 AHI FEVER! — Tuna tactics that work — by Corky Decker
AHI — the extraordinary sashimi-grade tuna that Japanese pay huge sums of money for, and we fishermen will spend even greater fortunes trying to catch. Just watching these wonderful, powerful fish is a thing of sheer beauty — a creature perfectly designed by nature for speed, endurance and strength.
I grew up on the coast of Maine throwing harpoons at giant bluefin tuna, and ever since childhood these awesome fish have held a magical power over me. In Vanuatu in the South Pacific where I am currently fishing, yellowfin is the”big tuna”.
They can be the easiest or the hardest fish to catch, depending on the school’s behaviour at the given moment. I’ve seen yellowfin so boat-shy that you can’t get within a hundred yards of them before they sound, while at other times I’ve had them actually hit the boat during feeding frenzies. When the fish are in one of those frenzies, they will hit anything and everything, so let’s ignore that behaviour and concentrate on those other times.
THE BOAT-WARY FINNER
From shibie (schoolies) to giant 200 lb-plus ahi, yellowfin will all be boat-shy at times. Usually, schools that are on the move and jumping, popping up, then sounding and reappearing in a different direction a quarter mile away are going to be tough to catch.
I believe these fish are acting in this manner not because they are feeding, but because they are being chased — nine times out of ten by billfish. You’ll see smaller yellowfin act this way more often than the large ones, but I’ve seen even the biggest yellowfin doing the big panic dance.
These fish can be extremely difficult to hook up, and they just about drive you crazy as you chase them all over the ocean.
Trying to livebait these fish (to catch what is catching them) is impossible because they won’t stay put long enough to deploy the baits. So when I come across tuna acting badly like this, first I curse them, then I ignore the temptation to get out the livebaits, and simply concentrate on pulling lures, quickly adjusting my spread and selection for just this occasion.
The two in close, flat line lures are 14-inch Big Fella marlin lures skirted in yellow and green colour combinations (to imitate the yellowfin). I’ve caught a lot of marlin in these circumstances. If the yellowfin are on the larger side and sashimi is on the menu, the riggers and shotgun are set up for finners.
The two rigger lures are switched to chrome-headed jets or “Harry Takamoto” bullets, one seven-inch, one-nine inch, and set long — 150 yards, and 250 yards back. The shotgun or stinger is the real weapon here — a seven-inch bullet set 400 yards behind the boat. Slow down to six knots to minimise the noise and let those long lures sink down.
The biggest problem here is when an angry blue jumps on a short corner — your deckie has to clear those long lines quickly when a ballistic marlin is busting all across the surface! This can be exciting stuff and hard to manage without a well trained crew, but the length on the tuna lures will mean the difference between eating hot dogs or breaking out the soy and wasabi. This is the only way I’ve been consistently successful with fast-moving, jumping yellowfin.
Read the full story in the March/April 2009 issue of SKI-BOAT
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