique tends to vary from one region to another. Some areas prefer artificials whether they be dredges, spreader bars or single baits. Others prefer a natural bait whether it's alive or dead.

We had a difficult time getting the tunas in your area to bite anything other than a natural bait the last time I fished there. I am by no means a professional and definitely not an authority on fishing your waters but when I spoke with experienced folks like Mike and Bill Butler and Peace Marvel (all out of Venice, LA), they agreed and confirmed what we had seen first hand as well as heard from many others. Although you can get them to bite an artificial at times, it is highly recommended to fish something that is real food for them. When we switched to balloon rigged live hard tails or slow trolled skirted live baits (kingfish style), we hooked up fairly frequently with both blackfin and yellowfin. I am sure the same results could be achieved while kite fishing or chunking.

The only caviat that I would add to the equation is jigging for the bigun's around the oil rigs with glow in the dark diamond jigs at O'dark:30 in the morning. WHAT A FREAKIN' HOOT! It requires no rigging expertise but does require significant coordination between the angler and the boat captain to keep the hooked tuna out of the legs of the platform. Have fun learning. You have some of the best fishing, bar none, in your own backyard!

[Patudo]

"A yellowfin is a yellowfin".. IMO that's one of the biggest fallacies there is.

Water colour and clarity - water temperature - current - size of schools and resulting competition - sunlight (day or night) - size of individual fish - commercial fishing pressure - sport fishing pressure - bait species - other predator species - and school behaviour - are they primarily migrating - spawning - or feeding - availability of good quality live bait/natural bait - All of these are gonna affect things like - how fast the schools are travelling - how likely are they to hang around in one place - how deep are they likely to cruise - how aggressive or finicky they are likely to be - and whether chunking, live bait, dead bait or lure fishing is going to be more effective - Make no mistake, each of these can be the best way to put them in the boat depending on the situation - but you gotta analyze your area, try and get a handle on all these factors then make an educated decision

P

[arthurj]

Thanks for the input. Maybe that was a bad assumption about the tuna in my area.
I should have also said that the trolling, whether it be artificials or meat baits, will always come second to live baits for me.
I think when we don't have the live baits I will go with meat around the rigs where the fish tend to be more concentrated.
When I am fishing an open water rip, temp break or color change I just have a hard time putting out meat and slowing the boat down. I guess what keeps me from it is wondering if there are actually any tuna within 50 miles of the boat.
Thanks,
Al