fishing Long Tail Tuna - Tips & Tricks

[Hfisho77]

what an awesome post :cheer: just thought I would add my 2 cents. I agree that the best place to find longies and the like is where there is somewhere for them to round up bait against, e.g reef edges, cliff faces, drop offs, man-made structure etc. Unlike some of the others, I use slugs alot of the time mainly because of the fact that they cast a mile so you don't have to get as close to the school. This means the tuna are less likely to spook and will stay up for longer giving you a chance to get more casts in the vicinity of the school. The best 'all rounder' size for me is around the 14g mark. As Terry said gillies baitfish and R2S sea rocks are the top brands but the trebles do need changing for any decent sized fish. In saying that, plastics are a lot more fun and are also really effective. Anything transparent is definitely the go to 'match the hatch', but when all else fails, it’s sometimes a good idea to chuck out something a bit different and this can entice a reaction bite. Something like a 5-7 inch plastic in a wicked colour such as bright orange or green has worked for me. Really keen to get into the longies on the plastics more often and get my first one in the bay!! :side:

[Funfisher]

Pink snapbacks are like candy to longies and your choice of jighead is spot on reel mate the nitro saltwater you pictured seem to track way better than the TT's on a fast retrieve.

[Manni79]

These are my go to Tuna plastics, all listed are 4" except the bottom one which is 5" for reference point on size.

P.S I'm not affiliated with the brand anymore so it's not a shameless plug, but they are dynamite on Tuna

[Manni79]

Pink snapbacks are like candy to longies and your choice of jighead is spot on reel mate the nitro saltwater you pictured seem to track way better than the TT's on a fast retrieve.

My preference is the exact opposite with the jig heads lol - but we all have our own favourites

[aussie123]

I think most info has been covered already on where and how to catch these fish so I will add some info on how to prepare Tuna for the guys who like to eat them.

This info is applicable to all Tuna species and all fish species if you want to go that extra mile to have the very best eating qualities,especially for Tuna.

People that have caught Tuna before will have noticed that when they come on board they will do a death rattle like vibration.

This vibration causes massive internal heat and degrades the eating qualities of all Tuna.

To get the very best eating meat you should paralyze the fish immediately and then bleed it out.

There is 2 main ways to do this.

The very best way is to push down on the flesh on the top of their head just behind the scull region and you will feel a soft spot about 2 inches round on a bigger fish.

With a sharp knife cut a 3/4 circle into this soft spot down on a 45 degree angle until you open up the spinal cord which is very easy to see.

Once open feed a length of heavy mono line down the spinal cord right through to the tail.

As the line feeds along its cord you will see the muscles instantly stop moving.

This is by far the best method to gain the ultimate eating flesh.

The second method is to core out the fishes brain.

A piece of 25mm stainless pipe with the edges sharpened is punched down through the top of the head into the mouth cavity instantly removing the brain.

This severs the cord and kills the fish instantly but you do still get a reasonable amount of heat causing vibrations but not to the extent if you left the fish alone.

After either method has been applied the Tuna need to be bled.

Best way is behind the pectoral fins and both sides need to be done.

Lift up the pec fin and in a straight line towards the tail come back about an inch and then go down about an inch and stick the knife in until you sever the main artery.

You will know when you have stuck it right as blood will poor out of the fish.

Once they bleed out clean and ice the fish immediately,preferably in a salted ice slurry.

The belly flap is considered the best eating so Tuna are gutted from through the mouth.

Gills are removed first and then the throat is cut out and the guts pulled out through the mouth so the belly of the fish is left intack.

You also need to cut around the poo shute to allow the guts to be fully removed out through the mouth.

If you eat Tuna now after they have been cleaned like any other normal fish and then eat one after it has been treated properly you will soon realise that you have been eating crap.

[dhess]

LOL Lance the orthopaedic surgeon.

I have always just belted the crap out of their head with a fish donger and bled.

[aussie123]

LOL Lance the orthopaedic surgeon.

I have always just belted the crap out of their head with a fish donger and bled.

LOL

Like anything there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.

I sent many Fin to Japan over the years and they must be done this way otherwise they end up on the domestic market for a few bucks a kg.

The biggest thing though is the eating qualities of the fish is vastly different when done properly.

Even a simple brain core and bleed out makes them a very different fish to eat.

[crazywalrus]

what about an axe to the back of the head through the backbone?

[aussie123]

A sharp knife is best Ted.

All they need at a minimum is the spinal cord severed and bled out properly via the pec fins.

Coring out the brain is more of a neater method for fish going to the markets so for us guys they only need to be cut across the back of the head deep enough to cut the cord through.

[dhess]

what about an axe to the back of the head through the backbone?

LOL Ted the psychopath.

[aussie123]

what about an axe to the back of the head through the backbone?

LOL Ted the psychopath.

Wait until your in his boat and he starts swinging lead slugs around.

That's when the word psychopath comes to mind.

[jeff f]

long tail tuna can be a very single minded fish. at times they will lock onto one species of bait fish and will not touch anything else, this is ok when it is white pillies or frogmouths its easy to match, but when they lock onto "eyes" ( 20mm, see through bait fish) its very hard to match the bait size with anything castable.

Jeff, have you found this with Longtails?

To be honest, I have found that with Mac Tuna, and NOT longtails...

Plus I'm pretty sure the blokes at Jones' Tackle said the same thing to me one time (that it's the Mac Tuna that are picky, and not the longies)[/quote

terry in my experience it is the other way around the macs will hit anything the longtails are the fussy ones

[Nog]

OK, time for the broken record again. Longies on Fly are almost better than sex. There, I've said it. Don't tell the missus Ted or she'll be sending me out fishing every weekend....then again

Oh and for lures, 6" Kokoda paddle tails with the paddle cut off and skipped along the surface are also fun

[Angus]

OK, time for the broken record again. Longies on Fly are almost better than sex. There, I've said it. Don't tell the missus Ted or she'll be sending me out fishing every weekend....then again

Oh and for lures, 6" Kokoda paddle tails with the paddle cut off and skipped along the surface are also fun

Nog I woukd love to see you at the social waving a wand!

[Nog]

Sorry Angus, don't follow the social aspect of AFO very much.

When and where.

[Angus]

Sorry Angus, don't follow the social aspect of AFO very much.

When and where.

A few guys are still ironing out the find points but dates and general info here: http://www.australianfishing.com.au/community/events/viewevent/132-afo-social-fishing-comp-moreton-bay-longtail-tuna?groupid=92

[aussie123]

If I was a lot fitter than I am nowadays I would dig my saltwater fly rod out again.

There would be no hope in hell I could throw a fly on it these days,lol

Anyone wanna buy a brute of a fly rod custom built for marlin,sharks and tuna,lol.(but ya need big muscles )

[Nog]

What weight is it Aussie? Bribie Longtail on Fly comp is the weekend before. Two

leave passes in a row. Not impossible he says to himself .....

[aussie123]

The rod is a 12-14 weight custom built on a NZ Composites Developments blank.

Its also fully leather bound over cork.

It's hardly ever been used but it has taken a few fin to 45kg,record blue shark,a few big rogue kings,1 spannish,several cobia and a heap of spotties and a few stripies,mac tuna and bonnies.

I also hooked a juvie black on it but lost the mongrel.

[Miegs]

What do people with kayaks do with them once they've caught them? I just bought a 2 person kayak and would like to chase them but I know if I get a decent size one it's going to be pretty hard to put it on ice or even put anywhere in the kayak. Thought that towing it could be an option, but that would be a good shark attractant I think, so not overly keen on that idea.

[tugger]

If you want to bring it ashore take a lump of wood with you to club them over the head so they settle down for you and bring a heshan sack so you can wet it and place the fish inside with your ice or now they have large soft esky bags at good fishing tackle shops the only other way is to take a water proof camera with your brag mat but good luck trying to keep a tuna quiet while you take its photo on a kayak

[Terry H]

What do people with kayaks do with them once they've caught them? I just bought a 2 person kayak and would like to chase them but I know if I get a decent size one it's going to be pretty hard to put it on ice or even put anywhere in the kayak. Thought that towing it could be an option, but that would be a good shark attractant I think, so not overly keen on that idea.

Depends how you bring it on board. Have you got lip grips? I find lip grips are a nice easy way to get them under control - hold them by the lip grips and tail, and it doesn't matter if they go silly, just hang on tight and you'll be okay!

Bleed them immediately, and get as much blood out as you can. Once we have done that, we just throw them in the hatch. other others keep them in the footwell with a wet towel over them.

[Miegs]

Thanks for the advice. Will buy some lip grips and find a lump of wood before I head out and have a crack at them.

[Baptism]

hey I was wondering where you guys catch these?

around bribie?

[aussie123]

I Just added a range of fish kill esky bags to the site.

These are great if you don't have an esky as you only need some bottles of ice to look after your fish.

[PlasticFantastic]

hey I was wondering where you guys catch these?

around bribie?

At Bribie you can pick them up just off the beach on the ocean side, when they're around in greater numbers I'm planning of doing a couple of launches off the beach there to chase them out of the yak.

Cheers

Mark

[Baptism]

Cheers mark,

let me know when Im keen for a fish.

havent had time to get out on the water for over a month...

[Scope]

Hats off to you Mark, that is one of the best articles I have read about any type of fishing. I know from your reports that your knowledge is gained through experience - tried and tested. Thanks for being one of Bfo's top contributors!

Well done again mate and thanks for sharing - Jono

[Angus]

Def thought this thread was worth a bump with the impending tuna social

Angus

[Carter]

Just reade MArks article and the thread, (I know very slack) great info input from everybody.

The only advice that I would like to add is to make sure you use extremely sharp and strong hooks, whether it trebles or jig heads. Too many times have I seen people throwing lures rigged with blunt hooks only to hear them say, "I just had a hit, lost it" SHARP hooks will improve the stick rate enormously.

Someone also asked about poppers, they work well at times wound in as fast as possible, as with any surface lures the visuals are uncomparable.

Looking forward to the social, I'll be there trying to catch them with various methods, fly is my prference but I may revert to slugs, poppers or plastics if the going is tough.

A few photos from the past to get you pumped.

my first on fly 2005

my first experience with poppers and a bait caster (not reccomended) :silly: 2004 Cape york

Moolooh river 2011 MAck tuna on zippin ziggy

[Baptism]

Hey guys, I found this while doing some research on how to clean tuna properly.

might be useful for people like me who had problems the first time

Sashimi.pdf

[daveylad]

cant find too much on tackel for the tuna social I've got a 2.10 metre 5-8kg rod with a Opus Bull 6000 reel with 30lb braid on it, and getting some small slugs and 5inch plastics, Will this manage me?

[PlasticFantastic]

cant find too much on tackel for the tuna social I've got a 2.10 metre 5-8kg rod with a Opus Bull 6000 reel with 30lb braid on it, and getting some small slugs and 5inch plastics, Will this manage me?

Yeah mate this outfit would be fine for Tuna also a 20-30lb leader of flurocarbon on the end would suffice.

Cheers

Mark

[Gobblers Lures]

For some reason, all the Long Tails I have caught have always been on Pink Plastics. They cant seem to resist that colour in a 2-4 inch size on 1/4 Oz Jig Heads. I have hooked up but lost long tails on slugs also...

[BrisbaneJamie]

I was very surprised to look at the third or fourth response on this thread and find a picture of some Longtail going on the BBQ in cubes, it actually had my mouth watering . I hope my faith in tuna table fare can be restored after the Yellow tail I ate at the end of last year bluuuuuckkkkk spppftttt yuk

[Angus]

Considering the long tail are starting to turn up in numbers I thought it worth bumping this post!!!

Angus

[cookie_7]

Time to start reading again.

[tunafreak]

Righto here's my 2 cents worth.

Catching Lt's has been an obsession of mine for the last 20 years, all my experience has been in Northern Moreton Bay, I have never fished for them anywhere else as I love catching them on my home grounds.

My first tip for regular success is to be obsessed.

If you want to catch your first or improve your catch rate you need to go out with only longtail on the mind and fish for them till you catch one or donut, then go out and do it all again till you crack the pattern.....don't give up.

Learn what they look like on your sounder, you don't need bust ups to catch them, locate them on your sounder and send your plastics down and hold on...

You can catch them all year round in the bay but there are times when they are more prolific, generally from March/April till September/October is the best time, some years they are thick all year round other years like last year they can be a bit sporadic..

They can be caught on light line but I prefer to go heavy, my reason for this is to shorten the fight and keep the fish in the best condition possible so it has the best chance at survival upon release.......I use 7'-7'6" 6-10 kg spin rods (custom built by me), Stella 4-5000 loaded with 30-50 lb braid tied to a 6 ft length of 60 lb mono. Don't go thinking the heavy line makes things easy though, they still peel 50 lb off a heavy set drag like it hasn't been set, the fight is usually sub 10 minutes (more like 5) but it's brutal and you really get to feel the power of these fish with the heavy line.

I mainly use 5" plastics rigged on 1/2 oz 5 0 jig heads, my favourites are bubblegum snap backs and power bait hollow belly split tails, both are discontinued but luckily I still have more than ten packs of each in my stash. I don't mind the z-man streakz but there are other plastics that I'll tie on before them, I don't really like how they rig....

Sometimes if I'm in the mood I'll use sinking stick baits, I've had success on Yozuri Adagios, Smith Sarunas and Maria Blues codes to name a few, I still find plastics more reliable though.

Slugs also have their place occasionally but again plastics rein supreme.

I'm not going to give away spots but they can be found through out the bay, just drive around till you find them and once you do stay in the area as there will usually be more than one or two schools about.

Best tides and times are whenever the weather lets you get out there, they will eat all day and any tide though there are periods of higher activity but this can vary daily, you just need to stick with the schools till all hell breaks lose.

I only fish from a small boat and this is how it has always been, my current rig is a 4.2 Renegade and it has gets me anywhere I want to go in any conditions I'd care to be out in. For years I fished the bay out of a 4.0 Hornet and it was a great boat too, so if you have a small boat don't let that deter you from chasing these awesome sport fish just watch the weather get familiar with local conditions and know your limits as a skipper and you'll have a fun safe time.

At the moment there are plenty of Lt,s in the bay ( we boated 10 or so each yesterday ) so get out there while the getting is good, there are also plenty of spottie macks out there which are just as fun to catch and allot of the time they shadow ( or vice versa) the tuna schools so it makes for a fun day.....lots of mack tuna in the bay also, my advice with these guys is to use chrome slugs, 40 gram raiders are my most successful on these fish, if don't hook up after a few casts though drive away, they can be the easiest fish to catch or the hardest fussiest fish to catch, there's no in between and if you get them in a fussy mood all you'll be doing is wasting fishing time...

Cheers,

Al

[Luvit]

Great info Al.

Just about to set up for the long tails after having a brief encounter with them a couple of weeks ago. I use to tow the boat for 9hrs and then head off shore for 40+ km to chase the yellow fin off Bermagui a log time ago. Then while showing my father around in my 5m hornet near Peel Island. There they were, LT tuna to a meter long jumping out of the water :woohoo:

It was only the second time I have hit the bay and it was an awesome.

I haven't decided on a rod as yet, I see Kim Bain recommendation is the Egrell S10.

If you do sell your customised rods let me know I may be interested in one.

cheers

Wayne

[tunafreak]

Hey Wayne,

I'm sure most of the info I put up has probably been covered in this thread, if it has just treat my info as a recap.

The S10 is good, I used one myself for a while to get me by when my gear got pinched, they are no longer available though, I've used better rods since getting rid of it....not trying to toot my own horn, but the custom I've been using for the last couple of seasons is the best longtail rod I've ever had and I've had a few, I've built a couple for friends also and they love them..... I'm actually building another couple up over the next week or so, one for a mate (it'll be his second) and another for me.....

To answer your question, yes I do build customs for anyone who wants them, I don't run a business so it's all cash up front before I start, I've been building rods for a long time, my work is professional and classy, I have worked for some of the big name rod companies in the past but choose to do it as a hobby these days as I enjoy it more that way and put allot of pride into each piece.

I couldn't recommend you an off the shelf rod as apart from the Egrells that I used for a year or so till I got my own gear happening again. I haven't used a store bought rod for the best part of 20 years so I don't know what's out there as I don't even look at them when in stores, I'm sure some of the guys on here could point you in the right direction though.

Cheers,

Al