Rigging Up for Surface Bluefin

[JAY]

I know alot of people like myself are starting to get all geeked up for the coming tuna season. The last several seasons Cape Cod Bay has been awesome, and with any luck we should have that run again, and hopefully another run off the RI coast as well. So I thought I would take a shot at putting together a quick guide on rigging up for these great fish.

Quick disclosure - Trolling is my bread and butter, and that's what I do with 90% of my tuna charters - there are other guides at the shop that really speciaize in light tackle top water bluefin, and I hope they chime in on this. That said, I've been chasing them on the heavy spin for several years, and while trolling is what I do best, there is no rush like casting to feeding Bluefin.

First, Bluefin are the strongest, fastest and best fighting fish in the ocean. These guys will burn out drags, blow up reels and generally screw up tackle - so it's best to go with quality tackle. That said, you need quality gear, but don't have to spend a million bucks - I'm going to try and outline gear for reasonable and high end budgets.

REELS:

This is the most important piece of equipment, as an 80lb bluefin will kill a cheap reel. The following are good pieces of equipment that will stand up to big fish.

Reasonable -
Penn 9500 - solid reel, good drags, simple and easy to fix. I've got a couple and they are solid.

Fin-nor Offshore 65/75 - these are impressive reels with huge drags and very good quality. They also make 2 larger models that have a crazy capacity. We use Fin-nor for all of our trolling gear up to 130s and in my opinion there are none better, so I'm actually switching over to these for the upcoming season.

Shimano Thunnus 1600 - I haven't used these personally, but they are quality and well reviewed without getting into the really expensive category.

High End -

Shimano Stella 2000 - Smooth, Strong, Powerful - these are great reels.

Van Staal 250/275 - Powerful, Strong, Waterproof, Bulletproof - what makes them great surf reels makes the bigger ones great tuna reels. When the 250 bailed hits the market, that will be the ultimate tuna spin/butterfly reel (i've fondled the prototype- it's awesome). The VS 300 is a monster - and while you may not [i]need[i] that much capacity, it sure is nice.

Rods:

Lots of different rods will work here, the key is to having something capable of throwing some pretty light plugs, but has the backbone to lift really big fish. Sky's the limit with custom stuff, here are a couple of the better production rods.

Reasonable-

St Croix 7'6" - they actually make this in two models now, the Premier and they just came out with this rod in the Triumph line. The premier was reasonable, but now the triumph is even more affordable. Good values.

High End-

Van Staal VJS70-325 - nice light tip for throwing small plugs and plenty of backbone for lifting. Great versatility because it works well for butterfly style jigging too. I'm about to order a pair for this reason.



Line - Braid only here due to capacity and castability. Opinions on brand here vary greatly, as everyone has a favorite. I use PowerPro mostly because I can buy it in bulk, but any quality braided line will suffice. I like 50 lb because of the combination of stength and casting ability, but some people like 65lb as well.


Leader - 50 or 60 lb seaguar flourocarbon. Tuna have great eyesight, but beyond that the flouro helps with chaffe resistance. Too heavy and the action on the lures die - although bluefin have really sharp teeth, they usually lip hook and the plug helps guard the leader.



Lures - okay, here we go - this is where I hope the other guys can chip in, because bluefin can drive you nuts when they get finicky. A good assortment of poppers, swimmers, metal, and even some plastic is needed. I'll try to hit some of the basics -- one very important thing -- many of these plugs are intended for bass and blues and Big Tuna will kill the hardware. I highly suggest getting a good pair of split ring pliers and changing out the hooks with 90lb spro split rings and owner 4x super stinger hooks.

Swimmers/Poppers

Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow -- Magnums and even the standard size floater with the hooks changed. These are nasty, and should be in every tackle box.

Yo-Zuri Hyro Pencil and Hydro Popper -- change the hooks, but great flash and killer lures. Take a look at the beat to heck hydro in the case at the shop and ask Pete G if he likes them.

Tattoo Sea-Pup 2 oz - quality hardware, no need to switch the hooks. The walk the dog action is very effective.

Polish Sand-Eel - these got popular last season, I only threw them into one school of fish, so that's not much of an example, but they do look good.

Assorted Needlefish - they are most often feeding on sandeels, so a stubby needle like the afterhours is always a good bet.

Yo-zuri Sushi Bull Popper - these are new so I haven't tried on yet, but they look awesome with a "changing color" effect.

Metals:

Deadly Dicks - very popular due to the sand eel resemplance - hooks are junk must be changed.

Braid Beta jigs - 4 oz -- good hooks and a nice wiggle - tuna love them.

Pt Jude Tins - the Po Jee and Butterfish are both really popular. The butter has a really great flutter. If they are still making their "tuna pak" that's a great deal because they have an assortment rigged with gamakatsu tuna hooks.

yo-zuri l-jacks -- good when the fish key in on "mico" bait.

Plastic - I haven't used much in the way of plastic, but that's generally because most don't have good hooks. This season Ron-Z has come out with a "Tuna Head" for his rigs that is perfect. He gave my Father some samples this winter, so the Tuna Head and the 10" Silver Ron-Z will definately get alot of time (and rumor has it they are very effective on the troll as well).

Hopefully that run down can get some people started (and I didn't sound too arrogant in the process).
The other guides should speak up here, as you can see from those videos in the shop - Cory and the guys know their stuff.

Tuna fever is contagious and there is no cure.
Good luck out there.

-Jay

[arden]

i personaly love gloomis rods, most of my expereince with the bluefin has been the smaller ri stuff and we use spheros 5000 and gl2 freshwater rods effectivly all season. the next class up of loomis rods, the problues, offer great light tips with massive backbone. though i havnt used them for casting the list of fish i have spanked on my vanstaal rod is always growing and it has me impressed at least. as i said most of that action has been useing jigs and bait but they do cast well for their short length and you really appriciate that when you are hooked up

Arden

[Gotofish]

I'll chime in on the leader....make sure that you run a leader that is on the longer side-I'd say 10 ft of mono should be the minimum when you're using braid. First, for the decreased visibility and second because braid doesn't stretch, you need a "buffer" between the running line and fish to absorb shock and prevent the hook from pulling.

[Hardtail Hunter]

I don't think you need a bufffer I use floro and that doesnt have much strech and I only use about a 2ft leader at most. And for lures I like lures that will suspend that you can leave infront of the school for as long as possible. I dont retrieve fast most of the time, Ive had my most success by keeping the lure infront of the fish as long as possible.

[beaver]

I've caught tuna up to 30lbs on 12 lb test mono w/ no leader and small needlefish, but some of the bigger ones (up to 65) have come from casting butterfish like metals in the middle of schools and just lettin it flutter through the school. I do prefer getting them on topwater though, nothing like it.

[JAY]

I like that butterfish idea - cool tip.