Help Me - Tuna in the Bay

[Gcarj]

Hi Boys, I have been out in the bay the last few weeks and see birds dive bombing bait fish in spots I fish with tuna gorging themselves as well.

What I would like to do is CATCH THEM.......lol. I've had pillys ganged up and have concluded that dead baits or pillys arn't a favourite with them. I generally have a number of rods with me but feel that even if I did hook up my gear may not hold up.

What should I do to set up for these fish(in the bay). I have a baitrunner 6000 D and a Silstar cystal blue 5-8kg rod with 15lb power pro mono.

Can I utilise this combo or start saving for something more appropriate?

Can I tie a leader to my power pro or is braid with flouro leader? If so what strength line and leader?

Do they take dead bait or just lures(what do tuna like)?

Anyway, you get the jist, any suggestions welcome

Cheers, glenn

[PlasticFantastic]

Ok here goes. First up forget the bait they wont touch it, the only way bait will work in the bay is if you anchor up near the four beacons area and have a livie out the back. My choice of gear is a 10kg soft plastics style rod with a 4000 size reel and 30lb braid and 30lb leader, you can use alot lighter gear even bream gear if you want but you'll need someone on the wheel ready to drive. I prefer to cast soft plastics at them using a 1/2oz jighead in a 5/0 heavy wire size hook. The plastics are usually 4-6 inch in the Zoom or Bass Assasin varieties with the whiter or purple colours being the preference or for some reason pink is good as well. If you can get close enough to cast at them and they're feeding it should get taken. It's best to watch the fish and try to cast infront of the direction they're going at the time. As for the gear you have it would do the job, it might not cast a plastic far enough so it would be best at first to use a chrome slug in a 10-20gm size and lob it at them and crank like mad and hold on. As for leader Flurocarbon is what most people use and anything from 12-30lb will do the job it all just depends on how long you want to fight the fish. Having said all this there are days where you will not hook em no matter what you throw, you just gotta keep trying. Any more questions feel free to ask.

Cheers

Mark

[wesfish]

well i have fluked a 20kg longy on a whole pilly intended for snapper at inner beacon on a 3500B baitrunner on a similar rod to yours.but i guess it as a fluke the combo is fine and Plasticfantastic has given you the best advice for the longies and the way they are feeding at the moment its just a matter of getting the lure amongst them when they rise. they are feeding on frog mouth pillies around 4-5inch long so match the hatch

[Gcarj]

Thanks for the reply mate, that gives me something to go off. I was a bit concerned thedistance I need to cast wouldn't be long enough. What type of rod do you use?

[uglyfish]

Match the hatch, if there chasing hardy heads use a plastic or lure the size n colour of the bait there hitting.

[PlasticFantastic]

The rod i'm using is a Daiwa Heartland 7 foot 6-10kg wih a Daiwa Certate Custom Hyper 4000, the rod I used this arvo was 3-6kg but it's what I had on me at the time and would be too light normally. The 8kg one you have should do the job but would be better suited to casting slugs than lighter plastics.

Cheers

Mark

[Gcarj]

How do you know what they are chasing or feeding on?

[Manni79]

Throw plastics, a metal slug or even a popper at the edge of the bait ball

With the plastic or metal slug crank it back hard and fast !!

Rig a couple of your rods with the different set up ie popper on one metal slug on another

And try it out!!

Good luck mate !!

[Gcarj]

Thanks mate, I'm intending to do just that. Can't wait now!