My 1st Yellowfin

[red34]

Well it finally happened and totally by surprise too. We were fishing for and had been catching Albacore and Dorado all day, well scratch that…for a very short period of the day! (California head boats are very different from any that I’ve ever been on in Texas) Anyway while trolling for Albacore we get blown up by a huge school of Yellowfin in the 25-35# range. 6-12 hooked up at once for the next several minutes and doubles and triples after that. They were blowing up all over the place in easy casting range too. Would have paid big $$ for a popping set-up right there!!!

Anyway, that fish broke my new Saltist 30T’s cherry. Had it on a 2-piece Pete Mania Muskie rod from Bass Pro, which preformed nicely as well. It was the only 2-piece travel rod I could find in Tuna/Tarpon specs outside of a Loomis. 350 yards of 50# Izorline spectra w/ a 50 yard 40# Izorline topshot. The 40# line definitely kept me from getting more strikes, but when I put the screws to that fish, he had no chance and was whipped in minutes. I would’ve sized down on a private boat, but not on a head boat.

Anyway, he was no wall hanger by any means, but with all the offshore fishing I’ve done, it’s amazing that I have never caught one. Now that leaves Tarpon as my next goal. Too many close, but not close enough encounters with the Silver King!

[BretABaker]

congrats on the yellow. what were you guys trolling with?

[red34]

The California guys will troll with tuna feathers very close to the boat until they get a hook-up and then turn the boat into the waves as to set-up a downwind drift while tossing live chum and trying to get the trolled up species to school around the boat. Anglers line the up-current (?) side of the boat and drift back the live sardines.

I had 2 big problems with this. 1 was the hours upon hours of action-less trolling after a 6-9 hour ride out. (They’ll only run approx 9-10 knots to the grounds wanting to save fuel). The other is that we were trolling with your generic party boat 4/0 on a crappy rod with straight 60# mono, way too close to the boat. The reason for the trolling spread being so close was to get those fish and the school as close to the boat as possible. Good thought, except if they don’t get a knock-down they’ll troll right past 7 other sportfishers HOOKED-UP!!! and hundreds of dolphins schooling up bait. (Dolphins were specifically what we were looking for due to the fact that YFT generally school under them)

I had a big problem not joining the other boats in this drift because of the simple fact that the trolling rods were not hit. I’m by no means a charter captain, or professional fisherman, but tuna generally seem to be both boat and leader shy, so large, non-flouro leaders trolled just out of the prop wash probably wasn’t the most effective way to judge if there is an active tuna bite going on…especially when there are other boats tossing live chum and fighting double headers 50 yards away from us.

I’m sorry for the rant, but when I pay good money for a charter trip, party boat or not, I can’t believe we would drive away from a red-hot bite so that we can drive home for 6 ½ hours at 10 knots to save their gas.

[red34]

Originally Posted by BretABaker

congrats on the yellow. what were you guys trolling with?

to answer your question...we trolled with tuna feathers w/ double hooks.