Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Shallow-Reef-Light-Tackle-Offshore » First Tuna for Jarad
First Tuna for Jarad
By Sean Bekkers
Tuna are a favourite target species for Sean Bekkers and in this article he takes his mate Jarad out in search of his first tuna, sharing the adventure, the gear and the techniques they employed to get the bite. Fish on!
There is nothing like the pressure of getting your mates onto fish. Recently a close mate of mine Jarad came up for a weekend of fishing and maybe a sneaky beverage or two. With one of the two days looking good for a run out the front, the anticipation of getting onto some good fish was high. Although we were keen to catch anything, at the top of Jarad’s list was to chase tuna schools and get him onto his first ever tuna.
Heading out early we reached our first spot just on daybreak, with a plan of dropping some baits for an early morning snapper. It didn’t take long to get some interest from smaller fish, with one or two solid hooks ups thrown into the mix. After persisting for a while, we decided to change locations and look for tuna busting up along the way.
On our way to spot number two we saw some solid tuna busting up. These fish were easily over the magic metre mark, however they were only on the surface for seconds, before disappearing never to be seen again. For the next hour or so we kept dropping baits and plastics on structure, looking for some reefies, whilst keeping our eyes peeled for a tuna school.
As the time passed it was clear that the tuna were about but not in large enough numbers to really push the bait to the surface and hold it there. We decided to push along the coastline and find some structure that was holding the bait and tuna, rather than driving all over the place looking for an active school.
As a lot of tuna anglers will know, covering ground to find tuna is part of the game when it comes to catching them, however, when the tuna are in cruise mode, small numbers, and not feeding hard, finding structure that is holding them can be a good way to get a lure in front of the fish. On this occasion we found them sporadically hitting bait around the front of a headland and although they weren’t on the surface for long time, there were heaps of small pockets of mack tuna busting up constantly.
Tackle wise we started out with some of my favourites, being Fish Inc. Flanker sinking stickbaits, TT Hard Core metal slugs, and ZMan 3.75” StreakZ 10X Tough soft plastics rigged on a 1/2oz 4/0 TT HeadlockZ HD jigheads, all of which cast really well when you need to keep some distance from the schools. After multiple casts though, neither myself nor Jarad could even get a look in, let alone a hook up. By this stage Jarad was starting to experience the anticipation of a hook up and the frustration of it not happening. At least the tuna were giving him the full experience of tuna fishing… lol!
Whilst rigging up another presentation, I decided to cast a Flanker off the side and let it slowly sink, while I got organised. Within a minute or two the rod buckled over and with a hand full of hooks and leader, I told Jarad to grab the rod and land it. Initially I thought we had finally hooked a tuna, but with the fight lacking the big runs we expected, it wasn’t long before a reasonable pan-sized snapper came aboard, that had happily inhaled an 85mm Flanker (Halfbeak colour), making a cool little by-catch that we kept for the table. Not the target species, so let’s get back to getting Jarad onto his first tuna.
Whilst casting, we had our eyes peeled trying to identify the size and profile of the bait that the tuna was keyed onto. We kept seeing small scales floating in the water but not the actual bait. With this in mind, we were convinced the bait was small and focused most of our presentation around this belief.
After some time Jarad (eagle eyes) spotted a really good size school of fish that were churning the water and staying up for a long time. Even better, the bait was scattering all over the place and we finally got a look at it. It was basically small, glassy-looking whitebait, with a dark back. Once we saw the bait, we downsized our presentations to 20g TT Hard Core metal slugs in Green Back colour and started casting, spinning them quickly through the schools.
It wasn’t long before I heard Jarad’s reel scream, followed by a quick sigh after a hook up and almost immediate loss. I had a chuckle to myself at this point in time as I’ve been there on so many occasions in the past. The tuna dropped and then reappeared within casting distance. Almost the perfect scenario.
Once again, we cast like crazy and this time Jarad got a solid hook up, with the reel screaming. It was awesome to see just how stoked Jarad was to be locked onto his first ever tuna, with a lot of cheering and hollering going on. Very cool memories that I don’t think will be forgotten anytime soon.
Now we settled in for the 15-20 minutes of long runs and rapid direction changes that tuna are known for. After 10 minutes or so we got a glimpse of colour, while all the while the tuna kept busting up right next to the boat. Jarad kept working his tuna to the boat and after a solid 20 minutes of fighting, to our surprise a rather large mack tuna made its way into the net. After the epic fight and his arms getting stretched a centimetre or two, we grabbed some quick photos and sent the fish on its way. By now the wind was on its way up and we decided it was time to start heading in.
Like all tuna fishing, and fishing in general I guess, some days it’s on and other days you work hard to get a bite. For us it was the latter, however once we got a look at the bait, we could really match the hatch and turn a challenging day into a success. I hope you’ve been finding some fish and congrats to Jarad on landing a cracker tuna for your first. Nice work mate.
Screaming Dragz, Sean
Sean’s Tuna Tackle Box:
Rod: Okuma Cerros Spin Rod – CER-S-701H 7’ 5-12kg
Reel: Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reel – EPXT-55
Line: Platypus Pulse X4 Braid – 20lb
Leader: Platypus Hard Armour – 40lb
Rod: Okuma Komodo Spin Rod – KM-S-762H 7’6” 8-15kg
Reel: Okuma Cedros Spin Reel – CJ-6000
Line: TT REACT X8 Braid – 20lb
Leader: Platypus Hard Armour – 40lb
Lures / Tackle:
Fish Inc. Flanker Sinking Stickbaits – 85mm & 115mm
TT Hard Core Metal Lures – 20g, 30g & 40g
ZMan 3.75” StreakZ & TT 1/2oz 4/0 HeadlockZ HD Jigheads