TUNA TUNA TUNA

The weather forecast looked perfect for a half day Tuna mission, and unlike last weekend, the big tides should congregate the bait. The sun was still rising over flat water as we the left the Marina. We were on the lookout for any signs of Tuna as we headed up the Island. Approximately 12km into the trip, we noticed a few birds working a nice looking current line, then a school of Longtail Tuna starting busting up. 1st cast of the day and I was connected to a Longtail peeling line. After a tug of war, the first fish of the day was on the deck and quickly released. Unfortunately, we seem to attract other boats when we are hooked up, and on this occasion another boat spooked the Tuna school by driving straight through them. Not a fan of fishing with others, we moved on as we had ~20km to goto our destination.

It was a quick trip and once up the Island it didn't take long to locate more Tuna schools, with Dads first cast getting hammered by a Mac Tuna. The next few hours was great Tuna fishing, with hookups on slugs, soft plastics and stick baits. Mackerel were a by-catch and in thick schools near the Tuna. They were that thick that we had to move on several occasions to get away from them. Having landed and released 14 Tuna and 13 Mackerel for the trip it was time to head for home with the Northerly starting to blow. With Tuna season now in full swing, we hope to find time for more trips between now and late May chasing our favourite species.