THOSE DARN TUNA! - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

livewhya · 09-22-2002, 09:21 PM

Man we spent 12 hrs chasing the Tuna East of Minots. fish all over the place and only one hook up, it spooled the reel in 2 seconds! The problem we had was; if we used the heavy gear we had to get close to reach them and they spooked. if we used the light gear they spooled ya! very frustrating to say the least. we were tossing 2 -4 oz metal at them. any one have any ideas on how to hook up one of these awesome fish? also saw a few nice whales out there today never seen so many big fish so close to the harbor. the schoolie blues were as thick as pea soup near Wollaston later in the day a blitz for at least 1/2 mile!!!
Best Marty
PS ALWAYS LOOKING TO BUY ANTIQUE LURES!!!!

Van · 09-23-2002, 07:54 AM

I feel your pain.

These ain't blues or bass ripping through bait.
Could not catch a thing though. Not even a hookup.
Earlieer Saturday I went all the way to the H-bouy, marked lots of fish and had one vicious hit trolling, then NADA for the rest of the day.

This was saturday, Sunday they didn't show here, but I saw a whale. it was really cool.

BEETLE · 09-23-2002, 08:55 AM

Same with us on the Ave Maria. Chased them all around - tried trolling artificials + live - nada. Tried chasing them down and throwing metal at them (think i hit a few on the head

) nada. Still - it was very exciting to see these fish and we also saw some whales. Was a beautiful day and the seas were calm

.
As always Capt. Mike (Bassmaster) and Pat (Basic Patrick) bust their tails to provide their charters a decent trip.

PetDoc · 09-23-2002, 10:49 AM

Was out at Stellwagon at dawn on Saturday. Northwest corner. Lots of draggers out there and plenty of whales. Awesome sunrise. Trolled all morning with cedar plugs, green machines and even the killer tomato squid chain with no luck. Thinking about an overnight trip to try chunking for them. Got to get one this year. It's maddening!

Geoffrey
23 Outrage

ron816 · 09-29-2002, 06:31 AM

If you want to stay hooked up with these tuna you'll need the appropriate gear, the only spinning reel on the market that has the line capacity is the penn 9500SS this reel will hold 300 yds of 30Lb mono, if you use a braided line such as spectra or whiplash, you can jump up to 80# with the diameter of 15-17 lb, you will get 300 yds of spectra as well as 100 yds of 30 lb mono backing, also have someone at the helm that can chase these fish while you are hooked up, this will give you a better chance. there is another reel on the market called Van Staal, this offshore reel has a capacity of 800 yds of 80 #, but also cost's 1800.00. good luck.

TheSpecialist · 09-29-2002, 02:21 PM

Hi Ron

saltydog · 09-30-2002, 06:38 PM

GO W/ FLY ROD, 12WT for the little guys an 15wt for the bigger ones like 100+lbs there easy to reach even w/ a fly rod, all the pods we encounted swam up-to an next to the boat, even had one look at me an my fly about rod lenth away ,a good 100+lb you MUST DRIFT into them.

SHUT the boat down an they will be every where. "GOOD LUCK GOOD FISHIN"