Numbers
First off, and most importantly, recent numbers: Bluefin foamers everywhere in the general area of 5 over 35 (off Oceanside) on Thursday, from 4 pm until dark (even after the sun was below the horizon). 15# YFT just outside 178 that would not bite anything.
Lessons Learned
I've had an unusually good bluefin season. In past years, I'd hook one bluefin every 5 trips or so, and maybe find 1 or 2 foamers per trip. This year I've hooked bluefin on pretty much every trip, and had the chance to cast on 20-50 foamers per day. With all of those opportunities, I've had the chance to try many different techniques and found some that really work. I would love to hear some critiques or some things that have worked for the rest of you.
One thing that I've only done once in my life is fight a cow tuna on a bass rod, and the result was unsuccessful. I hooked a cow in a foamer just inside the 312 last Sunday on a Lexa 400 with a 3', 40# mono leader and a 40g jig with an inline single hook. We fought it from 6:30pm to 10:30pm and the fish was still upright and super pissed off, though we at least had it up near the boat. The problem with getting it close to the boat while it was still upright was that it ran under the boat, surfaced on the other side and broke the line on the outdrive or a trim tab. A few questions for those experienced in hooking big fish on the wrong gear:
First off, and most importantly, recent numbers: Bluefin foamers everywhere in the general area of 5 over 35 (off Oceanside) on Thursday, from 4 pm until dark (even after the sun was below the horizon). 15# YFT just outside 178 that would not bite anything.
Lessons Learned
I've had an unusually good bluefin season. In past years, I'd hook one bluefin every 5 trips or so, and maybe find 1 or 2 foamers per trip. This year I've hooked bluefin on pretty much every trip, and had the chance to cast on 20-50 foamers per day. With all of those opportunities, I've had the chance to try many different techniques and found some that really work. I would love to hear some critiques or some things that have worked for the rest of you.
- Small spots of fish that aren't foaming "hard" are boat shy and won't bite well, but if you give them a chance to really start foaming, you have a much better chance at getting bit. I used to always run toward any sign of breaking fish, slow down 100 yards out and idle into them. Schools of fish that weren't furiously feeding would typically sink out fast and we would get one cast into 50% of those schools and maybe get bit 5% of the time. I found that if I sat 200 yards off a mild foamer and let the fish get really crazy, you can ease the boat right next to the foamer and they'll stay up for several casts. I hypothesize that once the fish are going nuts and there's whitewater everywhere and it sounds like a waterfall, the fish don't see or hear your boat. It takes discipline to stare at foaming fish and not approach them, but if you can be patient, a significant portion of the foamers will get crazy. Sometimes you have to follow a moving spot of fish around for 10 minutes, but it's worth the wait.
- Casting onto the backside of a smaller foamer results in more bites. If you cast at a foamer that's really going crazy, the whitewater between the boat and the fish on other side of the foamer prevents those fish from noticing your boat. If it's a small spot and you're the only one on it, don't just get into casting range of the foamer, get into casting range of the backside of the foamer.
- Small jigs! The fish are feeding on tiny anchovies so fish small jigs. If you let the fish get crazy, you can get in close and cast smaller, lighter jigs. I've been throwing jigs from 18g to 40g and nothing with a bigger profile than a colt sniper.
- Swap jig hooks to inline singles. We lost some nice fish on jigs with trebles because we got chewed off, even on heavier line. Inline singles are like circle hooks for jigs, 95% of the fish get landed with the jig hanging out of their mouth. I bought a bunch of flattened stainless split rings from China for $0.03 and black nickel coated 3/0 inline single hooks for $0.08 and I pull tested them and they held up to 25# of tension before significant elastic deformation. It's a worthwhile conversion, especially at $0.14 cents per jig.
- Stay at least 1 mile away from any other boat. If there are a bunch of foamers in an area and some boats working it, just drive away. There's no reason that there shouldn't be foamers a mile or two away that you can have completely to yourself. Sometimes you have a drive for a while to find a new spot, but as long as you don't hit a hard temp break, you should be able to find some fish completely to yourself. I've left dozens of spots of fish because boats started coming into my general area and I don't think I've ever had to move more than 2 miles to find more fish.
- Fish late. I've seen many posts in recent years of guys who headed out late and caught fish, and I always thought that was crazy to spend 4 hours traveling to and from a spot and only fishing for 2 hours. However, the fish seem to be most active from 5 pm until 7 pm, at least on the surface. I ran a few all day trips where we really only got fish in that late window, by which point we were low on bait and energy. With the fish at 30 miles, you can leave the dock at 3 pm, grab bait, and be on the grounds in time for that magical 2 hours when the whole ocean comes to life, and you and your crew are still alert and energetic. Another bonus is that the majority of skiffs that would chase foamers have already gone home by then.
One thing that I've only done once in my life is fight a cow tuna on a bass rod, and the result was unsuccessful. I hooked a cow in a foamer just inside the 312 last Sunday on a Lexa 400 with a 3', 40# mono leader and a 40g jig with an inline single hook. We fought it from 6:30pm to 10:30pm and the fish was still upright and super pissed off, though we at least had it up near the boat. The problem with getting it close to the boat while it was still upright was that it ran under the boat, surfaced on the other side and broke the line on the outdrive or a trim tab. A few questions for those experienced in hooking big fish on the wrong gear:
- 3 of us were constantly taking turns on this fish and we were really tired. Is there some sort of fighting harness you can attach to the foregrip of a rod? I saw that picture of a guy on a sportboat with a rope tied around his neck to the foregrip of a spinning rod, and I was thinking that wasn't such a dumb idea and have been thinking about how to make that work on a conventional rod.
- I had dark green braid on my reel and once the sun went down it was nearly impossible to see the line and determine which way to maneuver the boat. Is there some sort of device that I could clip onto the line that would sit on the water, making it obvious where the line entered the water? I think connecting a small balloon to a snap swivel and connecting the snap to the main line would work, but just wanted to see if anyone had any better ideas.
- If a fish is up high and dives under the boat and surfaces on the other side, what's the best thing to do? Try to turn the boat? Throw the reel into freespool and try to run around the bow? Or try to get the outdrive up quickly?
- What's the best way to fight a fish that's not tired but is near the boat? Should we have just given it more line and let it tire some more? Or keep idling forward to keep it behind the boat? I was generally trying to position the boat to fight the fish in the corner, but it got dicey at times because it never settled into a nice spiral.
- My drags got really sticky after the first hour of the fight. I thought they were completely shot, but they were fine the next day, so I'm thinking they just got too hot. Is there a way to cool down drags on a plastic reel? I've heard of guys pouring cold water on metal big game reels when fighting big billfish to cool the drags. Or does anyone have recommendations for better drag washers for a Lexa 400? (not that I want to fight a fish on a Lexa 400 for 4 hours ever again)
