Many years ago, Kona skipper George Parker made ­headlines around the world when he caught the first certified, world-record grander Pacific blue marlin. Since that 1,002-pound giant in November 1954, Hawaii’s lee eddies have churned up a stream of 1,000-pound blues that continues today. Kona waters usually average two or three granders per year, along with more Pacific blue marlin IGFA records than any other sport-fishing hot spot. That parade of records continues. In March 2013, Alex Nuttall boated a 958-pound blue marlin with Capt. Chip Van Mols on the Kona charter boat Monkey Biz II to claim the IGFA women’s 130-pound-class record.

Kona’s consistent billfish success sparked a worldwide revolution in big-game fishing because these big fish were caught on lures pioneered and developed in Hawaii waters. Meanwhile, big-game fishermen elsewhere had been saying you could catch billfish only with bait. Even those doubters caught the Kona wave and started catching marlin on Kona-style lures. Kona is also the perfect starting point for novices who have never caught a fish in their lives. It happens every day, 365 days a year. Newcomers are well served by a well-maintained fleet of top-of-the-line boats and expert captains.

Plus, Kona’s big fish hunt in deep, calm waters near shore. The 100-fathom line is a 10-minute run from Kona’s two main fishing fleets at Honokohau Harbor and Keauhou Bay. What’s more, the biggest fish of any week is usually a marlin in the 500- to 900-pound range caught by a complete newcomer on a four- or six-hour trip. On any day of the year, a visitor can find a suitable charter and hope to catch one or more of Hawaii’s mighty four: billfish, ahi (yellowfin tuna), mahimahi (dolphinfish) and ono (wahoo).

Billfish of Every Kind

Blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin, sailfish, shortbill spearfish and broadbill swordfish — Kona’s waters are home to every billfish found in the Pacific. But each has a different story, and you should know those stories when you make plans.

Big blues are the billfish that pay the bills in Kona. Blues of all sizes are here year-round, but they are usually most common during the summer tournament season, from June through early September. Mid-Pacific currents can supply a fresh run at any time, however. For example, sometimes April surprises offshore trollers with fish heavier than 500 pounds on every day of the lunar cycle. Catches like these show that the lunar cycle has little, if any, influence on billfishing in Kona (unlike the effect different phases might have in other fishing areas).

Kona granders have also been landed in January, March and July. March, which might otherwise be considered the offseason elsewhere, has turned up more of Kona’s historic granders than any other month, and that includes the 1,649-pound Kona all-time record in 1984. The 1,376‑pound IGFA record for 130-pound class was caught in May 1982. Indeed, granders have been caught in Kona waters every month of the year. Licensed commercial fishermen are allowed to sell blue marlin in Hawaii, but professional skippers prefer tag-and-release for clients who want to let vital fish go. In any given week, more of Kona’s blues are tagged than kept. Visitors should make their wishes known when setting up a charter.

Hawaii’s Striped Marlin

Striped marlin cruise through Kona water’s year-round, but the big run extends from December through March. The Hawaii state record, 212 pounds, turned up here at the end of March 2011. That’s big for a north Pacific stripe, which is noteworthy because South Pacific stripers max out at more than double the weight of their northern cousins. Striped marlin are most attracted to Kona when winter waters cool down into the mid-70s. During those “chilly” times, the luckiest trollers might get up to a dozen striped marlin bites, and hook about a third of them.

Those same striped marlin ­conditions also attract shortbill spearfish of world-record size. Kona’s frisky shortbills ­presently hold 16 IGFA marks for tackle as light as 4-pound-class, and even on fly gear. Record-seekers troll hookless teasers to draw a spearfish within range, and then present a lure, fly or bait on the most sporting gear available. For most visitors, however, the spearfish is a surprise catch when trolling for blues and stripes.

For black marlin, Kona is outside the normal migration range. The entire Kona fleet sees only a handful each year, and these are much smaller than the giants of the Great Barrier Reef far to the south. Old-timers will remind you that the state record weighed 1,205 pounds, but that once-in-a-generation fish was caught in 1980.

Broadbills are the secret sensations for fishermen who know when, where and how to catch them. Most of Kona’s rod-and-reel swordies are caught at night during ika-shibi (traditional hand line) trips that target tuna. With its giant staring eyes, the broadbill is readily attracted to lights at night and to the squid schools that gather in the glow. The state record 503-pounder took the bait in June 2006 at the start of what are usually the three best swordfish months. Only a few boats cater to the night-fishing trade.

Hawaii Tuna Fuel Jet Revolution

More than fifty years ago, Hawaii troller Henry Nishikawa ignited the jet revolution when he caught a world-record ahi on a metal-headed lure drilled through and through with holes. His 269-pound yellowfin didn’t last long in the record books after anglers in the eastern Pacific discovered a tribe of bigger tuna off Mexico. Yet the IGFA record book is still overwhelmingly Kona on the ladies’ side: Kona catches made by women hold the 16-, 20-, 30- and 50-pound-class marks.

Though Kona waters attract ­resident schools of yellowfin year‑round, ahi are most abundant in late spring and throughout summer. As schools migrate west to east through the islands, the big runs reach Kauai first by Mother’s Day in May and Kona by Father’s Day in June. When the action is wide open, lucky boats can catch as many as 10 a day, all in the 100- to 220-pound range, by trolling or live-baiting with aku (skipjack tuna) or opelu (mackerel scad). During the rest of the year, ahi specialists target them with green-stick gear, and continue to catch a few each trip.

Hawaii’s state record ahi (a July catch) of 325 pounds is unusually large for central Pacific yellowfin tuna. Kona’s biggest ahi each year normally hits 250 pounds (258.5 in 2013). The state record bigeye (277 pounds in July 2013) and the biggest albacore (89.2 pounds in April 2011) both were caught on the Big Island’s windward (eastern) coast. The albacore weighed more than any on the IGFA record list but did not qualify for world-record status because it was caught on commercial-fishing gear. Kona ­fishermen regularly catch albies (tombo ahi) in the 60s and 70s on sport fishing tackle.

Mahimahi, Hawaii’s Gift to the World

Almost 70 years ago, Hawaii Big Game Fishing Club official George Perry set the 130-pound-class IGFA world record for dolphinfish with a 72.5‑pounder. That record didn’t last long, but the name “mahimahi” is Hawaii’s gift to the world, because it replaces the confusing name “dolphin” on restaurant menus. Though Hawaii has no current IGFA mahimahi records, the state-record 82-pounder confirms the potential. That record fish was a September Kona catch, but mahimahi are available any time the current drags a “floater” within trolling distance.

Mahimahi live up to their name (it means “very strong”), and the brightly colored, agile acrobats do their muscular tricks in Kona waters year-round. Occasionally huge schools gather around flotsam and jetsam for a wide-open bite that can go on for days. Then, skippers gear down to match the catch with sporting 20- and 30-pound-class rods. Unless a Kona skipper finds a floater, mahi are incidental catches on marlin and tuna trips.

By the way, the mahimahi record aside, Perry went on to catch the largest blue marlin in each of the first two Hawaiian International Billfish Tournaments (HIBT). The HIBT became an annual Kona fishing feature in 1959 and soon inspired dozens of other Kona tournaments. During the most popular tournament months of June, July and August, events compete with each other every week

Ono Blitzes, Summer Phenomenon

A Guide to Big Fish off the Big Island

Ninety years ago, a mysterious fellow known only as “J.B. Stickney” caught a 124.75-pound wahoo in Hawaii waters to set the world record. That was five years before the IGFA was founded, a time when records were compiled by Van Campen Heilner of Field & Stream and Francesca R. La Monte of the American Museum of Natural history. Ono — what wahoo are called in Hawaii — average 30 to 40 pounds, which makes J.B.’s catch even more extraordinary.

Big ones do show up now and then — state-record-holders Tom Brandt and Sky Mullins surprised their 133.2‑pound ono off the windward coast of the Big Island in December 2000. The major ono run reaches the Big Island in May of each year and hangs around into early September. Some ono are caught year-round, with early morning being your best chance. Kona skippers typically troll the 40-fathom line at the start of each trip to pick up any ono that might be harassing the nearshore bait schools.

To ward off the ono’s sharp teeth, skippers rig their special ono lures with single-strand stainless leaders. Ono slash at heavy-headed subsurface lures like weighted jets and lead-head feathers. On a typical trip specifically for ono, a successful boat might catch three or four fish. In years when ono blitz the summer currents, boats are known to hook as many as 40 on a single trip.

Other fishing areas might see the diversity of big-game fish that Kona has, but few have them in the sizes regularly seen here. In Kona, your next strike could come on any day of the year, in any phase of the moon, at any turn of the tide, on routinely comfortable seas, and be one of the Pacific’s biggest and most exciting game fish.

Shore Fishing off the Big Island

The post Kona Hawaii Offshore Fishing appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Yellowfin tuna attack in packs, like wolves descending on a flock of lambs. Often, these 50-pound footballs launch completely out of the water to crash bait from above.

On the hook, they fight like bulldogs with a headstrong run capable of pegging anglers to their limits. On the table, the meat tastes delicate, whether seared like a steak or sliced up cold and raw.

Among the top locations to catch this most-popular gamefish has to be Hatteras Island, North Carolina. Captains troll ballyhoo, cast topwater plugs, dangle baits from a kite or jig vertically. Fishing out of the famed Oregon Inlet, on the east side of Hatteras island, or the fabled Hatteras Inlet on the south side of the island, anglers find ample opportunities to catch the yellowfin tuna of a lifetime.

On the Line in Oregon Inlet

The combination of warm-water eddies and deep structure attracts tuna to the waters off Oregon Inlet from October through June. While blackfin, bigeye and bluefin tuna visit the area, yellowfin tuna remain the star attraction.

The charter fleet fishing out of Oregon Inlet developed the tactics that anglers all over the world use to score yellowfin. Based out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, Capt. Charles Haywood chases tuna on his 55-foot custom boat, Rigged Up.

Haywood has fished Oregon Inlet since childhood, starting as a mate for some of the most iconic anglers on the water and later becoming the owner operator of his own boat. After decades chasing yellowfin, Haywood and the rest of the tuna fleet have developed foolproof tuna tactics.

“We can catch yellowfin tuna all winter,” Haywood says. Later, the spring season heats up from early May to late June. While every angler prays for calm weather, Haywood says the best tuna days are a little rough. “Not hell-bent, but a 12- to 18-knot wind seems to get the fish moving,” he says. On a stiff northeast swell, he spots schools of yellowfin swimming downsea.

Getting to The Point

Haywood looks for yellowfin where the edge of the Gulf Stream crosses the continental shelf, anywhere from 30 to 50 miles offshore. Ground zero is a cut in the shelf called The Point. The warmer, clearer water of the Gulf Stream meets the cooler, dirtier water of the Labrador Current in a noticeable seam. As the currents ebb and flow, the seam moves north and south along the edge of the shelf. When the warm water crosses over a hill, cliff or canyon in the edge of the abyss, yellowfin tuna stage to feed.

“This time of year, yellowfin will hold inside or outside the stream,” he says. Haywood has caught yellowfin in water from 68 to 78 degrees; he says 70 to 74 degrees is ideal.

Haywood relies on his fish finder to mark tuna and bait as the boat moves from one piece of structure to another. Once he finds fish on a hill or canyon, he works the area until he dials in specific locations and determines the best direction to approach them.

The Perfect Spread

To catch yellowfin, Haywood trolls skirted ballyhoo at 6.5 to 7.2 knots. He starts with a large ballyhoo rigged beneath a Sea Witch skirt. Haywood keeps a complete palette of skirt colors, from black-and-red to bright pinks and whites. He changes colors to meet weather and water conditions.

He pulls the ballyhoo using 50-pound-class tackle and spools up with 130-pound braided backing. To the backing, he adds a 100-yard topshot of 80-pound mono and crimps a 25-foot leader of 180-pound fluorocarbon between the topshot and the lure.

An effective tuna spread consists of a dozen baits fished from a web of lines. Haywood makes use of long riggers to long-short riggers, short-short riggers, two or three shotguns and flat lines splashing just a few feet from the transom.

Haywood recommends changing each lure’s position until it swims correctly: riding down the boat wake and popping out of the water every minute. Sometimes the fish favor long baits swimming deeper and other times, the tuna attack short baits splashing on the surface. With the right spread, a pack of yellowfin will attack every bait until every rod bends double.

After the first bite, Haywood keeps trolling, hoping to hook multiple fish. By the time he slows the boat to let the anglers work on the fish, he has moved away from the structure. With the swift Gulf Stream sweeping him away from the honey hole, Haywood turns his boat into the current while the anglers fight their fish.

When the spring bite turns hot, anglers descend from every direction to get in on the action. Chartering a professional captain can help you learn the ropes.

Haywood also encourages visitors to network with local captains to monitor weather conditions and navigation hazards. The channel markers don’t mark the channel, and a big winter swell can make the outer bar almost impassable. “We may be tough on the outboarders,” he laughs, “but the inlet is always changing. Don’t be afraid to ask for local knowledge.”

Chasing Action in Hatteras Inlet

Although it lies only 60 miles south of Oregon Inlet, Hatteras Inlet is a world away. While the fleet fishing out of Oregon Inlet enjoys steady action on yellowfin tuna, anglers fishing out of Hatteras Inlet chase tuna that ride eddies of cooler water spinning along the Gulf Stream.

Capt. Rom Whitaker has chased yellowfin out of Hatteras Inlet for 40 years. “Ten years ago, tuna fishing was excellent,” he recalls. Then, local anglers suffered a dry spell — until last year.

Whitaker says the behavior of the Gulf Stream eddies changed. “We had less current and more eddies,” he says — perfect conditions for yellowfin tuna.

The Gulf Stream current can rush faster than 5 knots up the coast, and that deep, blue water is too warm and turbulent for tuna. Instead, Whitaker looks for an eddy of cooler, slower, green water spinning up from the south.

“The water in the eddy can be 3 degrees cooler,” he says. “As the eddy moves up the coast, the current will change from southwest to nothing to a backing tide out of the northeast.”

For this reason, Whitaker starts each day studying satellite sea-surface-temperature images. While on the water, he monitors changes in the eddy with his Sirius XM satellite service. He also talks to captains who fish out of Morehead City to the south, asking about water temperature, current and other details for clues to where the tuna are holding—on the edge, in the center, or at the top or bottom.

Once he determines the most likely area, he looks for where the water crosses underwater structure. “The tuna ride the eddy like a train,” he says. The fish might stop at canyons and rock piles, but they continue to move with the water. “One day they might be south at the 800 line, then the next day they’ll be at the triple zeros, and the third day, they’ll stop behind the Rockpile,” he says, referring to Loran-C locations.

Shifting Tactics With the Seasons

Whitaker says the Hatteras yellowfin season runs from April until early July. As the months progress, his tactics change. He prefers trolling Sea Witches and ballyhoo. If that doesn’t work, he might try dropping a spoon on a planer, or adding a spreader bar into the mix. “I like the spreader bar in the middle of the spread,” he says.

If Whitaker marks fish on his fish finder, but can’t get a bite, he drops 200-gram vertical jigs. If he sees yellowfin jumping out of the water, he grabs a spinning rod rigged with a topwater popper. But his favorite way to catch tuna is with the kite, he says.

When the tuna feed on flying fish, they turn up their noses at trolled baits. Dangling a rubber flying fish from a kite can be just the thing to entice the tuna to bite. Whitaker uses 30-pound tackle spooled with 65-pound braided line. He attaches the mainline to a 4-foot section of 200-pound monofilament holding the lure. He can run two lures off one kite, trolling fast enough to keep the kite in the air and the lures bouncing off the wave tops.

Read Next: More Yellowfin Tuna Tips

“It’s a very visual bite,” he says, describing how tuna launch into the air to snare a flying bait. Yellowfin seem to prefer their prey hanging three feet off the surface. With a lot of line in the air, it’s important to quickly retrieve slack. Sharp hooks snare the fish until the angler can catch up using the reel.

On a typical day tuna fishing, anglers might have to employ several tactics before hitting the mark. Expect to switch from trolling ballyhoo, to casting plugs, jigging metal and flying a kite. But if you can find the right water over the right structure, you’ll find some of the world’s best yellowfin tuna fishing.

FAQ

The post Spring Into the Yellowfin Tuna Fishing Scene appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

When it comes to fishing, Ocean City has a long history, recreationally as well as commercially. Until 1933, the town lacked an inlet. When boats returned to land, full of fish, teams of horses dragged the vessels up the beach. But that changed in 1933 when a powerful unnamed hurricane ripped open what is now the Ocean City Inlet. Suddenly safe, navigable access connected the back bays to the Atlantic.
    
Fishermen took full advantage in ensuing years, and one day in 1939, 171 white marlin were boated out of Ocean City. The label of “white marlin capital of the world” followed shortly after.

Maryland’s main beach-resort community (population just under 7,000) is a nine-mile strip — between Isle of Wight and Assawoman bays and the Atlantic Ocean — that runs from the inlet at the south end north to the Delaware state line.

With so much water, inshore and offshore, the level of interest and effort here in fishing shouldn’t surprise. For one thing, Ocean City is a great jumping-off place to head out to the productive canyons and fish for offshore pelagics such as white marlin, blue marlin, swordfish and tunas — yellowfin, bigeye, bluefin and at times, albacore — as well as wahoo and mahi. 

But simply running out to the canyons and the continental shelf (figure 60 miles to start but at times well past 100) isn’t a guarantee of fast fishing, says Josh Lowery, a captain on the 58 B&B Reel Current. He says the warm-water eddies that spin off — or at times don’t — from the Gulf Stream are critical magnets for bluewater big game. Lowery acknowledges that the 2023 season was a bit lackluster, noting that the ocean off Ocean City didn’t get many good pushes of eddies. But there’s no reason to believe that 2024 won’t be a standout year for eddies again concentrating bait and fish in these waters.

Despite the enduring passion among local-based private yachts and charters for billfish, in recent years, tuna have often taken center stage, Lowery says. Bluefin tuna can be thick at times, though as the season progresses, quotas may limit the fishery. Yellowfin and bigeye frequent the canyons from some time in May into October, Lowery says. Some years, longfin tuna (true albacore) might turn up in the mix, and, closer to shore, expect blackfin tuna.

Though far fewer anglers target swordfish than they do tuna, the action for broadbill can be good from June through early fall, but some years even into December. Most who do seek swords drop deep by day, but Lowery says nighttime drifting can be quite effective.

But Ocean City offers more than bluewater. Less glamorous but much more accessible and easy — and many would argue, no less fun — is the inshore fishing, from just off the beaches to the jetties to the acres of protected back bays. The list of species that inshore anglers catch here is considerable and includes flounder, rockfish (striped bass), tautog, sea bass, red drum, black drum, weakfish, speckled trout, croaker and sheepshead. At times snapper bluefish and Spanish mackerel can be numerous — 2023 proved a better-than-average year, Lowery says. 

While things definitely slow down in the cold-weather months and pick up in the spring for most of these species, tautog and rockfish can be found through the winter. Larger stripers can be found in late spring, when they migrate out of the Chesapeake and head north, then again in the reverse pattern during the fall. 

Tournaments figure large in the fishing picture here. Among the long-running events: the OCMC Labor Day White Marlin Tournament (66th annual coming up in 2024), OCMC Small Boat Tournament (45th annual coming up), Ocean City Marlin Club Canyon Kick-Off (42nd annual coming up), Ocean City Tuna Tournament (37th annual coming up July 12-14), and the White Marlin Open (51st annual coming up August 5-9). At the Open — one of the world’s largest tourneys — 400 boats participated in 2023 with 605 billfish caught and an impressive 602 of those released. Highest single-boat winning total topped $6 million.

Planning a Trip

What to Expect

Anglers will find plenty of infrastructure to serve them. Private boaters are facilitated by full-service marinas, such as the Ocean City Fishing Center and Sunset Marina, where they can launch, moor, and buy bait and supplies. Offshore charters abound and many center consoles offer guided fishing inshore and nearshore. Also popular here are headboats (party boats) that take open groups on large boats to queue up along the rail and drift for flounder, sea bass and pretty much anything the natural baits attract. While largely populated by tourists and casual anglers, these boats do offer a few hours of easy and fun fishing (particularly for families) at an affordable price. Even more affordable and surprisingly productive is fishing the jetties, bridges, piers and surf. 

Helpful Links

For more general information about Ocean City and planning a visit here, visit ococean.com. Also check visitmaryland.org for more information. All fishing regulations can be found at dnr.maryland.gov.

The post There’s More to Ocean City Than White Marlin appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

You might catch a giant bluefin tuna in many locations, as disparate as the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana or the coast of Ireland. But no single area in the world concentrates huge bluefin like Nova Scotia (NS) and Prince Edward Island (PEI) in Canada’s Maritimes. Here, the cold waters of the northwest Atlantic attract great schools of forage, including the herring and mackerel on which tuna feast and fatten. Those same chilly waters discourage smaller bluefin, which have to work hard to stay warm. Bluefin are among the few fishes that can heat their bodies for more efficient predation. The giants’ larger body mass makes it easier for them to remain and feast in the cold, food-rich waters of the Maritimes.

A glance at the IGFA record book tells the story: Of the eight line-class world-record bluefin tuna weighing more than 600 pounds, six were caught off NS or PEI. That includes the remarkable 1,496-pound all-tackle world record bluefin that Ken Fraser caught in 1979.

While that record has remained intact for well over four decades, many bluefins approaching that size have been caught. “Our largest Nova Scotia giant bluefin tuna was caught by Graeme Weiss, of San Diego, in 2013,” says Capt. Josh Temple, who has guided anglers to NS giants for 14 consecutive seasons. “We estimated it at 1,400 pounds, and we have encountered larger fish than that one, which earned their freedom during the fight.”

Temple says there’s no doubt fish even larger than 1,496 pounds are swimming in NS waters, noting that Ken Fraser, who caught the world record and is a friend of Temple’s, “will be the first to tell you he’s seen them bigger.”

Temple cites the first day of his first season in NS 14 years ago, as the day that hooked him. After catching and releasing several giants (he says by NS standards, a giant is at least 700 pounds), “we spent the rest of the day hand-feeding bait to hundreds of giant bluefin. All of this in water less than 60 feet deep and less than 500 yards off the shore, within sight of my pickup, parked at the wharf.”

The focus on NS and PEI by enthusiasts around the world hasn’t ruined the fishery. On the contrary, says Temple, “Thanks to exceptionally well-developed and implemented management frameworks internationally and nationally, giant bluefin populations across the Atlantic have rebounded significantly” and nowhere have the benefits of that been more consistent than around NS. The fact that, “Ninety percent of the giant tuna caught by rod-and-reel in NS are released is a statistic that has surely contributed to the health and sustainability of their numbers in these waters,” he says.

Planning a Trip

When to Go: The giant season in Nova Scotia starts at some point in July and runs into October. Last-minute bookings with top charters are unlikely; best to book the winter prior to your intended trip. If you want the entire tuna trip planned and organized for you, consider signing up for the Sport Fishing Expedition in Nova Scotia.

Where to Go and How to Get There: While you’ll find some charters based in various ports in the province, Ballantyne’s Cove on the Northumberland Shore of Cape George, near the town of Antigonish on the northern end of the island, hosts a concentration of operations. You can drive here — as a reference, plan on 1,000 miles from New York or a bit less than half of that from Bangor, Maine. Those flying in will generally book to Halifax’s Stanfield International Airport. Some operators will arrange transportation from Stanfield to the harbor, or visitors can rent a car.

What to Expect: A number of charters operate from Nova Scotia ports, typically in downeast-style boats designed for fishing in these waters. Typically, they supply the heavy tackle needed to battle big bluefin from a fighting chair. This is catch-and-release fishing, so don’t plan on filling coolers. Figure on $1,700 ($2,300 Canadian), give or take, for a full day of fishing.

What to Bring: Many boats offer stand-up fishing; check with your skipper to see what he offers, and/or about bringing your own stand-up gear. Of course, a good camera and set of foul-weather gear are essential, though summer days are often dry and in the 70s F. By fall, expect 50s and 60s.

Where to Stay: You’ll find a variety of hotels, suites and cabins in the area. Many charter skippers offer or will arrange accommodations for clients.

What Else: As far as fishing goes, Temple says, “For most anglers, NS has a lot of great pelagic fishing left to discover. We’re also catching — seasonally — marlin, yellowfin, bigeye, [true] albacore and even wahoo and dorado along the continental shelf off southwest Nova Scotia, as well as good numbers of giant blue swordfish.”

Besides fishing, the Northumberland Shore is known for having the most “warm-water ocean beaches in Atlantic Canada.” You can explore the works of many skilled artisans here and eat lobster till you burst.

Helpful Links

• Places to go
• Search “bluefin tuna” for several charters
• Northumberland Tourism
• Bluefin Charters
• Tuna Charters Nova Scotia
• Sport Fishing Expeditions

The post Big Bluefins in the Maritimes appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Best Time for California Yellowfin Tuna

Captain Andy Cates, of the Red Rooster III, says the season kicks off in September with 8- to 10-day trips to the lower banks including Potato Bank, Finger Bank and Morgan Bank. This is the land of giants, with the majority of yellowfin tuna weighing 200 to 300 pounds. “If you get a bite, it’s a big one,” Cates says.

The captain compares early-season fishing to big game hunting. He says anglers prepare for weeks for a shot at a true trophy. By January, the water on the lower banks cools down and the big tuna disappear. “We have no idea where they go,” Cates marvels.

That’s when he turns his attention to longer 15- to 18-day trips to the Hurricane Bank. Cates describes Hurricane Bank’s fishing as “action packed.” The bulk of the action is on 90- to 150-pound yellowfin. “Lucky anglers can get eight to 10 bites a day,” he says. 

The main goal of long-range anglers is landing a 200- to 300-pound cow yellowfins. Cates says February through April is the best shot at a trophy. In addition to tuna, Hurricane Bank offers top-notch wahoo fishing.

Cooler Water Temperatures Scared off Sharks

With the season wrapping up, Cates reflects on the trends he observed. “The water stayed cooler, so the fishing was better,” he says. Cates explains the cooler water discouraged sharks and presented a better opportunity to catch a tuna. 

In the beginning of January, Cates explained that the water temperature was in the mid-70s. As the season progressed, the temperature dropped to 72.5 degrees and the sharks disappeared. “It was absolutely brilliant fishing,” Cates remembers.

Hooks and Plugs for Tuna

Going toe to toe with a 300-pound yellowfin tuna requires the most advanced tackle. Cates says, “Lightweight and powerful rods and reels we use make it possible for anyone to land a cow.” The key connection is the hook, and Cates prefers the Trokar 619 series for strength and performance.

The hot lure for trolling for wahoo is the Nomad DTX. Cates laughs, “Everyone on the back of the boat has a DTX.” For the optimal action, anglers tie the swimming plug directly to the mainline. “Using wire makes the lure come out of the water,” he says.

Bluefin Tuna Fishing Heats up in June

As we interviewed Cates, he was preparing Red Rooster III for the last 15-day trip to the banks. When he returns, he expects San Diego bluefin tuna fishing to heat up. “Bluefin fishing is spotty right now but it should get better in June,” he says. 

Cates says the best bluefin action is at night, so he plans to bottom fish during the day and tuna fish at night. “We’ll catch 50- to 200-pound bluefin only 50 miles from San Diego,” he says. 

As for next season on the Mexican banks, Cates is hopeful. “If everything sustains and we don’t get a lot of warm water, I expect next season to rival this year.”

The post California Tuna Fishing Heats Up appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

MOST of the people were completely shocked, they couldn’t believe what they saw, said Capt. Tim Oestreich. All he could do was laugh about his customers’ reactions to the 676-pound bluefin tuna they caught on the 95-foot head boat Dolphin Express. But the crew running the Dolphin Express wasn’t surprised — the experienced anglers were ready for anything.

Gulf Coast Long Range Fishing

Oestreich operates an offshore headboat out of Port Aransas, Texas. On his extended 56-hour trips, the 16-angler party targets tuna by casting lures to floating oil rigs in 3,800 to 9,800 feet of water. On an average trip, the boat catches a limit of three yellowfin per person. “I probably land 1,100 tuna every four or five months,” Oestreich said.

In addition to yellowfin and blackfin tunas, Oestreich also catches marlin, wahoo and dolphin. To target blue marlin, he bridles a live blackfin tuna to a 130-class rod and freelines the bait behind the boat. That’s what he was doing when he hooked a massive bluefin tuna that made headlines and blew up fishing social media.

Rigged Up for Oil Rigs

Fishing at the Hoover Diana oil fields, about 130 to 160 miles from Port Aransas, Oestreich said the trip started rough with 6- to 8-foot seas, but the yellowfin tuna were biting. 

For tackle, the anglers use a 7-foot conventional rod and Accurate BOSS Extreme 600 two-speed reel. For spin fishers, a 7-foot, 6-inch spinning rod and PENN Slammer III reel is a good option. No matter the setup, anglers on the boat launch a Frenzy Flying Fish or Halco 130 lure into the rig lights.

Oestreich fills the Accurate with 500 yards of 65-pound PowerPro Maxcuatro and adds a 150-foot topshot of 80-pound-test monofilament. For the spinning rod, he uses 80-pound braid and three feet of 80-pound fluorocarbon leader.

Another tactic is chunking bite-size pieces of blackfin. “I probably cut up 60 to 80 blackfin each night,” Oestreich marveled. He fishes the chunks on a 7/0 Mustad semi-circle hook tied to three feet of 80-pound fluorocarbon. “If the tuna are really picky, I’ll go down to 50-pound fluoro leader and a 3/0 hook.”

A Big Bait Equals A Big Bite

While the party was playing with tuna, Oestreich used a 130-pound outfit to drop a live blackfin tuna behind the boat. He spools the reel with 200-pound braided line, a 300-pound topshot and 300-pound fluorocarbon leader. He attaches a 16/0 Owner hook to the end of the top shot and bridles the small tuna.

“The bait was in the water for 10 minutes when we got the bite,” he said. 

On the initial run, the big tuna dumped 800 yards of line. Oestreich puts the fish’s feat in perspective, “That’s almost a half mile straight down in about a minute.” 

As the fish dumped line, Oestreich figured he had 90 pounds of drag on the reel. “We were running hellacious drag,” he said. Each member of the party took turns reeling on the fish — some people would last two or three minutes before they gave up. “When one angler was done, I would call for fresh meat on the reel,” he joked. 

In 45 minutes, they had the fish to the boat, but the tuna took off again.

“You can’t chase a big tuna in deep water or you’ll fight it for hours,” pointed out Oestreich. Instead, he tried to get ahead of the fish, keep the line at an angle and keep the fish moving. He estimated he worked the tuna for two-and-a-half miles. In another 45 minutes they had it next to the boat.

But the tuna wasn’t done. With incredible pressure on the line and the rod in the rod holder, the tuna made a mad dash and snapped his 130-pound rod. Oestreich winced, “That rod cost $1,000.”

The fish was only 40 feet from the boat, so Oestreich jumped on the reel and what was left of the rod. Second captain Matt Murchinson took the boat controls. Mate Dan Haluzen worked the leader. And mates Patrick Simpson and Kurt Jackson manned the gaffs. Everything was under control and the big bluefin tuna was quickly subdued.

Landing a Big Bluefin Tuna on a Head Boat

How do you get a huge tuna onto a headboat? Oestreich was ready for that, too. He attached a snatch block to the tuna’s tail and ran the rope to the upper deck. “We had 8 guys pulling on the rope and the crew using gaffs to guide the fish into the side gate.”

Then they had another problem. The tuna was too big for the fish box, so the crew went to work. “We had to modify the fish box with a saw,” he laughed.

Once the fish was landed, the crew celebrated with hoots, hollers and high-fives, but the party was surprisingly quiet. Oestreich recalled, “I tried to explain to them they had just seen the biggest fish of their lives.”

Preparation Pays Off

The captain credits experience and preparation for making the catch. Two years ago, he landed a 760-pound bluefin on a private charter with one angler. “I’ve been doing this my whole life and the boat holds multiple state and world records,” he said. 

He also spent hours prepping gear and maintaining tackle. Keeping an offshore headboat operation running on all cylinders is a group effort. “Before each trip, the whole team is here pulling line off reels and tying leaders,” he said. “The weakest link is the fish’s face — as long as nothing goes wrong, his a** is grass.”

Oestreich says the bluefin show up off Port Aransas in March and stick around through April. The night they landed the 676-pounder they also released a fish he estimated at 500 pounds, plus they pulled the hook on a monster over 800 pounds. A few days after his catch, another boat brought in a 750-pound bluefin. This is Oestreich’s one and only bluefin for the season (Gulf Coast anglers are only allowed to keep one big bluefin each year).

READ NEXT: The Best North Carolina Bluefin Tuna Season in Years

The post The Inside Story Behind a Giant Texas Bluefin Tuna appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

According to reports coming out of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, 2023 will go down as one of the best bluefin tuna seasons on record. Not only were anglers catching more bluefin over 500 pounds, but for the first time in years, smaller bluefin were mixed in with the migration.

Oceans East Bait and Tackle is located a few miles from Oregon Inlet, home of a major wintertime bluefin tuna fishing fleet. Serving as a clearinghouse for local fishing news and new tactics, shop owner Jimmy Hillsman is at the center of the bluefin scene.

“The neat thing is, we have two groups of fish,” Hillsman said. “Southeast of Oregon Inlet, bluefin averaging 600 pounds are mixed with wahoo, big eyes and blackfin tuna. Farther south off Diamond Shoals, a mixed class of fish from 60 pounds to over 500 are schooled up and hungry. It’s a great sign for the future.”

With the best bluefin fishing in recent memory, Hillsman has seen some hardcore anglers make amazing catches. Here are a few of his top picks from some of the best fishing teams of the season.

Bluefin Tuna Fishing Night and Day 

Capt. Brandon Christian, on the boat Crime Scene, has been on a bluefin streak this winter. “He’s a private boater and every few days he sends us photos of big fish,” Hillsman explained. 

When we reached Christian a few days after the trophy bluefin season ended, the Sport Drinking Apparel spokesman was still catching up on sleep. “I went pretty hard and fished a lot of long days and nights,” he said.

One of the highlights of Christian’s season was landing a bluefin he estimated to push 700 pounds. The fish was one of the season’s biggest, but he paid for it.

“I arrived at the fishing grounds at 7 am and got my first bite in 20 minutes,” he remembered. The fish quickly pulled the hook and Christian spent the next two days looking for his next encounter. “I didn’t get another bite until 5:30 the next night,” he said. That’s right, he trolled all day, drifted Boston mackerel all night, and trolled the next day until he finally connected just before sunset. “If I don’t [get it done], I have to stay out,” he laughed.

The hot bait was a green-head and crystal skirt Joe Shute lure. “This year was a green head year,” hinted Christian. 

The Biggest Bluefin Tuna of the Year

Back at Oceans East, Jimmy Hillsman recalled one of the biggest bluefin of the year. “Eric Price, on the Outlaw, landed a 116 inch tuna estimated to weigh 750 pounds,” he said

When I asked Price about the catch, the veteran bluefin captain and Wicked Tuna Outer Banks participant said it was his personal best and the fish of a lifetime. “We hooked the fish before sunset and didn’t land it until after sunset,” he remembered. In the dark, Price didn’t realize the fish’s size until the three-man crew tried to pull it through the fish door. Price laughed, “We couldn’t even get the tuna’s lips into the door.”

Luckily, Price’s boat has a boom pole. “With the fish’s tail at the top of the boom its head was still dangling in the water,” he marveled. The crew managed to wrestle the fish onboard. “I didn’t really get a look at the size until it was laying on the deck,” he said.

Price caught the giant on a 3-ounce Joe Shute lure with a white head and white skirt. “I use the 3-and 5-ounce heads when the seas are rough,” he explained. He also mixes in naked ballyhoo and sea witches.

Bluefin Tuna Caught on a Greenstick

Another noteworthy bluefin team fished aboard Predator. Jimmy Hillsman, at Oceans East said, “He had some really big ones and he fished out of both Oregon Inlet and Hatteras this year.” 

Captain Chris Barnett had just returned to Hatteras when I called for his take on the bluefin season. “My season was a huge success,” he reported. Barnett was on location in Oregon Inlet when the tuna showed in January. “I caught fish 12 out of 16 trips,” he calculated. Price said on an average day he faced 5- to 8-foot seas and winds over 20 knots. 

One of Barnett’s best memories was the result of good karma. “I had just replaced both motors in the boat,” he explained. With less than an hour on the new motors, he headed to Diamond Shoals looking for bluefin. Along the way, he helped another boat that was taking on water. “We dropped off a pump and stayed with him until he was underway back home,” he remembered.

Predator continued to steam south. Less than an hour after they put lines in the water, they were hooked up. The fish turned out to be his biggest of the season at 106 inches and 542 pounds core weight. Barnett caught his big fish dangling rubber squid from a greenstick. “We caught a lot of fish on the greenstick this season,” he added. 

Another highlight for Barnett came in the last days of the recreational giant season. “I put together a charter of my best clients and we hooked a doubleheader,” he remembered. 

The two fish cooperated by running in different directions and Barnett quickly brought the first fish boatside. “We hooked it on a swim-hook and left it in the water while we fought the second tuna,” he explained. “The second fish was bigger, so we were able to release the first fish.” 

The trophy tuna was 98 inches and estimated to weigh over 500 pounds. 

Bluefin Season Continues

Speaking of good times, Capt. Andy Piland on the Hatteras boat named Good Times has been in the tuna bite all winter.

I dropped in on my old friend Captain Andy and his daughter April between fishing trips. Both anglers admitted that this season reminds them of the good old days when bluefin tuna were plentiful and close to Hatteras Inlet. “It’s like the nineties again,” Andy reminisced. 

For Piland, the highlight in 2023 has been the variety of bluefin he’s encountering. “I’m most excited to see the little fish,” he laughed. While many anglers fixate on catching big tuna, Piland said the young tuna are a promising sign for the future.

Not only are the bluefin aggressive and in good numbers, but the mixture of small to medium size bluefin makes fighting the fish more enjoyable for the angler. “I love to watch a family out for the first time experience this fishery and have a great time,” said April, an accomplished mate on Good Times. 

One of the crew’s highlights was hosting a family with a patriarch who had suffered several health issues over the past few years. “Everyone got in on the fishing,” April remembered. “This was truly a family-friendly size of bluefin tuna.” 

Andy has been finding fish in 65- to 74-degree water, surprisingly close to shore. “We’re catching fish in 20 to 40 fathoms,” he said. In fact, Andy has spotted bluefin tuna within a mile of the inlet because of the plentiful baitfish inshore.

Mixed in with the bluefin, they get a shot at yellowfin and blackfin tuna. “Our last trip we had a 180-pound bluefin and a mess of blackfin,” Andy said. April added, “It’s a great time to score a slam by landing three different species of tuna.”

The crew has been trolling 1- to 3-ounce MagicTail Hoo Magic lures and ballyhoo. “I’m a crystal girl,” April said, preferring a translucent skirt over her bait.

While the bluefin season is already unprecedented, there is still great fishing ahead. Anglers are able to keep bluefin tuna under 73 inches, perfect size to target with vertical jigs and topwater lures. “We start out trolling and then switch to light tackle for something different,” April explained. Over the next few months, Hatteras turns into a Mecca for hardcore anglers obsessed with battling big fish on spinning rods.

The post Best North Carolina Bluefin Tuna Season in Years appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The Gulf Coast offshore of Venice, Louisiana, is a hot spot for yellowfin tuna, blue and white marlin. Captain Kevin Beach, of Mexican Gulf Fishing Company, says the key to scoring big tuna in clear water is downsizing his tackle and offering a buffet of bait choices. 

Fishing the offshore oil rigs and open water 30 to 50 miles offshore, Beach catches yellowfin tuna weighing more than 150 pounds regularly, with blue and white marlin releases in the mix too. 

Try Different Baitfish

Beach and his 42-foot Freeman Pale Horse start the day catching bait. “When the bait shows up, everything else follows.” Using No. 6 to No. 8 Sabiki rigs, he loads the livewell with hardtails (blue runners), scad and threadfin herring. “The tuna are temperamental and finicky, so I take a variety of bait,” Beach says.

After he makes bait, Beach runs offshore looking for clear green or blue water. “Clear green water has been the best,” he points out. Some days, Beach finds the tuna within 20 miles of the beach, but the most reliable bite is usually on the rigs out to 50 miles. 

Light Tackle Gets More Bites

When Beach sets out the baits, he starts with 50-pound-class rods, 100-pound leader and a 6/0 to 10/0 hook. If the fish are skittish, he downsizes. “I’ll go to a 4/0 hook and 15-pound leader,” he says. But Beach avoids battling big tuna on light tackle. “I’d rather get fewer shots at fish with heavier gear,” he says.

To improve his hookup ratio with lighter tackle, Beach has gone to a thin-wire Eagle Claw L2004. “With the light leader, I’m not using enough drag to straighten the hook,” he explains. The light-wire hook improves the presentation of a small bait. 

Use Spinning Gear for Open Water Tuna

Everyone knows fishing is hot around the oil rigs, but Beach likes to find fish in open water. He gets really excited when he finds a whale shark swimming on the surface. “Tuna in the open water haven’t seen 100 hooks, and they’re not afraid of the boat,” he says. This is a perfect opportunity to catch big tuna on a spinning rod and topwater lure.

Beach warns anglers to use heavy spinning tackle. He laughs, “A light rod and reel results in a long battle and usually ends in heartbreak.” He says bruiser tuna require a seven-foot rod and Daiwa 18000 and 20000 Saltiga MQ reels. The reel is spooled with 80-pound braided line and a 4-foot leader of 80- to 100-pound test. He connects the leader to the mainline with an Alberto knot. “Topwater lures change through the season, but the Halco Slidog is consistent,” Beach says.

The post Outsmart Louisiana Yellowfin Tuna in Clear Water appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

Certainly, in most of the world anyway, every fishing season ends at some point. But wherever you fish, sometimes it’s hard to know when the show is over. Plus, there’s likely a bit of variance each year.  

In my neck of the woods of the New York Bight, the season generally runs from April through November.  And after that? It’s a long, painful wait until things crank back up again in the new year. That’s the reason many of us never rule out December in the Northeast. Still, the safe way to play it is to recognize every fishing day we get after Thanksgiving is a gift.  Not only do the stripers begin to thin out, but the weather windows quickly become scarce.  

That said, we can and often do get blessed with a December run of bluefin tuna on their way down from Nova Scotia, and they are often unusually close to shore. I call these fish “ghosts.” Some years they stick around, some years they don’t. Some years we get good windows to chase them, some years we don’t. It’s all worth mentioning here even if it’s not reliable year to year.  

December is a crazy time for us. And I don’t mean crazy in the holiday sense, or crazy in the prep your boat for winter sense. I mean that December drives us crazy mentally, hoping for one last shot before it’s all over until April.  

But like I said, it’s all gotta end each season at some point. Below is a list of when most of us psychos start to get the hint. The Fat Lady has sung, and it’s time to pack it in.

1. You start scratching your head because you don’t understand why no one else is stupid enough to want to fish in subfreezing weather and marginal conditions. 
2. There’s maybe one day in the 10-day forecast that looks remotely fishable, and even that day looks less favorable the closer you get to it.
3. You head out even though you know you probably shouldn’t, and immediately regret it.   
4. You walk down an icy gangway, and like one of those cartoons, you run backward in place for a few seconds before falling on your butt.  
5. You embark on the winter-long process of questioning why you live here. Also, you might question all of you life choices because you have the time. 
6. You leave your heat gun down on the dock to unfreeze boat hatches.
7. The stripers are still abundant, but each catch is smaller and smaller the colder it gets. The dogfish bite though is awesome though!
8. You hang on every third-hand tuna report, and you can often be heard muttering to yourself “they’re still here” and “it’s not over yet.”
9. You constantly figure out new and unique excuses not to pull your boats out of the water.  
10. You begin to treat those smarter people, who have winterized their boats already, with utter distain.  
11. Your alcohol intake increases incrementally, then exponentially. But at least it keeps you warm.
12. Your disposition begins to degenerate, and you slowly become even more “temperamental” than usual.
13. You buy every gallon of antifreeze the hardware store has in stock.  
14. You become a master at replacing sections of cracked water pipe.  
15. You finally capitulate and pull your boat(s), but wait until they fill up with a foot of snow before shrink-wrapping. Because it’s entirely possible they might go back in the water (even though they never do).
16. As soon as you winterize everything, you get a text about a totally legit report of bluefin busting right outside of the inlet.  

In the end though, acceptance of the inevitable eventually sets in and you begin to feel a little less insane. You set your sights on April, and start to develop lists of things that need to get done over the winter. Because the truth is, it was a pretty good season, no matter how you cut it.    

But we’d like to hear from you! When do you know the fat lady has sung on your fishing season?

The post How to Know When the Fat Lady Has Sung on Your Fishing Season appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.

The tuna fishing off Venice in south Louisiana near the mouth of the Mississippi River has been good since autumn. And veteran Capt. Chad Audibert had been catching plenty of yellowfins and bigeyes.

But on Dec. 9 fishing started slow for Audibert and his crew of five visiting anglers from Texas and his pair of resident boat hands.

“We started live baiting almost 60 miles offshore, and that didn’t work,” says the 28-year old Slidell, La. native who runs a 39-foot Yellowfin boat for VooDoo Charters. “So, we changed tactics to chunking with baits, but we still weren’t getting much. So we started fast trolling plugs to locate some tuna.”

Using a variety of five lures in their trolling spread, the anglers finally caught a pair of small wahoo that were released. About 30 minutes later a giant of a tuna hit a 10-mph trolled pink Halco lure.

“We were trolling around a drill ship that was holding some tuna under it when the fish hit, and we knew right away it was a big one,” Audibert explains.

Early into the 1.5-hour battle, Audibert says the tuna kept coming up near the drill ship, which was a tip-off to him the fish likely was a bigeye, simply from the way it fought.

“We tried to work the fish away from the drill ship, and it stayed pretty shallow, down only about 150 feet,” he said. But about half-way into the fight the fish went deep and almost dumped the reel of line, taking about 600-feet of 100-pound test line,”

But they were able to stop the fish, gain line, and continue the epic battle. None of the anglers on board could handle the tough tuna, so they shared fighting the fish, which immediately disqualified the catch as a potential record, as only one angler is allowed to handle a fishing rod during a fight.

The anglers fought the tuna over four miles off the Louisiana coast, finally bringing it boatside where mate Colby Briley hit the fish with a gaff, followed by a second gaff delivered by deck hand Chelsea Hagan.

They hauled the massive bigeye tuna aboard their Yellowfin boat, and the five Lone Star anglers were stunned at its size and power.

“This was our fist time fishing offshore out of Venice, but we never imagined catching such a tuna,” said angler Holden Light. “We were very fortunate to land this once in a lifetime trophy fish.”

Other Texas anglers aboard that day in addition to Holden were Martin Gonzalez, Jeremy Workman, Tom Cavazos and Blas Castillo.

After the fish was boated the anglers ran back to Cypress Cove Marina in Venice to weigh the tuna, which scaled 207 pounds. That’s just shy of the state record for bigeyes, which is a 213.5-pounder, caught by Brian Neil in Sept. 2018.

The IGFA record for Atlantic bigeye tuna is a massive fish 392-pound, 6-ounce fish, caught off Spain in July 1996 by angler Dieter Vogel.

The post Massive 207-Pound Bigeye Tuna Caught Off Louisiana appeared first on Sport Fishing Mag.