My First Post Here - TUNA

[philjam]

This is a great site. I am on the east coast (NJ.) My first TUNAs were caught accidently on a party boat bluefish day trip on the Sea Devil (Capt. Bob Pennington) back in the 70's. No bluefish were caught, but we spent all day fighting 40#-60# BFT. What a rush fighting these fish on light gear. Capt. Bob has since become a legend for TUNA in Pt. Pleasant NJ.

That was a long time ago.

My next TUNA was stand up chunking on the Big Jamaica party boat (Pt.Pleasant, NJ) in 2004 with boat gear. Got one but it was a chore.

Next was this year when I got a jigging set up : Shimano butterfly system.
Landed a YFT ~ 50# pretty quick. This was on the 125 ft. jamaica party boat.

Next TUNA fish this year was on a 55" charter. Lost a big YFT jigging a crippled herring. It got the best of me because I thought it was whipped when it was not whipped. I saw the beast.

So far I like this way of fighting TUNA. I just replaced the power pro 80# with Daiwa marked braid. I am trying to figure out the metric conversion. Daiwai marks the colors every 10 meters. The colors are blue orange green red and violet.

Then Daiwa says there are five and one meter indicators. HUH?

I a low budget meat fisherman. I must catch to provide for my Mom and her cats.

Am going out Sunday into Monday on the Big Jamaica.

[ksong]

Nice to meet an East Coast fisherman here.
Japanese color coded PE line changes color every 10 meter and it has white mark on every meter.
10 meter is about 32.8 feet. It means you are in about 100 ft at the end of third color. It is not complicated as you think.
The Daiwa's PE line is very cheap, but I am concerned about the strength of the lines as someone posted that the line broke way below its suggested line ratings. I am not sure the breakage was caused by the knot slip when testing or the line is actually weak. We'll get more reviews of the lines as many guys start to use them.

Good luck on the Jamaica on Sun/Mon. Weather looks very nice. As there is no night bites now, have a good sleep until 4:00 am.
Longfin are dominant tuna now as water temp is pretty cold, but you have chances to hook up with big bluefin tuna too. The Jamaica landed a 200 lbs bluefin tuna and lost some last week.
I am going on an overnight trip to Washington or Norfolk canyons out of Cape May, NJ tomorrow.

[peterk814]

haha i will see you out there kil. my doris may trip with dhoperos is tommrow. he is fishing right now, i am curiously awaiting his report as soon as he gets in cell phone range.

[ksong]

Originally Posted by peterk814

haha i will see you out there kil. my doris may trip with dhoperos is tommrow. he is fishing right now, i am curiously awaiting his report as soon as he gets in cell phone range.

What happened Matt and Dave ? They are not coming ?
I don't know whether you fished on the Doris Mae before. You'll like the operations of the boat. You, the Helen H crew, should take a note how to take care of tuna when caught on the boat. As soon as someone catches a tuna, they bleed it, cut the head off immediately and put it in iced water.
The Doris Mae has been my favorite tuna boat.

When I used the color coded PE lines for jigging on the boat years ago, Capt. asked me not to use the line ( still all tuna party boats on the East Coast prohibit the braided lines for bait fishing). Now he only uses the color coded PE line for jigging tuna. Say hello to Robbin and the Capts. for me.

[philjam]

Kil, I think I met you on the bass barn trip that was cancelled. You say no night bite, sleep until 4am. I usually can't sleep so what else could I do ?
1. squid fishing - top or bottom
2. ling fishing - tommycod bottom
3. sword fishing - any still being caught?
4. butterfly jigging - random tuna grabs on instinct
good luck on your trip

[sun devil 2]

phill, hey also from eastcoast would like to try one of those bigger boat trips any info? fish out of ocean city nj 34 luhrs express (SUN DEVIL)

[ksong]

Originally Posted by philjam

Kil, I think I met you on the bass barn trip that was cancelled. You say no night bite, sleep until 4am. I usually can't sleep so what else could I do ?
1. squid fishing - top or bottom
2. ling fishing - tommycod bottom
3. sword fishing - any still being caught?
4. butterfly jigging - random tuna grabs on instinct
good luck on your trip

Am I right ? No bites at night.
I heard that two bluefin tuna were caught on the boat and one is about 280 lbs. I am surprised they landed that big tuna on a party boat.
Mike of Peace Token Tackle was there. He is a premier tuna jig fisherman on the East Coast. He said he landed three big longfin in 50-60 lbs range on jigs and hooked up with a big bluefin tuna on a jig. Unfortunately the hook was pulled after the tuna took over 200 yard of line.
I am ready anyday to fight 200-300 lbs bluefin tuna on my jig as soon as there is a window to get out.

[ksong]

Sun Devil, welcome aboard, another East Coast fisherman.
I used to charter the infamous Northstar for blackfish out of Ocean City, NJ.
Is your boat still on the water ? It is time to go to canyons for big bluefin.
The Jamaica got those big bluefins at Willmington Canyon.