Weekend Trolling
I decided to make the best of the good weather over the weekend to do some trolling and hopefully find some of the metro macks people have been talking about.
We headed out Saturday evening from Mindarie and trolled around for 3 hours with only 1 hookup. The fish wasn't fighting and didn't feel that big so I just wound it straight up to the boat. Looked over the side of the boat to see what it was and saw a 20+ kg Yellow Fin Tuna staring back at me. Unfortunately as soon as it saw the net coming for it's head it went beserk and took off again bending my crosslock snap in the process and stealing my favourite lure. Spewing! We kept trolling right until it was dark without any luck, then headed back to the boat ramp.
We had some drinks on Saturday night so our 5am Sunday start got pushed back a bit. We eventually hit the water at about 7am and trolled around for an hour before one of the lures went off. We were a bit more on the ball and this time the fish had no chance of escape.
I'm not 100% sure but we think it's a Big Eye Tuna.
We kept on trolling for another hour or so and eventually found some birds working the surface. There was tuna jumping out of the water all over the place, but we still had a hard time temping any of them. Eventually after another hour of chasing the birds and tuna schools around we got a double hookup. We put one of the rods into the rod holder in order to get the first fish into the boat and by the time we got back to the rod the second fish was gone.
The second Big Eye Tuna:
We kept on trolling through the tuna schools for about another hour before getting the next double hookup. This time neither of us were willing to put down our rods to help the other out so we ended up using the net in one hand and the rod in the other to get the fish in.
They turned out to be a Striped Tuna and a mackie:
At this stage my hangover had combined forces with sea sickness and I was starting to turn green, we were also running low on petrol and running out of space in the esky so we turned around and headed back to the ramp.
The weather was fantastic, the water was flat as a pancake and the tuna were everywhere we looked. We finally found a metro mack. A great day out trolling.
I made a quick video showing the birds circling and the tuna jumping out the water. You probably want to turn the sound down though unless you like 2 strokes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO3p6yMCKmA
gav077
Posts: 207
Date Joined: 05/04/09
Nice, how far out did you
Nice, how far out did you go?
People who haven't caught a big fish just don't get it
DTrain
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 10/02/12
I don't want to give too many
I don't want to give too many secrets away but we were within site of land the whole time so not that far out.
gav077
Posts: 207
Date Joined: 05/04/09
That's all I needed to know.
That's all I needed to know. Means my mates boat can get out there. It is only a 4.2 dory
People who haven't caught a big fish just don't get it
tim-o
Posts: 4657
Date Joined: 24/05/11
Shoulda trolled one of those
Shoulda trolled one of those tuna around, lol, you never know. Nice stuff, shows persistance pays off.
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
beau
Posts: 4106
Date Joined: 24/01/10
I think those are southern
I think those are southern bluefin tuna. Very nice work they are a lot bigger than ones we were catching a couple months ago. What lures were you running?
Rob H
Posts: 5808
Date Joined: 18/01/12
very difficult to tell apart
very difficult to tell apart the smaller they are.
When we were longlining the AFMA guys would tell us how we should be able to recognise them in the water beside the boat to keep/release at 20kg+, yet we both won and lost more than a few arguments with them while examining a fish laying on a processing room table. Went as far as them threatening a DNA test on a fish at $800 cost to the loser before them backing down.
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
DTrain
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 10/02/12
We were using Laser Pros
We were using Laser Pros
pale ale
Posts: 1755
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Weather looks great, I would
Weather looks great, I would hate to get seasick in flat conditions like that.
How much fuel did you go through?
DTrain
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 10/02/12
We used 30L on Saturday night
We used 30L on Saturday night and 50L on Sunday. We're running an old carbie 2 stroke though so it's not very efficient.
pale ale
Posts: 1755
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Maybe the 2 stroke added to
Maybe the 2 stroke added to the seasickness. I know i used to get crook after smelling 2 smoke
DTrain
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 10/02/12
Yer the smoke didn't help,
Yer the smoke didn't help, but it was probably more to do with the half bottle of scotch the night before
dkonig82
Posts: 2091
Date Joined: 06/07/10
Nice work mateBugger about
Nice work mate
Bugger about the YFT!
When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:
n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or
n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you.
lawndered
Posts: 170
Date Joined: 27/10/11
Congrats
Dtrain Congrats on the Mack and the Tuna, I've yet to bagf one and have trolled around a few schools only to give up shortly after, nice to hear that perhaps with a bit more effort the rewards may be there.
Rozza87
Posts: 72
Date Joined: 12/03/13
Goes to show the persistence
Goes to show the persistence pays off!
Awesome job
br3nno
Posts: 353
Date Joined: 25/12/12
Noice What is ur favourite
Noice
What is ur favourite lure? Curious haha
BC
TJ
Posts: 32
Date Joined: 27/03/08
A technique we used to use up
A technique we used to use up north on the mack tuna, was to get upwind of the school, then cut the engine. Go fairly wide of the school as you go. Generally tuna will feed into the wind. Then sit back and wait for them to come to you. The school can get spooked pretty easily though. Small lures for the tuna and bigger ones for the predators around the outside of the pack.