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Longtail, Jew, Snapper and more!

samsteele115

By samsteele115
in Saltwater

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samsteele115 Newbie

samsteele115

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Well. What a day! I was lucky enough to tag along with Wayne again for another Tuna-chasing expedition yesterday.

We headed out from the northern bay and stopped at a beacon at dawn. After flicking a plastic around for a few minutes and Wayne cursing at a failed leader knot he just tied, I hooked up to something that just kept on going! We saw some Longtail Tuna pop up soon after hooking up so I got my hopes up!

Twenty five minutes later after seeing a glimpse of the fish; pop. Unfortunately the tuna wore through the leader.

Not to worry we headed straight back to the beacon with no more tuna in sight and I hooked up next cast to my first Jewie going 70cm

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Soon after I put the Jewie back the Tuna appeared again and busted up near the boat but only briefly. Just as I thought they had moved on, my rod buckled and drag screamed. Another 25 minutes later I had boated my first Tuna going 105cm!

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After that it went quiet and we had to go scouting. Found plenty of bait over a reef and got plenty of hits from these.

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Shortly after Wayne's plastic got taken by something a little larger, a 70cm snapper.

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And then something smaller.

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The rest of the day was spent tracking the Tuna schools and waiting for the bust up. It was all about being at the right place at the right time. We managed to get the boat ahead of them and predict their line on many occasions but sometimes they changed direction and we were left without a cast at them. On another occasion they kept heading our way and whilst Wayne had his lure out there, I just waited, and waited, and waited until I could basically dong one on the head with my plastic. Well, I reckon I did because as soon as my lure hit the water my rod buckled over and the fish took so much line in its first run. It was awesome! :woohoo:

This tuna would not give up and after nearly half an hour and a few kilometers from where I hooked it I had boated another Longie. You beauty!!!! A couple of centimetres short of my first, but he had way more power.

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After that we tried to track them down again for Wayne to get one, but unfortunately couldn't be found. We left pretty content with an awesome session to remember.

Thanks to Wayne for convincing me to broaden my horizons and try somewhere different. It certainly paid off. Unfortunately it wasn't his day with the tuna, but next time :)

Oh and I forgot to mention the great conditions! Fish were just a bonus.

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Cheers,

Sam

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mick2me Newbie

mick2me

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Nice report mate, and Congrats on your first...

I've got my holidays coming up in a couple of weeks and your report is wetting my appetite for getting back out, I haven't wet a line since Christmas, so can't wait...

oh yeah great pics too

cheers B)

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samsteele115 Newbie

samsteele115

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From what I've read previously I'm surprised at the paddle tail but it obviously worked.

I know what you mean mate, jerk shads respond much better to a fast retrieve. However all fish were hooked on the drop or after a few quick hops on a slow retrieve so I guess they just couldn't resist the awesome action of a paddle tail!

Wayne was using jerk shads and slugs with a fast retrieve, so I thought I may as well try something different to him to see if one technique worked better than the other on the day.

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samsteele115 Newbie

samsteele115

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Nice Fish guys, Good to see the longies are still on!

40lb fluorocarbon leader and a solid 5k+ reel i find is best so that the fight doesn't slug out under the boat unnecessarily long.

Cheers! :)

Nordic stage favourite 8-16lb 7'2 and Stradic 5000fj with 30lb braid and 40lb leader was the weapon of choice. The first two tuna hookups were annoyingly on slightly lighter combos (20-30lb line/leader, 4000 reels) but strangely enough the longest fight was on the heavier gear. The drag was a lot tighter as well. Really tested out the rod when it was close to the boat circling.

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Luvit Newbie

Luvit

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Thanks for writing the report Sam.

It was a fantastic day and Sam deserved the fish he got and angled them very well around the motors etc. Picking a 70cm mulloway was a great catch also. To be quite honest neither of us cared who caught the first tuna as we had been hunting together for 3 trips and it was just fantastic to see one in the boat.

The funny thing was we were doing nothing different to the previous 3 times we saw tuna down south, but couldn't even get a hit.

Thanks to all the members advice that contributed to the fish. They were feeding on 4-5inch pilchards which is why we think we were getting the hits.

I had planned a bass session today but unfortunately my fishing buddy couldn't make it. So I got up and went straight back out to get myself a Tuna. What a difference a day can make, it was rough I got wet & pounded. Still feeling under the weather I persisted covering all the areas we saw the tuna in yesterday and today not one was seen. the change in wind direction may have moved them to another area but fuel and the rough seas meant I was not going to find them.

Caught a couple of under size squire, 1 under size school mackerel, 1 sea toad and the normal hoards of grinners.

I hope to get one before they move off.

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tunafreak Newbie

tunafreak

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Top effort guys.......I don't think yours is too far off Wayne....and don't panic they should hang around till about September-October....

Regarding what speed to work the plastics for tuna, a slow retrieve with a few hops/twitches and pauses will get allot more attention than a fast retrieve, the lure stays in the strike zone for longer with this style retrieve........many a time I've picked them up on long 10 second + pauses......I'm a jerk shad pattern man but I've seen plenty caught on paddle tails over the years so I don't think it matters....with the size of bait they are feeding on at the moment I wouldn't mind betting the 6 inch paddlerz would go well as the are a similar profile......

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Luvit Newbie

Luvit

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Thanks Al

I think if I had cast 5 seconds latter I would have been on. My miss- judgement and Sams good judgement got him a fish.

Good to hear they will stick around.

Yours and other tips were certainly a contributing factor to our success.

It was a special day for Sam and mine won't be far away.

Thanks

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kmcrosby78 Mentor

kmcrosby78

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[attachment=72365]otrgs.jpg[/attachment]

Sam, your slippers are outrageous ! :ohmy:

The funny thing is I would be willing to wear those if it guaranteed I caught a nice big longtail (in fact, even if it just increased my chances ..... I'm not addicted to fishing, I'm not addicted to fishing, .............).

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Luvit Newbie

Luvit

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All jokes aside fishing during the week was excellent. We only saw 3 other boats for the whole day and they weren't fishing for tuna. We had the lot our selves. Compare that to last week down South where there were 6-10 boats chasing every bust up and guys roaring into the middle of the schools stuffing everything.

I left to find other schools but as soon as they popped up you were swamped again.

Better chances mid week if you can swing it.

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samsteele115 Newbie

samsteele115

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Hahaha. They are my rigging up slippers (not really, feet were cold so just took mums because my lucky slippers were still in my boat after a good days fishing!! :lol::P). My lucky slippers are a pair of old sheepskin ones that I've taken out the last 4 sessions. They have not let me down yet!!!

You will have to take a photo of them next time Wayne when you're bored of not catching fish :P

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benno573 Rising Star

benno573

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To quote a bit of monty python

"right, this post has shown a tendency to bit a bit silly."

Nice slippers Sam, hope that's all you borrow from your mum's wardrobe... You don't really have the calves to wear heels... :P

Some cracking fish there guys. Not entirely sure the snapper would have found its way back into the water if I'd caught it though... :whistle:

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