[hawgs]

Hello all, I am new here and I let me say that I really like the layout of the site thus far. It shows great potential.

I am thinking about making an overnight tuna run out of Port A in a couple weeks. I've been out on other boats for overnighters, but have yet to go on one in my boat. I wanted to hear what you all suggest as "must haves" as far as tackle/bait for making a tuna run.

I recently bought a few River2Sea knife jigs and am looking forward to trying those out on this trip. I am thinking about picking up some topwater stuff as well. What else would you all suggest?

Thanks!

 

[Minnow]

First of all welcome aboard Hawgs.

If you are heading to Hoover/Diana, Boomvang and Nancen area I would suggest you to have:

Rod and reel that can handle tuna.
poppers, jigs (butterfly, River2sea, diamond...)
Large bird, ilander with ballyhoo, this set up will be tuna killer.
Kite, and baloon
deep drop rig for swordfish
Frenzy or Yummie flying fish

Catch some blackfin tuna and use it as chunk.
Good luck and post report after you get back.

Hello all, I am new here and I let me say that I really like the layout of the site thus far. It shows great potential.

I am thinking about making an overnight tuna run out of Port A in a couple weeks. I've been out on other boats for overnighters, but have yet to go on one in my boat. I wanted to hear what you all suggest as "must haves" as far as tackle/bait for making a tuna run.

I recently bought a few River2Sea knife jigs and am looking forward to trying those out on this trip. I am thinking about picking up some topwater stuff as well. What else would you all suggest?

Thanks!

 

[hawgs]

Thanks for the advice Minnow. We have Tiagras, 30W and 50W, that we use on Chaos tuna rods. I think that those should be enough rod/reel for the tunas.

For poppers... something like a Yo-Zuri Surface Bull GT?

I've never used a bird before... any recomendations on that for the Ilander? For the Ilander, do you like a regular style Ilander or one that has the hood for trolling the ballyhoos?

I don't have a kite and don't use balloons, but I'll look into those. Is there usually enough wind out there to keep those up standing still? Or is that when people use balloons?

We have some yummee flying fish that we'll be sure to bring as well.


Sorry for all the newbie questions... I certainly appreciate your help!

 

[bellyup]

Your tiagras will do fine.

Yo-zuri bull GTs will work fine and the yummie flying fish work well too. The yummies always seem to catch big tuna.


I think there is a lot of potential for kite fishing. Some friends tried this for the first time on our last trip and it worked great. Use live flying fish with the kite.

I have never used a balloon out there.

 

[hawgs]

I guess the kite just keeps the flying fish on top of the water as opposed to rigging one without a kite?

 

[bellyup]

Hawgs, I think the advantage with the kite is you can put the bait out ahead of the drift, beyond the lights. That is the best place to have your bait, bar none, when the tuna are on the surface, IMO. I plan to use the kite on my next trip. Of course, you can cast poppers out there too. However, you will need to be a very good caster or have a darn good spinner.

 

[Minnow]

The way I rig Ilander lure, 6-10ft of 200# Fluorocarbon leader, 9/0 7691ss hook, then attached it to 9" or 13" bird. The splash from the bird will put out enough commotion for predator fish to investigate.

On a windless day, use a big 40" helium filled balloon attached it to the kite. It will help your kite fly high. You can attached 2 baits to helium filled balloon kite. If you have a strike, you will never forget the site of big tuna blow up on your kite bait. Use once you will like it, but it will need good team work to make the kite work.


if you need to try out kite fishing, just let me know. I have one and can loan it to you for few trip.

 

[hawgs]

Okay, so on my "shopping list" I have:

-12" Boone Bird teaser, to be used 6 feet in front of an Iland lure with a dead bait attached. I suppose 1 large bird would be better than a chain of smaller birds?
-Yo-zuri bull GTs or other topwater poppers
-Aftco kite kit. I've got an old penn rod/reel I'll use to make a kite rod with the reel loaded with light Spectra.

No one mentioned cedar plugs, but they seem to be fairly popular... any opinions on them?

 

[Pope]

You took the words out of my mouth. I like to run a cedar plug long more than I like the bird set up. Run one down the center more than 100yrds out. Maybe 150 yards out. A long daisy chain work well too. However, you are just going to burn gas dragging around the floaters. Troll whenever you get close to the flaoters (10 miles out) and circle them a few times before shutting down. Just get on plain and make a fast troll with some high speed lures when the rig gets in sight. Save a little fuel and maybe score a big tuna or hoo. When you get there use the above mentioned techniques. If you find a big break/weedline on the way out and in, you can troll that too. Good luck.

Pope
www.texasfishreport.com

 

[Minnow]

Bigger bird will create more commotion than daisy chain, JMO

Just a thought for kite fishing.

Try to use all spectra with short 25ft leader rig as your main rod, the reason for this is spectra lighter than mono so it wont weight too much for your kite.

 

[Minnow]

Concur with Pope,

High speed lure and cedar plug works well out there.
I remembered at on trip with Rick, we were trolling around Nancen/Boomfang area; I had one Catchy spinner jet out about 100yards out. AS we passed the mooring buoy, something big hit it and took off, 25# of drag didn’t slow him down at all unfortunately the hook pulled.

 

[hawgs]

Good point. I forgot about the main fishing line weighing down the kite... I only thought about the line holding the kite. If I understand it all to work correctly.

Pope - Thanks for the suggestion about the cedar plugs. I'll try some of those as you suggested. Do you have a favorite style/color combo? Suggestion on size?

 

[Pope]

TJ is right about the bird. It will draw some attention and get hit. The only reasons I prefer the plug/chain is b/c it draws less attention. Here is my logic...(I may need help from those who know me...lol) A bird could draw the attention of hoos or marlin which may not be the target. Also, if the tuna are skiddish, I have seen them hit a clean running lure run far from the boat before something else. TJs suggestion for the spectra on the kite or balloon is super. The lighter weight will allow you to fly the kite under lighter wind and winding down on the fish after the strike will happen easier as well. There will be a lot of line in the water after a kite strike and the lower diameter of the spectra will be a huge plus. Good one TJ.

 

[bellyup]

Hawgs, I reread your post and I see you will be on a private boat. My posts apply to party boat fishing. The party boats have a lot of lights and I like fishing just beyond their lights.

I am not sure what is best from a private boat with less lights. The above ideas are worth trying. When the party boats out of PA reach the floaters, they will make several passes trolling lures. When night comes, it is time to throw the poppers, frenzy flying fish, jigging for tuna (mostly blackfin), and drifting blackfin chunks. You likely already know these techniques.

 

[WilliamH]

Bellyup, have you ever been on the Dolphin for a 40 hour trip? If so, what can I expect as far as fishing goes? Do they do any trolling on the 40 hour?

 

[hawgs]

Hawgs, I reread your post and I see you will be on a private boat. My posts apply to party boat fishing. The party boats have a lot of lights and I like fishing just beyond their lights.

I am not sure what is best from a private boat with less lights. The above ideas are worth trying. When the party boats out of PA reach the floaters, they will make several passes trolling lures. When night comes, it is time to throw the poppers, frenzy flying fish, jigging for tuna (mostly blackfin), and drifting blackfin chunks. You likely already know these techniques.
Yes, I will be on a private boat. I'll try a little of everything above and see what works.

 

[Minnow]

Never been to their 40-hr trips, but have been on few of their 60-hr trips.

On their 60-hr trip, the boat ride is a long one usually more than 10 hrs. The Dolphin is slow boat 6-8 knots so as soon as it reaches blue water, you can troll all day long, just keep in mind to take turn on trolling rotations.
But before you put out a lure, might want to ask the first mate if it's ok to troll, sometimes they won't let you troll until the boat reaches the fishing ground but most of the time they don't mind at all.

This boat usually leaves early in the morning I think it's like 5:00 A.M and it takes a long time to reach the floaters. Once it reaches the fishing ground they will troll for few rounds and then they will start drift fishing, chunking, jigging and popping.
They catch usually Blackfin tuna, Yellowfin tuna, AJ, Snappers, grouper and mahi mahi.

Hawgs, you might want to consider chum churn, this device is a must for chunk fishing for tuna. JMO

Bellyup can give more info since he fishes that boat more than I do.

 

[hawgs]

I've looked at that a few times Minnow, just have never pulled the trigger on one. What would you use in the chum churn?

 

[Minnow]

I've looked at that a few times Minnow, just have never pulled the trigger on one. What would you use in the chum churn?

Poggies, Spanish sardiene, kingfish, bonita and more, basically use what ever bait fish you have but poggies seems to work best coz it's oily fish.

 

[Muddskipper]

Minnow,

Are you goning to bring your kite on the Sept 15- 17th trip.

I have allways wanted to learn how to use the kite properly, and I would like very much to give you a hand with it.

Skipp