outsmarting Big Eye Tuna

[Reel Happy]

Right on Box! I'm just soaking it all up. Thanks guys for all the info.

[fishskipper]

During the Mid-Atlantic Tuna Tourn. in 2002 I was running a private boat. She was a 55ft Ocean.... Anyhow we hooked up on a 300 # plus eyeball in the Wilmington Canyon... Fought it for about 45 minutes on a standup penn 50... I've caught plenty on 50s, no problem... But the owner would not fight this fish stand up ....... HE SAT IN THE CHAIR......When this fish got close he still would not come out of the chair...... No one can touch the rod, we're in a tourney with a winning fish...Long story short, we lost her on the stern and watched a 1/4 million dollar fish swim off to fight another day..... Thinking back... What could have prevented this?...... If the owner had gotten out of the chair and stuck his rod straight down in the water, this would have kept the line out of the wheels........ His fault..... I was in gear but if I had give her a little throttle and got the fish back behind the boat we would have had another chance...... MY FAULT........I've boated tons of these fish with no problem...... But I learned something that day!

[Capt. Brian Daley]

True every day on the water is a lesson on my boat the Captain is (GOD) no one
sits in a chair to fight, a fish unless cripple or the fish is over 500lbs, owner or
not when the game is on its ON.

the fish above was cough on stand up & a streight 50TW

[fishskipper]

True every day on the water is a lesson on my boat the Captain is (GOD) no one
sits in a chair to fight, a fish unless cripple or the fish is over 500lbs, owner or
not when the game is on its ON.

the fish above was cough on stand up & a streight 50TW

I can tell you this Capt....... I yelled like I never yelled before with no success.. I felt like throwing him off his own boat....I told him he had no business picking up a stand up if he was going to sit in the chair....I didn't work for him anymore after that. Your right, when your running a boat, your in charge. Owner or not, whoever is on the rod ,needs to listen to the man in charge! You can't catch them all, but you can learn from your mistakes.

[intruder]

When fishing with the sit down crowd or inexperienced I always use a line pusher pole to keep the line out of the props. Saved the day and boated many Tuna with this handy tool.

[Capt. Brian Daley]

When fishing with the sit down crowd or inexperienced I always use a line pusher pole to keep the line out of the props. Saved the day and boated many Tuna with this handy tool.

great tool to have Ken just dont push to hard on the line pops goes the leader
proper boat handling does the trick i use it in emergency only not a habit
thats just me

[ancient mariner]

HI:
When that 1st one hits AND your sure it's an EYEBALL! then hold off doing ANYTHING fore a 10 count. If more hit, than LET THE 1ST ONES RUN. There not going anywhere for now. GET the closest one in to the boat 1st. Most lose that far off fish by crankin and bankin in the reel and u pull the hook.
OOOUUUCCCHHH !!!
The water pressure aginst the line will slow it down and force it DDDOOOWWWNNN and AAAWWWAAAYYY from the boat. Fight the others(closest) HHHAAARRRDD. Make them blow up their hearts. U CAN DO IT!. Not sporting, but puts meat on the table. Tastes better to 'cause less adrenalin in the meat.
DO NOT BACK DOWN. Keep the boat in gear and at a little more than idle speed. WHY ?
'Cause where the head of the fish goes, the TAIL will surly follow. Once you get the head turned, U GOT 'IM, almost. Keep the pressure on and work that fish OFF A TRANSOME CORNER. Never off the transome. He will circle and circle down deep. Keep him there and work him EASILY up towards the corner of the transome. When he goes into his second set of muscles(death circle), WHEEL MAN, watch and keep the boat turning ssslllooowwwllllyyy so he DOESNT run under and INTO the props and rudder. Make sure the line does not touch the hull or POP! IF you have to, put the rodtip UNDER WATER as the EYEBALL turns under the boat to make sure the line clears everything. Along with the wheel man, keeping the fish off a corner, you should be ok.
DON'T GET ANTSY and lock the drag down. DUMB idea, if you do. Fish him in STEADY SHORT LIFTS of the rodtip from start to finish. Don't YA JUST LOVE IT when the rod guy starts these magnificent HUGE rod drops and pulls up so high he can stick a star? Not good.
Short and ugly on the rod pull will win the battle. WHY? 'Cause those long lunges will give just enough slack(mono stratches, remember) in the line to wear a tiny hole in the jaw. Lift long n hard enough , and the tiny hole gets LARGER N LARGER , then one head shake , OR TAIL SLAP will pop the hook out of the jaw. AWSOME when that happens and everyone gets unhappy.
The wheel man on the boats wheel , is key to catching most Tuna. Get a understanding ( hand signals) from the pit boss(guy running the rods in the pit) and the wheel man to keep that Tuna off a corner and you'll
Why hand sinals? 'Cause there will always be shouting and laughing and hoohaahing and lots of noise. Hand signals will always get thru to the wheel man!

WACK N STACK
Most TUNA you get hooked up with.
I'll be giving a seminar( I hope) at the WICOMICO show. Drop by and ask questions at the seminar or my booth.

Joseph B...aka...Ancient Mariner

[Tunaman]

We had what we thought was a BE my first in The Canyons last year it got around 30' on the surface and broke off.Looking for any info that will help land the next one.

[ancient mariner]

HI Tunaman:
When that eyeball gets that close to the boat, back off the drag a bit and USE YOUR HUMB as drag. Keep the rod as far away from the corner as you can. Get the gaff man to stay on your right side if your on the right side of the boat. I always had the gaff man gently GUIDE the tuna up and a bit foreward of the rod. Than when it's just under the surface and it is guided OUT from UNDER the boat, the gaff man than plants the gaff JUST BEHIND and in front of the top fin. NOW , hold that fish as close to the boat as you can after the gaff shot. Remember, the eyeball can go NOWHERE if you pin it on the corner. Thegaff holds the head AT the water kline and the rod man backs off BUT keeps minimum tension on the drag. That is a safety factor in case the fish is able to breakloose of the corner. Another gaff should be ready for a second shot at the fish as soon as the first on is planted.
As for you loosing the fish when it's 30 feet down......... NOT MUCH you can do. Question, : Did the fish break pff , or did the hook pull out of the hole or did the fish headshake the hook out?
If the latter, then the rod man should have let the rod soak up that last surge by the fish and the drag should have been able to let the fish SMOOTHLY pull a foot or two of the reel. Worse case, the rod man could have let the rod tip be pulled down and then he could have pushed the rodtip down deep under the water. NOT A GOOD IDEA if there is NO SAFETY LINE attached to the rod.AAARRRGGGHH, been there 'n done that.
Again Tunaman, once you get the pit boss to tell the wheelman what to do , most fish will be caught.
George, my Pit Boss alwayse goes over what to do each day. That way, we get most fish into the boat.
We used to pin hook (commercial rod/reel)Tuna together. Thats how we did it.
If you chunk for Tuna, there is lots more to learn. It's a different ball game , keeping teh freebaits out in eth chunline while you fight that Tuna that grabbed a bait.
Stop by my booth at the WICOMICO show and let's talk.
WACKM N STACKM
Joseph B...aka...Ancient Mariner

[MakoMike]

I've probably caught more than my share of eyes. When the fish hits it will, almost invariably, head for the bottom. If you have a single fish, get the boat alomst over him, so there is only a slight angle from the rod tip to the water. The fish will tell you which way it wants to go, just follow him around, keeping that same angle and let the rod guy work the fish. The fish will spiral up until the leader shows and you can stick it.

Multiple hook ups are a different story. Like Joe said, pick the closest fish first and work it to the boat using the same technique as with a single fish. The guys on the other rods will have to manuaver around the boat to prevent tangles/rub offs. Once the first is in go for the next closest, and so one and so on. My son and I have landed as many as five fish, with just the two of us on the boat using these techniques.