Offshore Fishing

Offshore Fishing
By Austin Bell

During the warm summer months, the waters off southern California and northern Baja start to warm up, and with these warm waters come after some of the toughest fish the ocean has to offer, TUNA. The tuna season usually starts off in June, with the coming of the albacore. Along with the albacore comes blue fin tuna. Both of these tuna prefer a little cooler water. When the water starts to warm up even more usually around September, there comes the yellow fin and big eye tuna. Along with these warmer water tunas come the brilliantly colored dorado.

Gear

As far as gear goes for tunas, there are many options. Many companies make high quality gear. Hopefully here I will be able to give you an idea of some gear to use for tuna fishing.

Reels
For reels there are many quality companies out there. Some of the most popular companies are Shimano, Diawa, Accurate, Avet, Pro Gear, and Penn. Each company makes great reels, but I have found Diawa Sealine to be my favorite. The Sealine in my opinion is the best reel on the market. The price is great, and the quality is unbelievable for the price of the reel. Before buying any reel though go down to the tackle store and see the reel first hand

Rod

Just like reels, there are many quality rod companies out there. The most popular rods for tuna fishing come from calstar and seeker. You can’t go wrong with either one. Also another option is to have custom wrapped rod. This has become very popular lately, with people even now wrapping their own rods. As for length, anywhere from 6’- 9’ is fine. I personally fish 7’ calstars. They are long enough to cast baits well and short enough to get good leverage on a fish.

Ok, now that we have gone over what gear you need for catching tuna, now I will talk about how to catch more a bigger tuna.

Tricks of the Trade

Fish the Slide

The slide happens right after there has been a jig strike. It is the period of time where the boat goes from trolling speed to stopped. At this time, the fish will usually be charging the boat, which means its usually the best time to get bit, especially on the slower days, where each stop u might only get 1 or 2 baitfish. It’s very important to try to be the first guy in the water. The faster you get your bait in the water, the better of chance you have to get bit. The most popular method of fishing the slide is with artificials. These include: megabaits, iron, and swimbaits.

With these, all you need to do is just stand at the rail( I usually like to stand even with the bait tank, on either side of the boat) and then toss your lure over the side. The movement of the boat will pay out line so casting really needed. The slide can also be fished with bait, live or dead. Fish it the same way as with artificials except I will usually put a 1-3oz torpedo sink about 3’ above the hook. The pick up when fishing the slide can happen in a couple of different ways. First way it happens is on the drop. When picked up, your line can stop coming off the reel, your line come off the reel unusually quick, or you feel and tick on your line. When any of these things happen, put you reel in gear and start cranking, and then set the hook once you rod has loaded up(usually doesn’t take long). The bite can also happen on the retrieve. The hit will basically be like you just ran into a brick wall. When you get hit, remember to reel through the hit, or you will miss many fish.

Bait fishing

Once the boat has come to a complete stop, its time to soak a live bait. When choosing a bait, make sure to pick the liveliest bait you can find. The best bait is the one you can’t catch. You can either hook it through the nose or anal fin. A lot of people like the anal fin way, but I prefer nose hooking, so experiment to see which one you like. Once you have casted out, you want your bait to stand out from the 31 other guys baits. This can be done in many ways. The first way is to FISH DEEP. When tuna fishing, I will never straight flyline. The reasons I do this are that your bait is now below everyone. If you bait is away from everyone else’s, the fish will definitely see yours first. Second reason why I always fish deep is that the bigger fish are always lower in the water column. Fishing deep is the biggest thing I can stress. People wonder how this 15 year old kid is out fishing them 3 to 1, fishing deep is the answer. FISH DEEP!!!! Another way to separate you bait from everyone else’s bait, is fish big baits. Big bait = Big fish. If everyone else is fishing 5” sardines, look for a nice mackerel in the tank. Pin that on and clip the tail to slow it down, and many times this will produce a bigger fish.

More Tips and Pointers

• Fish light line. When everyone else is fishing 30lb test scale down to 20 or even 15, and you will see yourself getting picked up much more often.
  
• If the fish are real finicky and line shy try using a fluorocarbon leader. This will really help getting picked up.
  
• Try throwing iron. Go up to the bow and yo-yo some iron. A lot of bigger fish are picked up this way.
  
• After the drift has started go fish the bow. The reason for this is that most boats will drift stern first, making all the chum end up at the bow.

If you have anymore questions, I would recommend joining a message board, such as www.hookupsportfishing.com. I am a member on the board, and there are a lot of other knowledgeable people there that can help you become a better fisherman. Good luck and tight lines!