queensland Longtail Tuna - It's been a while! (Video Added)

[bersim]

It's been a while since I've had time to head out for a proper fish so I decided that I'd get all of my work done during the week so I would have time for a tuna session today. Dad and I headed out nice and early and were hoping that it wouldn't be long before we saw some tuna busting up. By 10.30am we still hadn't seen any bust ups even though we were scouring the water for any signs of white water. There were very few birds too so it made chasing them very difficult.

By 10.30 we decided to move off to another location and this turned out to be a great move. As soon as we arrived we saw birds circling and a matter of seconds later there were tuna launching themselves right out of the water. We followed this school for a bit and after some masterful driving by Dad we had the boat positioned in a perfect spot. I managed to whip out my lure first and after winding in my 5" soft plastic as fast as I could I hooked up! They were travelling right towards us so Dad saw a big tuna right beside the boat! After a 15-20 minute fight Dad tailed the longie and she was in the boat. It was definitely a big team effort so next time it will be Dad's turn!

It was 95cm. Plenty of tuna for dinner :woohoo: Lightly seared on the barby so it should go down a treat!

After that one we saw a few more bust ups but because it was so glassy they were too easily spooked and it was only 1 or 2 fish just splashing the bait off the surface. This made getting close enough for a cast very difficult so we called it a day while we still on a high!

Thick in the shoulders!

We actually saw another big bust up of what seemed to look like mack tuna while I was hooked up but they were just out of casting distance!

Here's a video of the day. Make sure you watch it in 1080p full screen

/>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiNipMGWsCk

James

[kmcrosby78]

Nice fish James, congrats. Did you sashimi any of it - bl00dy nice but understandably not everyones cup of tea. Hope your dad gets one next time.

[bersim]

Thanks Kelvin! I'm not too fussed on raw tuna but it's delicious just lightly seared on the barby. It's still pink inside but has a great texture! I think that the smaller (meaning just under a metre ) tuna tasted better than the metre one that I caught last year. It seemed to have really nice layers in the meat.

James

[alaskanaturally]

We haven't had any raw tuna species that wasn't beautiful. That's not to say it isn't great seared on the Barbie. We like to roll it sesame seeds before placing it on the BBQ.

Bream chowder for dinner tonight. Caught the fish in Port Fairy yesterday.

In Hopetown, Victoria on our way to Broken Hill. Fish the Murray tomorrow.

[bersim]

Yum! That bream chowder sounds really nice! We also rolled our tuna in sesame seeds and it was really nice. We'll have to give the raw tuna another go then!

James

[Luvit]

Nice way to kick off the season James and a good call to try another area and then find them.

I've tried slicing it as thin as possible and dipping in soy sauce raw. Something else to try.

[kmcrosby78]

Yep, I love it with soy sauce and wasabi (just enough to 'tickle' the nostrils ......). Bream chowder sounds alright I must say!!

[alaskanaturally]

When eating sashimi as the entre, we like to mix tuna species with other fish: mahi, cobia, tailor, flounder, etc. Wasabi and a mix of olive oil, soy sauce and liquid smoke as dips. Probably not necessary, but as a precaution, we freeze the fish for a few days

[bersim]

We'll have to give it a try tonight with some soy sauce then! Yeah, it was really exciting seeing bust ups as soon as we arrived. We had the spot pretty much all to ourselves with only 1 other boat in sight. They seemed to be only chasing bread and butter species so they stayed to watch the whole fight. The pressure was really on me to not lose it then haha.

James

[bersim]

Just added the video.

James

[sehrguht]

Surprised i didnt see you out there, we travelled around a fair bit totalling 100km for the morning at a guess, beacons were quiet, tuna were not on surface anywhere over towards moreton.

We tryed to get onto some tuna yesterday also but we only saw one jump, nothing over moreton way which is strange, i thought they would be hot after Sam's efforts last week but it must have been a bad moon or something.

[bersim]

We also burnt through a lot of petrol. I think we got very lucky to see a school as they only stayed up for a short period and after hooking up we really couldn't find any more other than the odd splash. I was also thinking that we would have a great session! We tried the beacons too and couldn't even manage a hit. Hope to see you out there some time!

James

[Luvit]

Nice video as usual James. The slow motion of the SP tail was a good addition

[bersim]

Thanks Wayne. It was also cool to get some footage of the plastic in the really clear water! So keen for my next tuna session now!

James

[kmcrosby78]

Just watched the vid - cracker conditions!!!! Where do you launch from?

[bersim]

The conditions were awesome and the tuna just topped it off! We launched from the Spinnaker Sound Marina - It can be really busy there and half the people seem like they have never launched a boat before!!

James

[samsteele115]

Well done James! The risk to look for them elsewhere paid off

[bersim]

Yeah it was a risk but it was such a relief seeing some birds and then a big bust up as soon as we arrived!

James

[ryanyoung]

That's a thick looking longie mate, well done, would have gone like a freight train.

Ryan.

[bersim]

Thanks Ryan! It sure did! Although it only took about 20 minutes to get in compared to my one last year which took close to 45 haha. At least I got an awesome run out of it!

James

[samsteele115]

Thanks Ryan! It sure did! Although it only took about 20 minutes to get in compared to my one last year which took close to 45 haha. At least I got an awesome run out of it!

James

We definitely should have had your last one in 15 minutes I reckon mate. I think being your first and being extra cautious to make sure you land it plus me missing an early net shot opportunity was the reason it dragged on for so long!

[bersim]

Haha yeah it did drag on for a while hey. With this one I just cranked up my drag and pulled her up when she started circling. I got to have a look at how she was hooked and I was confident that it would hold if I put a lot of pressure on her. Luckily it held and she was in the boat pretty quick. I would say 20 mins but wouldn't be surprised if it was only 15 or so.

[Dinodadog]

Did you want to sell your freshwater pots ha ha.

Dino

[bersim]

Haha I'll have to fish NPD again when I get the chance. Starting to really crave a fish there I had a whole day free so I thought that I might as well make the most of it and spend the whole day fishing. I fished the creeks the other week when they were still up really high. It was great fun drifting speeding down the rapids except the bass were still hiding! Before the rain it was fishing so well. Hopefully they come back out to play soon!

James