What to Expect when you’re Expecting….TUNA!!!

Capt. Rich Antonino  

Ok, I’ve paid my dues in this fishery. I’ve gone through the ringers. I’ve had the bad days. Days where you drive and drive and drive and don’t see any signs of life. The lucky days. The horse-shoe where you don’t want it days. I’ve had the great days. The incredible days. The days where you don’t go 5 minutes without a fish on the line. I’ve had the days where my hard work really paid off days. (and the fruitless days on 200-mile run days) Days where we see tons of fish but can’t buy a bite. We’ve lost a lot of fish. We’ve broken lines. We’ve broken rods. We’ve bent gaffs. We’ve lost tailers. I’ve seen customers reel against the drag for an hour. I’ve seen gears torn up by tuna on reels.

I’ve done TONS OF THIS VICARIOUSLY, because, as the captain, I do this while watching my customers fight these fish. I’ve learned a ton from their mistakes. I’ve also gleaned some good tips from their successes. Most of my customers want to catch tuna because they know (they’ve heard) that they’re the most exciting fish in the sea. They are. But, what is tuna fishing really about and what happens on a tuna trip? What happens when the fish hits? How do you fight a fish? What pitfalls should you avoid? How do you stop a big fish? What if you can’t stop it? What’s the first thing that you do?

“The Chase”

Always be ready. When you step onto the boat, my spinning rods are rigged, drags set, and ready to cast. If you bring your own gear, it should be that way as well. In the “run and gun” part of tuna fishing, the first cast to a school is often the most important one. That is to say, we see a school of fish breaking and we approach the school with the boat in gear and some momentum behind us….”CAST!” I’ll scream when I want you to cast. This is not to say, “Get ready to cast. Take the rod out of the holder. Get the lure ready. Prepare your backcast.” No. When I say cast, I want that lure flying through the air within seconds. Everyone should be on the same page when it comes to location, otherwise you’ll cross lines (don’t forget that the boat is still moving forward).

Picking out a location is often a matter of watching the school we’re chasing. Sometimes it’s a static school that is feeding in place. Just cast to the perimeter of the school. Other times it’s a moving school. You want to lead the school. Sometimes you have to lead them a good bit if they’re moving fast.

It’s not always easy finding the fish. They move a lot during the day and from day to day they can be many miles from where they were on the last tide, even. So, sometimes it’s a lot of running around, especially if the weather is good and it’s easy to cover the ground. You can see action more than a mile away sometimes! Other times, you may find a bird or two and follow them until THEY find the fish. I’ve followed birds for up to 7 miles before. If they don’t find food, they starve. I trust that mentality. If there are no good words on the radio, birds working, or fish on the surface, we’ll set up shop and wait it out. We cast around a lot or jig during this time.

“The Bite”

Yell at me! Holler. Get my attention. Get the attention of everyone on board. “FISH!” You yell. I want them to hear you 200 yards away into the wind. Set the hook hard. These fish do have hard mouths. The important thing right now has to happen. You have to know what that fish is doing and NEVER GIVE IT SLACK LINE! You may have to set the hook again. I don’t mind seeing a couple of hard hook sets.

Which direction is that fish swimming? Pull in the opposite direction as much as possible---if the line goes slack (it does about 40 percent of the time), reel faster than you have ever reeled. And then faster. They often come at the boat. They can swim 30+ mph….don’t be surprised if the line comes tight in the other direction….

Don’t let the line come tight against the boat! It’ll break you off immediately. Use the rod to guide the line away from the boat. “FISH ON!!!” You’re screaming. Everyone else is getting lines in as fast as possible, securing lures and getting rods out of the way. It’s battle stations. I have the boat running or am starting it up. I have to get the bow of the boat turned in the direction of the fish as quickly as possible. Why? 32 seconds is all it takes for a big fish to take 300 yards of line against maximum drag. You can’t stop that fish in 300 yards! (I’m talking about a 300+ pound fish. We’ve hooked them much larger than that on spinning rods…32 seconds of video…I know what these fish can do.)

Now the fish is in the middle of the first run. You should be comfortable with the drag on the reel. It should be damn tight. 18-25 pounds of drag in many instances. You’re comfortable; facing squarely to the fish. The rod is in the fighting gimble. You’re rod-holding hand is plenty high up above the reel, almost to the top of the foregrip. You’re yelling at me telling me what’s going on, how fast it’s taking line, whether I have to go left, right, faster, slower. And if faster, don’t be shy! Let me know if you’re in a “getting spooled” situation. We’ve only gotten spooled once. We’ve chased fish down effectively on every other fish.

Scenario one…you’re not going to get spooled. Good. The fish takes a long run, then starts to slow down. Now it’s “arcing”… It’s not taking line, but still moving along the perimeter formed by the line out. Tug of war has begun. Pump and reel the rod tip back to the fish. Here it’s important to think what the fish is doing and what it’s “thinking”. The tug of war and pump-and-reel are very important…. These are big fish. Don’t ‘reel against the drag” that is to say two things…. The spinning reel is not designed as a winch. If you try to reel when the fish isn’t going to let you, two things are going to happen….the drag will be slipping while you’re reeling…this just twists the line which is a bad thing as it‘ll ruin a spool of line which costs $60. Also, you’ll strip the gears and ruin the reel, which costs hundreds of dollars…

The Tug-of-War

If you’re in a pure tug of war, the best method is to think of the pull and reel as positions on a clock. 12 o’clock is directly overhead and 6 o’clock is directly below you. Three o’clock is straight out off of your belly. If a fish is out away from the boat, you’re going to try to pump from 3 o’clock up to 12:30 or so. It’s very hard to “high-stick” a tuna that is far from the boat. I’ll get into high-sticking later, but the short of it is that rods aren’t designed to bend from certain angles. They’ll break . For instance, if a fish is directly beneath the boat and you raise your rod up higher than 1:30 or so, you’re asking to break a rod, even with a small fish on. You can lift a ton with the rod at 2:00...it’ll bend like mad, but that’s where it’s power is…

Where was I? The fish is away from the boat and it’s a pump-and-reel scenario. You want to know what the fish is doing and “thinking”. For one, tuna are very hydro-dynamic. They are designed to go smoothly in the direction where their nose is pointed. The goal of the pump-and-reel is to get it’s nose pointed in an ever-decreasing circle towards the boat. This is their “death circle”. By controlling the fish’s nose, you can begin and control its death circle.

Here’s what they’re thinking… They’re pulling against you and you pull back hard and smoothly on the rod. You just moved it 3’ closer to the boat and it’s pointing its nose where you want it. You gain on the fish, but now you have to get that line on the reel. If you lower your rod and reel in, that fish is going to feel less pressure on the line, and, since it’s pulling away from you, it’s nose will slightly turn away from you as you reel in line. You just lowered the rod from 1:30 to 3:00. Repeat… Problem is, the fish’s head is turned in the wrong direction again. You have to really fight to turn it’s head again. You’re getting tired and not gaining much. The better way to do it is to pump hard to 1:30,then REEL THE ROD TIP BACK TO THE FISH! This is a learned skill, trust me!

Think of it this way…Pumping to 1:30 and holding it there requires 20 pounds of pressure from you. If you just start reeling, but don’t lower your rod…you’re increasing the pressure….you don’t need this. You’ll most likely reel against the drag or strip the gears. If you’re holding 20 pounds at 1:30 and lower the rod tip quickly just before you reel, the pressure will drop. You can reel easily, but the fish gets re-energized and will often run again or--get confidence. Break it’s will. Once you’re holding 1:30, reel and lower the rod is such unison that the pressure stays at 20 pounds.. You’ll gain on the fish and it’ll keep swimming in the arc that you want.

Repeat and don’t stop. This is how you hear stories of guys landing big fish on spinning gear in 10-15 minutes. Many times, the pump-and-reel is simply gaining ½ turn of the handle each tme…pump/reel, pump/reel…quick short strokes… YOU HAVE TO BE READY TO JUST REEL---if that fish “gives up” or swims towards the boat, just reel until you hear the drag slip, then pump and reel. If you don’t have to pump, don’t. Pumping is the last measure. You’d be amazed at how easy it is sometimes to reel a fish to the boat if it’s pointed in the right direction.

The Death Circle of the Tuna

Now you’ve got the fish beaten; it’s doing it’s “death-circle” and hasn’t made any runs lately. It’s a big fish and it’s somewhat below the boat. It’s very tough to lift these fish vertically. Depending on the fish and the fisherman, I often drive away from the fish if it’s directly below the boat. This change in angle often brings the fish up to the surface, where we want it. DON’T LET THE LINE HIT THE ENGINE. I like to have be mobile at this point, with the fish off of the stern corner. It gives us the most maneuverability. The bow is awesome as well.

An amendment to the ‘pump-and-reel’ is the ‘palm the reel, pump-and-reel’. That is to say, by holding your hand over the top or side of the reel, you can give the reel infinite drag (and release it quickly if the fish runs or is too heavy). This is an important part of the late battle with these big fish. Near the boat and when the fish is beaten, by palming the reel we can ‘lock-in our gains’ with the fish. If the fish runs, let it. But for the little stuff, you know you can stop it. It’s tough work, I won’t kid you. But it’s the most satisfying type of fishing there is. Done correctly, it’s how you beat a fish quickly and get it to the boat. If you’re releasing your fish, you must get good at this.

It's Harpoon time (not the beer)

When the fish is close to the boat…it’s harpoon time (or release time).. Have the harpoon ready to stick or throw if you have to. Make sure that no one is stepping on the line. Make you that you have enough slack if you do have to throw it. You’d be surprised how many fish roll over at the boat and throw the hook because of the different angle pulled upon the hook when it rolls over. You’re aiming for the pectoral fin. You want to hit just above/in front of it. It you hit the gill plate or the head, there’s a good chance the dart won’t penetrate. If you hit the belly, there’s a good chance that the dart will pull out (and you’ll ruin the belly meat (otoro/toro--delicious and valuable if you’re selling it).

Hit the fish hard and try to drive the dart through the fish. The shaft will pull out and you’ll now have the tuna on a rope (and hopefully line too). Get a gaff in the fish’s chin or back of head. Get a tail rope on the fish. Secure it and that fish is yours. There’s nothing wrong at this time with leaving the fish in the water as you idle along. It’ll start cooling itself down. You can even bleed it while it’s in the water. You’ll then want to gut it and ice it down….Be careful of sharks if you keep it in the water for any length of time! A mako or great white would love to take it from you.

When are most fish lost? Within 15 seconds of the hit. Why? Sometimes bad luck. Many times the hit is so intense that people forget to set the hook. We often use surface lures and the hit looks like someone dropped a safe from a plane. The person doesn’t set the hook and the fish swims at the boat, gets slack and shakes the hook out. You have to be ready to react to the situation that the fish presents when it hits. I’ve had big tuna hit a lure at 30 mph HEADING TO THE BOAT… By the time I felt the fish, my lure was 50’ on the other side of the boat. I actually saw the tuna swim under my bow platform with my Yellow/Clear/Red bellied TunaCandy in it’s mouth! There are times that the lure itself actually forces the hook out. Imagine a long lure with the hook at the bottom. The fish uses the lure as a bottle in a pry-bar/bottle opener fashion. In this regard, assist hooks or soft plastics give more secure hook-holds.

We’ve caught many different sizes of fish using spinning gear. In most instances, 65 pound braid is sufficient and it allows you to put enough line on the spool for most fish. Larger fish than 200 pounds are just special fish. If you fish for them using 80 pound braid or heavier, you may not have enough line capacity for the first run.

Common Mistakes

Not setting the hook.

Not reeling in slack quickly enough if the fish charges the boat.

Letting the battle drag on and on by not putting enough pressure on the fish.

Letting the fish get it's second wind by not keeping its head turned to the boat.

High-sticking the rod and breaking it.

Palming the reel when the fish is running hard.

Not communicating witht the captain what you need him to do.

Letting the line hit the boat or engine.

Letting the fish roll over on the line when it comes to the surface---control where it's head is going.

Not spooling your reel properly--ie. tight enough.. The line digs into the spool on the initial run.

Bad knots.

Gaffing a green fish and trying to haul it onboard too quickly.

Not being ready to cast instantly.

Casting over the wrong shoulder and hitting rods in the rocket launcher or hitting the antenna.

Snagging something behind you on the backcast.

Allowing "wind knots" to remain in the line.

Using the handle to close the bail instead of manually flipping the bail closed.

Reeling in tight line over slack line on the retreive causes many "wind" knots in the line.

Reeling too fast all of the time. Fish often hit on the sink...

Thinking every minute of every day is going to be a blitz.

Not realizing there is lots of preparation in getting the boat into the correct position to cast to fish or to find tuna.