Nite bite for the biggins

[kayakbeast33]

Hey BD,
Question for those of you that put in many hours fishing the nite bite for the big boys. I am starting to look for jigs for this season because as soon as Fred hall get here there are usually no larger "hot" jigs be found beside the hoedads trying to sell them on offer up for $100 a piece.

Did you find the profile matter more than the color? Were they chewing the paint off of anything in the water or was the katy perry sk jig really the only jig that seemed to work. Did more glow help? And last slender and in the zone quicker or leafier and more action on the jig.

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[islandhooker]

I had good luck with the large red and glow dot knife jigs.

 

[kayakbeast33]

I had good luck with the large red and glow dot knife jigs.

Do you recall the weight?

 

[Rubberhook2]

300 to 500 grams. Need them to sink out fast but remember you have to wind these up from 350 feet multiple times per stop

 

[islandhooker]

300 gram is what I was using.

 

[solid72]

200-300 gram KB knife jigs, 400-500g Rip Rollers, GHT knife jigs. Ocean Cat knife in 300-400g. Colors were Iron Man, purple, pink, bubble gum, red with polka dot, what they call Rasta, chrome 4/0, 6X jr’s and the 320 Nomad. Those worked on trips I was on and for me. Zacana and Colt sniper in the 130 sized

 

[surfgoose]

Wouldn't it be great if we could figure out ahead of time what the fish would like to pounce upon?

Sometimes they key on certain actions or sizes of lures, sometimes the color makes a huge difference, sometimes having glow paint is favored. I take a couple of dozen lures because every one of them has been favored on a past trip, and equally every one of them has been ignored on other trips. Sometimes they seem to want white, and then other times green or blue or red or brownish yellow is on the menu. Flat falls work, or don't, and knife jigs of various configurations work, or don't.

I talk to a couple of crewmen and find out what was working best on the last trip, and the one before that, and that is my starting point. And if someone else gets a fish on deck I ask with a smile what he was using. Sometimes they don't want any kind of lure, it is a bait bite. You have to be adaptable. And be ready to be adaptable.

 

[2Rotten]

I caught mine last season on 300 Gram SK jigs in Zebra Glow, in May. Later in the season it seems like a lot of the reports were 500 Gram Rip Rollers.

For this season I added 500 Gram Shout Shotel jigs (similar to SK jigs but heavier/bigger) in 3 colors (Black Zebra Glow, Pink Blue Zebra Glow, and Raspberry Chartreuse Semi Glow), and 500 Gram Rip Rollers in Sardine, Lumo Polkadot, and Black/Blue/Pink/Glow Stripe.

I still take plenty of smaller jigs, but I think at night there is benefit in going big/deep/quickly.

 

[ZZZZZ]

Get down to the fast moving targets. Asap

 

[ZMF]

Maybe dumb question, but do the tuna see these jigs in pitch dark or sense them by vibration or something else?

 

[ZZZZZ]

The greatest hunters see with all their instincts. Eyes and lateral line and smell, ect. The BFT has superior eye sight to all other bony fish.

"Bluefin tuna are made for speed: built like torpedoes, have retractable fins and their eyes are set flush to their body. They are tremendous predators from the moment they hatch, seeking out schools of fish like herring, mackerel, and even eels. They hunt by sight and have the sharpest vision of any bony fish."

 

[Mr. DRE]

In my observation from last two years it seems like the knife jigs performed better than the flat or flutter fall jigs. I saw many fish fall for the larger rip roller, nomad streaker, williamson kensaki and the jp vertical long slow. Color did not seem to be to matter as much nor did glow. IMO it seems like the faster you can the jig to the zone and the quicker you can work it vertically up and down through the zone the better your chances were on getting bit. The larger flat or flutter falls did get bit if you could get them in the zone fast enough before the tuna swam past. I had lots of success with the 300g JP Vertical JPV, 400g Sea Falcon Z slow, SFC Messiah and the 320g (?) SFC Secret Rector. The one thing I would recommend as it has been discussed previsoulsy is to upgrade the hardware I saw many many heatbreaks due to improper rigging. About the one jig that I would fish straight out of the package (well after adding a leader) is the Daiwa Mr. Slow. On a side note not to talk bad about the rip roller cause it has caught plenty of fish but its pretty much a disposable jig, catch one and its done.

 

[ZZZZZ]

Never done this personally. But apparently if a BFT eye lense is knocked out. And a human eye looks through it. Magnifys

 

[jiggyn]

Last few times out found that color doesn’t matter
It was fastest one down
Heck my buddy hooked on on A PL68

 

[Rubberhook2]

PL68 getting it done on big yellowfin too in the dark at Hurricane

 

[CrustyOne]

I have a selection of jigs, I do prefer the red with glow dots or glow stripes.

I think color/glow is secondary to being at the right depth. You also have to be vertical (up and down) as opposed to lots of scope. I bring an assortment of sizes and the weather determines what size I use. Calm nights I use the smaller jigs (280g Kensaki 120g SK etc) because they'll get down there and fish vertically and I don't have to reel up a pound of metal. If the wind is up I'll use the 500g Rip Rollers and try to remain up and down.

Marking your line for depth is more important than jig choice, you got to be in the zone. I've seen jigs with no paint or glow left on them get bit just fine.

 

[Rubberhook2]

We have had good luck with the Nomad Buffalo and Gypsy jigs in red and glow in the 320 gram and 300 gram sizes respectively, getting bit on both the sink and on the wind. There is a difference in the wire harness configurations between the two however with the Buffalo have a much narrower harness point when compared to the round "eye" on the Gypsy. See below. What this meant was trying to use a HD split ring (Owner Ultra #9 and #10) on the Buffalo setup caused the split ring to bind within the harness affecting the free movement of the hook and attachment point. Resorted to a welded ring as noted below on all Buffalos while the Gypsy, with it's round eye harness, allowed me to use the HD split rings with no binding and quicker and easier change outs.

These two style jigs have accounted for numerous cow BFT for us.

As a side note I have never had one "fall off" using the large 5/0 4X Owner trebles. Never pulled, never straightened, using 130lb mono on top of 200lb spectra with heavy, heavy drag.

 

[solid72]

We have had good luck with the Nomad Buffalo and Gypsy jigs in red and glow in the 320 gram and 300 gram sizes respectively, getting bit on both the sink and on the wind. There is a difference in the wire harness configurations between the two however with the Buffalo have a much narrower harness point when compared to the round "eye" on the Gypsy. See below. What this meant was trying to use a HD split ring (Owner Ultra #9 and #10) on the Buffalo setup caused the split ring to bind within the harness affecting the free movement of the hook and attachment point. Resorted to a welded ring as noted below on all Buffalos while the Gypsy, with it's round eye harness, allowed me to use the HD split rings with no binding and quicker and easier change outs.

These two style jigs have accounted for numerous cow BFT for us.

As a side note I have never had one "fall off" using the large 5/0 4X Owner trebles. Never pulled, never straightened, using 130lb mono on top of 200lb spectra with heavy, heavy drag.

View attachment 1349218View attachment 1349219View attachment 1349220

Those get bit good.

 

[Tom Honaker]

Hey BD,
Question for those of you that put in many hours fishing the nite bite for the big boys. I am starting to look for jigs for this season because as soon as Fred hall get here there are usually no larger "hot" jigs be found beside the hoedads trying to sell them on offer up for $100 a piece.

Did you find the profile matter more than the color? Were they chewing the paint off of anything in the water or was the katy perry sk jig really the only jig that seemed to work. Did more glow help? And last slender and in the zone quicker or leafier and more action on the jig.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Marking your line every 100 feet, will make your jigs get bit better!

 

[Steve K]

I’ve become an old fart, not too enthusiastic about trying to learn the new tricks. I’m going to give it one more try on the night fishing, but I may just go with enjoying the flyline and sinker fishing throughout the day following that with cocktails, shower, wine with dinner, and another cocktail. Go to bed, get up, repeat. I suspect that after the next trip I’ll be gathering all of my collection of jigs for this deep drop type of fishing and selling the whole thing. Buy some more hooks!

 

[Rubberhook2]

Well, be prepared to fish 22 hours a day. Fish all day with sardines and kites and when the sun goes down stay up all night dropping on school after school not all of which bite. Dropping those heavy jigs multiple times per stop and multiple stops through out the night will make you wish you had an electric reel.

True story. Recent trip this past summer had the whole boat dropping, 22 peeps, at 9 PM. By midnight there were perhaps half that. At 3;30 in the morning there were 4 of us still up making drops. At 4 am my buddy Miles comes tight on this cow as most of the boat slept.

The point is if you want a cow BFT go in with the mindset that you are going to give it everything you got knowing that your next drop may be the one you have been waiting for.

You can sleep when you get home...

 

[kayakbeast33]

Well, be prepared to fish 22 hours a day. Fish all day with sardines and kites and when the sun goes down stay up all night dropping on school after school not all of which bite. Dropping those heavy jigs multiple times per stop and multiple stops through out the night will make you wish you had an electric reel.

True story. Recent trip this past summer had the whole boat dropping, 22 peeps, at 9 PM. By midnight there were perhaps half that. At 3;30 in the morning there were 4 of us still up making drops. At 4 am my buddy Miles comes tight on this cow as most of the boat slept.

The point is if you want a cow BFT go in with the mindset that you are going to give it everything you got knowing that your next drop may be the one you have been waiting for.

You can sleep when you get home...

View attachment 1349357

Or sleep when your dead!

 

[Shon]

I’ve become an old fart, not too enthusiastic about trying to learn the new tricks. I’m going to give it one more try on the night fishing, but I may just go with enjoying the flyline and sinker fishing throughout the day following that with cocktails, shower, wine with dinner, and another cocktail. Go to bed, get up, repeat. I suspect that after the next trip I’ll be gathering all of my collection of jigs for this deep drop type of fishing and selling the whole thing. Buy some more hooks!

Steve,
Im sure we will be getting them in July on the 3 day Vagabond trip. It’s been so fun and the deep drop stuff is not all that bad, I think being in the zone is the most critical part. Then it’s on!

 

[Tom Honaker]

Well, be prepared to fish 22 hours a day. Fish all day with sardines and kites and when the sun goes down stay up all night dropping on school after school not all of which bite. Dropping those heavy jigs multiple times per stop and multiple stops through out the night will make you wish you had an electric reel.

True story. Recent trip this past summer had the whole boat dropping, 22 peeps, at 9 PM. By midnight there were perhaps half that. At 3;30 in the morning there were 4 of us still up making drops. At 4 am my buddy Miles comes tight on this cow as most of the boat slept.

The point is if you want a cow BFT go in with the mindset that you are going to give it everything you got knowing that your next drop may be the one you have been waiting for.

You can sleep when you get home...

View attachment 1349357

Gotta make Hay when the suns shining! Got anything better to do at night? Fish hard and take advantage of any opportunitys available!

 

[Steve K]

Steve,
Im sure we will be getting them in July on the 3 day Vagabond trip. It’s been so fun and the deep drop stuff is not all that bad, I think being in the zone is the most critical part. Then it’s on!

Last time for me was at the tail end of an 8 day early June. We had made the long run to Alijos where there was nothing happening until the sun went down. We made a tank of Mackerel and fished them on Dropper Loops for some very good grade Yellowtail out at the bank. Then we beat our way back up in some true shitbox weather. On the Bluefin grounds the daytime bite, flylining with 30 lb was only good for 3-4 fish each of the two days we fished. Night fishing just wasn’t my thing on that trip.

Summer trips for me are back to back 4 day on Searcher and 3 day on Vagabond. Very much looking forward to that and I might be in a better mood for night fishing.

We’ll see, but for me the daily routine of getting up, coffee and breakfast and fishing with the sun up is my favored program. Maybe with the shorter trips I’ll be in a better frame of mind for fishing in the dark.

Hope to get a fix on fishing bigger model tuna with the Yellowfin. Fortunate to be fishing a 16 day departing March 28 on the Independence. Concentrating on that right now.