Buying fishing line to catch tuna

tudorsailor

tudorsailor

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I have decided to try "trolling" a line to see if I have any success in catching a tuna in the Med.

I have bought the book] and now see that I need 30m+ of 300lb monofilament + 5m+ of 300lb monofilament as a leader

I also need a "yo-yo" for the line

Simply Googling does not lead to obvious source.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

TudorSailot
 
tudorsailor said:
I have decided to try "trolling" a line to see if I have any success in catching a tuna in the Med.

I have bought the book] and now see that I need 30m+ of 300lb monofilament + 5m+ of 300lb monofilament as a leader

I also need a "yo-yo" for the line

Simply Googling does not lead to obvious source.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

TudorSailot
Click to expand...

Have done this in a very amateur way off the back of yachts (various) so until an expert arrives I can only offer this:

Wire leader so they cant bite through it. Dont stop the boat to land them to the cockpit coz they will wriggle off the hook right at the last nano second. Get a good gaff hook and gaff em like its going to stop you falling off a cliff.

Wasabe and sliced ginger to accompany the subsequent meal!

Good hunting.
 
300LB LINE IS OVERKILL.

100lb bs is what most people use.

I have had good success with pink squid lures trolled at 4 knots for tuna. However as my current boat is a fast old lady we are getting dorado and king fish.

If you catch something large a spray bottle of strong rum is a good thing to have on hand. A spray in the gills produces near instant stiff fish. Do they die happy? Maybe. Taste good though.
 
I've never caught a big tuna, but plenty of "tonnetti" (bonito) they're a little bigger than a mackerel and are ok but not spectacular to eat. We catch them at 5 - 7 kts with a Rapalla or similar lure and a "bird" which is a plastic thing that skims the water in front of the lure. Being a fast predator, the bonito is attracted by the commotion in the water, bites first and asks questions if he has time before I brain him with the winch handle.

Other fish I'd love to catch and think I might stand a chance to are Lampuga (which is called a dolphin fish in English apparently) and Riciola (Amberjack) but I need to study more. I can't say "good luck", not to someone who hopes to catch a fish - superstition!
 
Guessing the "yo yo"is what we call a paravane??

Like this...

paravanes.jpg
 
I use gear that was similar to what I used as a professional tuna fisherman. Don't bother with a fishing rod, use a "flatline" Actual dimensions are not critical.

2 metres of 12mm thick shockcord, 20 metres of 4 mm cord, swivel, 10 metres of 300 lb mono, "flasher" and swivel[flasher is just an old lure in chromed bronze with no hook], 5 metres of 120 lb mono with a lure of your choice. I use a 4 inch Smiths jig in pink. Choose a lure that works at slow speeds. 4 inch lure is ample, don't drag too big a lure, marlin will take a 4 inch lure just the same as a large one. Use about 120 lb leader so that large tuna or albacore will snap it off!

The flasher attracts tuna and bonito etc but its mainly to get the line out again quickly after landing fish. Sail past flotsam/jetsam to catch Mahi Mahi.
 
You are unlikely to catch anything in the Med but if you want to try the rig you are considering is wrong. You need about 400 yards of 50 lb line with a six foot wire trace. Fish bight through monofilmant. Use a swimming lure, it has a small plate on it's chin to replicate how fish swim, not a spinner. Choose some different coloured lures because different fish take different coloured lures at different times of year. If one doesn't work try using another, then another etc. Also smaller lures catch smaller fish so don't buy monster lures the fish will be too big to land. That's what we did.
 
+1 for the pink squid

TQA said:
300LB LINE IS OVERKILL.

100lb bs is what most people use.

I have had good success with pink squid lures trolled at 4 knots for tuna. However as my current boat is a fast old lady we are getting dorado and king fish.

If you catch something large a spray bottle of strong rum is a good thing to have on hand. A spray in the gills produces near instant stiff fish. Do they die happy? Maybe. Taste good though.
Click to expand...
 
KellysEye said:
You are unlikely to catch anything in the Med but if you want to try the rig you are considering is wrong. You need about 400 yards of 50 lb line with a six foot wire trace. Fish bight through monofilmant. Use a swimming lure, it has a small plate on it's chin to replicate how fish swim, not a spinner. Choose some different coloured lures because different fish take different coloured lures at different times of year. If one doesn't work try using another, then another etc. Also smaller lures catch smaller fish so don't buy monster lures the fish will be too big to land. That's what we did.
Click to expand...


I come here for boat advice because I am, in sailing terms, a novice. However, I do know a bit about fishing and this is largely incorrect.

The Med is difficult, granted, but there are a few fish to be caught.

50lb line is too light without a rod (even a 10lb fish can snap it with shock impact) as on it's own it has relatively little elasticity when the lure is set 50m or so behind the boat - which is where it ought to be working. The other problem with 50lb line as a hand line is that if you did manage to hook something which didn't break the line, the thin line would cut into your fingers like cheese wire when hand lining it back to the boat.
You don't need a wire trace in the Med. No Mediterranean species likely to be caught while trolling (towing the lure) have the dentistry to bite through monofilament line. There are (as far as I know) no Wahoo in the Med.

The small plate under the chin of a lure doesn't replicate how fish swim, it's there to dictate the depth at which the lure works when being towed. The flatter the vane on the chin, the deeper the lure will dive. The body shape of the lure is what dictates the swimming motion. The one point I will agree with is that small lures (four inches) make sense in the Med. If for no other reason than most of the fish you're likely to encounter will be 10lb or less. Although I did lose a fish in Croatian waters on rod and line that looked as though someone had thrown a fridge in off the back of the boat. I suspect that was one of the bigger tuna species. :confused:
 
I learned a useful method of giving friction but letting the line run when sailing with locals in the Caribbean.

We caught several Tuna this way from 5 to 15Kg so it worked for us.

Hand line probably 100 - 200lb a 6" long squid lure no paravane. I also had more success with pink squid?
Sailing or motoring best results were when doing over 6knts and the lure was jumping out of the water. We'd been trying mackarel techniques keeping the lures under water before but tuna seem to prefer going for jumping lures.
abaco_bulb_squid_sizes.jpg


Run the line out and then attach a heavy duty elastic band to the guard rails/stantion (this gave us an instant indication of a bite) then run the line several times round one of the genoa winches the wrong way, the drum will spin but with friction. Plenty of slack before it is tied off.

Best thing is you can be half asleep or downstairs and when the fish spins the winch drum you can hear it, getting them onboard I used the swim platform and grabbed the jaw bone, then a swift cut across the neck and in the cooler.
 
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