Portland Tuna -What I've Learnt

[ducky]

Holy crap ncr. What a wealth of information. Best thread in memory.

[mazman]

Great read, although it is making procrastinating just a little too easy...

[Wolly Bugger]

It is a shame I threw out all my old Outdoors Magazines, as they did contain many articles about catching tuna during the 1970's /80's. I believe that a 100 kg SBT was caught landbased down at Wilson's Prom.

When I was in Portland last, a bloke gave a talk about the Tuna and during the first fleet schools of Tuna would enter Sydney harbour and were caught by the early settlers.

Many years ago I worked with a fella who worked on a commercial fishing boat and they would pole tuna out of Eden and it would sometimes take two people to lift a fish on board.

[ncr1]

Ah yes, the good old days (unfortunately well before I was born). I remember fishing out wide from Port Welshpool in the early 90s and having one of those fishing maps with labels showing what species to expect and where you could find them. According to these maps,it appeared that SBT were a common capture around the Cliffy Island group and widespread further offshore. Yet I don't remember hearing of any SBT being caught during the 90's out of Welshpool. We also used to fish the gamefishing tournament down there, but I'm not sure if they every weighed in an SBT. So I'm guessing the advice on these maps were based on reports from yesteryear (even though it was an updated publication at the time).

Based on my readings of the history of gamefishing in Victoria, it does appear that the SBT were there in numbers back in the early days, but I'm pretty sure they were much more sporadic in abundance (at best) during the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

[ncr1]

Lure Selection

When it comes to SBT fishing and gamefishing in general, there are so many different topics and techniques that can, and have been covered. And it’s pretty easy to do a google search and chase up endless information on the subject. In this thread, I will only offer advice or suggestions on aspects of SBT fishing that I firmly believe in based on my personal research and knowledge, as well as contributing techniques or advice that may differ somewhat from the general ‘mainstream’ information that is often churned out on social media or in tackle shops. Otherwise, I might just be regurgitating other people’s methods and offering nothing new.

In this regard, when it comes to selecting a range of lures for SBT trolling, I really don’t have a lot to contribute. Our boat has landed 100s of SBT over the years, but I haven’t noted any consistent pattern in lure type, size, or trolling method to have any strong suggestions as to what would be my ‘go-to-lure’. On reflection, every lure we had in our possession seemed to have its day in the sun. On tough days where fish would be hard to find, it would be just a matter of trolling a variety of different skirts and hardbodies and hope for the best. Some days we would notice a pattern (e.g. more hits and hookups on small skirts trolled well back from the boat) and we would change our spread accordingly. However, this didn’t happen often. More often than not, when we found an active school of fish, everything would be taken, with three- to five-way hookups being fairly common.

One thing I would suggest on days when the fish are hard to find, is to pack up the hardbodies for a while and just run skirts, particularly jet heads. This is simply because you can troll with skirts just that little bit faster speed and subsequently cover more distance throughout the day. Just a couple of extra knots faster trolling speed will allow you cover many more kilometres of a ‘search pattern’ over an entire day. When SBT are hard to find, I would much rather focus on covering more distance throughout the day, rather than worry about whether the tuna might have a preference between skirts or hardbodies.

[ncr1]

A Word on Gear Selection

As with all forms of fishing, cheap and crappy gear WILL catch fish. In fact, there are likely to be plenty of scenarios out there where a fish of a lifetime has been landed using the cheapest and most poorly maintained outfit that the angler had in his possession at that time. Gamefishing is no different. I’m certain that over the years, there have been a number of 100kg+ tuna that have been successfully fought and landed using bargain-basement rod and reel outfits. Why then, if these captures were to be true, would anyone be compelled to spend in excess of $1200 on a single premium rod and reel setup, when they can order a brand new lever drag reel and fully rollered rod on ebay for less than $150?

This is a particularly difficult question for someone who is just getting into gamefishing and wants to invest much of their hard-earned into setting themselves up for the first time. I think it’s completely understandable for someone who has just poured $40k of their life savings into their first offshore boat, to then be very hesitant to want to cough up another $5k to buy a spread of top-of-the-line gamefishing outfits. At the time, it seems much more rational to start with an arsenal of lower grade gear and work up from there as you replenish your bank account and gain more experience on the water. But when it comes to gearing up for gamefishing and the budget is tight, does one actually need to buy specialized gamefishing gear in the first place? What advantages do these specializations (e.g. lever drag reels, rollered rods, heavier line classes, etc) offer us in comparison to our run-of-the-mill snapper and gummy gear?

I ask these questions because I firmly believe that a well-rigged, well-maintained 10-15kg gummy outfit (threadline or overhead able to handle 8kg+ of drag) is all that is needed to land school tuna up to 30kg. If SBT grew no bigger than this size, things would be a lot easier (and cheaper) as there would be no need for specialized gamefishing gear at all. Therefore, I believe that all decisions about gear selection for SBT fishing should NOT be based upon school sized fish, but rather should be based upon giving yourself the best chance possible of landing a barrel should you be lucky enough to hook one in the future. The only other scenario where I believe that specialized gear might be necessary would be if you were to target smaller fish on lighter line, where for example, catching a 25kg school SBT on 6kg line class is equivalent to boating a 100kg barrel on 24kg line class. In my mind, what you are buying with increasingly specialized gear is risk insurance. You are paying for gear that you believe will give you an extra advantage during a long fight with a big fish. In other words, by paying extra for specialized gamefishing gear, you are effectively trying to reduce the overall risk that you’ll lose a trophy fish mid-fight.

When first starting out in SBT fishing and initially seeking out advice on gear selection, I would imagine that it would be a pretty common experience to be led straight towards the 24-37kg line classes, lever drag reels (possibly with two-speed gearing), wind-on leaders, and fully rollered rods (or at least those with heavy duty fixed guides). I get the feeling that many novice anglers will simply choose gear within these ‘categories’ because this is the ‘default’ gear that they will need to catch tuna. But I’m not sure there is enough detailed questioning about what these specializations really offer in comparison to more basic technology and most importantly, how might they provide us with the greatest advantage when fighting big fish. I tend to take a minimalist approach to these questions. Firstly, is my basic 15kg gummy outfit actually capable catching a barrel? If not, then why? What am I risking if I don’t have roller guides and a shorter, heavier rod? What is it about tiagras that make them preferred over TLDs? Why do I need to upgrade to 24kg or 37kg line class, why not 15kg or even 60kg? Everyone seems to use wind-on leaders, but what am I risking if I don’t use one?

From my experience, I have found that the bulk of mainstream advice on SBT gear selection offered in tackle shops and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily offer you the best chance of catching a barrel. Instead, by thinking critically and rationally about the task at hand (i.e. successfully fighting and landing a barrel), and being able to more specifically outline what you will be asking your gear to achieve, it will certainly give you a much better idea of how to select the right gear for you. Therefore, my next set of posts will try and cover what I believe will maximize the advantages of gamefishing gear when hooked up to a big fish.

[ncr1]

My Credentials

I have been very lucky to have been given many opportunities to gamefish over the years – I think my first trip was a shark fishing trip off the Nobbies when I was only 11 years old (25 years ago!). Since then I have fished several locations from Bermagui to Port MacDonnell and landed some quality gamefish over that time. However, I have been a little hesitant in regards to offering my advice on this forum, particularly when it comes to landing big tuna. This reason being is that I’ve never actually caught a barrel, and have only ever hooked up once and that was lost in the first few minutes of the fight due to some bad rigging. Therefore, what gives me the right to advise others on the best way to catch barrels?

First of all, among the lucky club of anglers in this country who have landed a barrel, there are very, very few individuals who have caught more than one or two in their lifetime. There is no doubt that each of these lucky anglers learnt an awful lot while fighting their fish, but does one or two experiences fighting a barrel automatically make them experts on the subject? These folks are likely to be better informed than the average angler, but having genuine expertise on barrel-fighting is very hard to come by and is perhaps restricted to a few charter boat captains who have had multiple successes over the years with different gear and different anglers.

I am not a charter boat captain and I certainly don’t consider myself to be an expert in barrel fishing, or an expert in any other form of fishing for that matter. However, I do have considerable experience in light-line gamefishing, mainly using the 8kg line class. Over the years I estimate that I’ve caught around 20-30 SBT above 20kg on the 8kg line class (biggest 34kg – IGFA world record) and also quite a few makos, threshers and blue sharks (biggest 64kg thresher – junior GFAA national record). If you allow me consider that the 20-34kg SBT that I’ve caught on 8kg line is equivalent to catching fish in the range of 60-102kg on 24kg line class, then I feel like this has given me plenty of opportunities to ‘test’ my gear and as a result, I have learnt plenty from trial-and-error and have refined my methods greatly as a result. And among the lessons that I’ve learned, I strongly believe that much of them are also very applicable to the heavier line classes, hence my want to share this info. Since learning about fighting barrels by trial-and-error is a rarity, I think lessons learnt from light-line gamefishing can offer a different and valuable perspective.

More to come soon.

[rb85]

Great stuff mate cheers for the ongoing read.

[Wolly Bugger]

Ah yes, the good old days (unfortunately well before I was born). I remember fishing out wide from Port Welshpool in the early 90s and having one of those fishing maps with labels showing what species to expect and where you could find them. According to these maps,it appeared that SBT were a common capture around the Cliffy Island group and widespread further offshore. Yet I don't remember hearing of any SBT being caught during the 90's out of Welshpool. We also used to fish the gamefishing tournament down there, but I'm not sure if they every weighed in an SBT. So I'm guessing the advice on these maps were based on reports from yesteryear (even though it was an updated publication at the time).

Based on my readings of the history of gamefishing in Victoria, it does appear that the SBT were there in numbers back in the early days, but I'm pretty sure they were much more sporadic in abundance (at best) during the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

I have spoken to some old fisho's who use to catch SBT in Western Port bay,

[skye]

My Credentials

I have been very lucky to have been given many opportunities to gamefish over the years – I think my first trip was a shark fishing trip off the Nobbies when I was only 11 years old (25 years ago!). Since then I have fished several locations from Bermagui to Port MacDonnell and landed some quality gamefish over that time. However, I have been a little hesitant in regards to offering my advice on this forum, particularly when it comes to landing big tuna. This reason being is that I’ve never actually caught a barrel, and have only ever hooked up once and that was lost in the first few minutes of the fight due to some bad rigging. Therefore, what gives me the right to advise others on the best way to catch barrels?

First of all, among the lucky club of anglers in this country who have landed a barrel, there are very, very few individuals who have caught more than one or two in their lifetime. There is no doubt that each of these lucky anglers learnt an awful lot while fighting their fish, but does one or two experiences fighting a barrel automatically make them experts on the subject? These folks are likely to be better informed than the average angler, but having genuine expertise on barrel-fighting is very hard to come by and is perhaps restricted to a few charter boat captains who have had multiple successes over the years with different gear and different anglers.

I am not a charter boat captain and I certainly don’t consider myself to be an expert in barrel fishing, or an expert in any other form of fishing for that matter. However, I do have considerable experience in light-line gamefishing, mainly using the 8kg line class. Over the years I estimate that I’ve caught around 20-30 SBT above 20kg on the 8kg line class (biggest 34kg – IGFA world record) and also quite a few makos, threshers and blue sharks (biggest 64kg thresher – junior GFAA national record). If you allow me consider that the 20-34kg SBT that I’ve caught on 8kg line is equivalent to catching fish in the range of 60-102kg on 24kg line class, then I feel like this has given me plenty of opportunities to ‘test’ my gear and as a result, I have learnt plenty from trial-and-error and have refined my methods greatly as a result. And among the lessons that I’ve learned, I strongly believe that much of them are also very applicable to the heavier line classes, hence my want to share this info. Since learning about fighting barrels by trial-and-error is a rarity, I think lessons learnt from light-line gamefishing can offer a different and valuable perspective.

More to come soon.

A very humble sentence there mate, don't go knocking yourself down too much.

All this information is very nicely put and actually ncr1 should consider formatting this into a magazine article format; as it's no nonsense (double negative I know) and straight to the point.