queensland Moreton Bay Tuna Report

[bersim]

With the weather looking too good to resist, Dad and I headed out into the bay yesterday in search of a few tuna.  It didn't take long to see the first signs of tuna, with birds circling, shortly before watching the water begin to turn into a white wash of feeding tuna!  This was a nice school of big longtails so hopes were high.  We managed to get the boat into position with the tuna coming straight towards us.  First cast and we have a screaming drag!  After watching longies jumping out of the water we were sure this had to be a smallish one however, as it surfaced we realised it must have been about the only mac tuna from the pack of beasts that were busting up!!!  This was disappointing but it nevertheless gave a good account for itself and smashed a 5" Snapback jerkshad right on the surface.  (Sorry for the photo quality.  I was just using the gopro so we could get them back in the water as quick as possible).  

The next bust up we managed to get a cast into, the same thing happened!  After an aggressive take and a 10 minute fight up pops another mac tuna!  Couldn't believe it.  They are still awesome to catch as they fight extremely hard but it's just a bit demoralising after getting sent a picture of a metre+ long caught by Sam at about the same time as us .

See ya later!

After hooking these 2 it became clear that they just weren't in the mood for taking a slug.  Dad managed some perfect casts into the bust ups and after watching him not hookup I felt bad after doing a dodgy cast just outside of the school and getting an immediate taker!  

After swapping over to a red snapback Dad and I both hooked up to some nice spotties that we saw busting.  Both of these guys demonstrated to us how sharp their teeth were and we were left with our lines wafting in the breeze.  We could see them racing around the boat after this as there was bait everywhere.  Shortly after this the mackerel disappeared and this was because a few sharks decided to join the party.  We decided to have a cast at them and man can they move fast!  They chased both of our lures down but once again 30lb leader and shark teeth don't mix too well. It was about lunch time by now and fuel was running low so we decided to call it a day.  Although no longies were landed we saw some pretty great bust ups and mac tuna can still fight pretty damn hard!

James

[kmcrosby78]

Nice one James - shame they weren't longies but hey, they still got the drag screaming.

[samsteele115]

"Dad managed some perfect casts into the bust ups and after watching him not hookup I felt bad after doing a dodgy cast just outside of the school and getting an immediate taker!"

That's a good point. Casting just outside the frenzy can be the way to go sometimes. Casting right in the middle means your lure is competing with hundreds of bait fish. It is a much easier meal if they see a lone 'baitfish' outside the bait ball. But long range casts are sometimes the only option so aiming in the middle is the easiest  way because I know I will probably miss by a couple of metres or so anyway! 

Great you got a couple of fish mate, well done. It was tough going out there!

[bersim]

1 hour ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Nice one James - shame they weren't longies but hey, they still got the drag screaming.

Yeah at that size they sure know how to pull some line!!!  And the hit is just as good as a longtail too!

[bersim]

1 hour ago, samsteele115 said:

"Dad managed some perfect casts into the bust ups and after watching him not hookup I felt bad after doing a dodgy cast just outside of the school and getting an immediate taker!"

That's a good point. Casting just outside the frenzy can be the way to go sometimes. Casting right in the middle means your lure is competing with hundreds of bait fish. It is a much easier meal if they see a lone 'baitfish' outside the bait ball. But long range casts are sometimes the only option so aiming in the middle is the easiest  way because I know I will probably miss by a couple of metres or so anyway! 

Great you got a couple of fish mate, well done. It was tough going out there!

It was actually just a bad cast as I was rushing to get one in there but that makes sense what you're saying.  I think it was more that they just weren't in the mood for slugs as both of my casts with the plastics got inhaled and one of them was straight in the middle of the feeding frenzy.  

Man it's a good feeling hooking up.  Every tuna hooked makes me even more addicted!  It's amazing how fast they can move.

[Doyley]

Looks like an awesome day.  Makes me very jealous reading these reports.  Been boatless for a month now!

[samsteele115]

Yeah I think they weren't responding well to the fast retrieve that day. Got all hits on very slow retrieve or deadsticking

[Luvit]

We have been finding the same. Fast retrieves are producing no interest at the moment.

The fourth photo makes the tuna look like a round nuggetty football.

The conditions looked excellent on Saturday, its a great time to be fishing at the moment with cross over of species.

 

[The Mad Hughesy]

good stuff James. did you give your homemade stick baits a whirl?

[bersim]

That might have been why.  After twitching the plastics a few times amongst them and then a few quick winds they seemed to be all over it @samsteele115

Yeah they were quite fat but the gopro always makes them look more round! @Luvit

Thanks @christophagus  You'd think I'd have plenty of my own stickbaits to try right?  Well nope don't have any made up for myself at the moment haha.  Need to set aside some time to make myself a few as next time I will definitely be using them.  

[tugger]

Screaming reels thats why i love pelagics so much and when a plan comes together

[Miller 197]

Although you were after longies, at the size mack tooonas make great sportfish!