Tuna Fishing - "Bullet of the Sea"

As the years went by since Holder's catch, the weight of world-record bluefin Tuna crept higher and higher -- from 400 & 500 pound catches to Zane Grey's 758 pound champion in 1924, to the first 1,000+ pound tuna boated in 1970 off Nova Scotia, to current world-record catches that tip the scales at over 1,200+ and 1,300+ pounds. The bluefin has captured the hearts of great anglers like Zane Grey and Ernest Hemingway, who boated his first tuna in the Bahamas in 1935; Michael Lerner, who caught 640+ bluefins over a lifetime; and Elwood K. Harry, president of the International Game Fish Association, who has boated a lifetime total of 610+ big tuna. As many first-time tuna anglers have discovered and, remembered for weeks with aching muscles, bones, shoulders and strained backs, catching a bluefin Tuna on rod and reel requires hours of exhausting muscle-busting, back-breaking, leg-wrenching work  --  not too much unlike trying to haul a small car (by hand) up a steep hill.

Yellowfin, blackfin, and other smaller tuna (albacore, big eye, long tail, little tunny, skipjack), though extremely streamlined, fast, muscular and fond of deep, sounding dives against the hook as is the bluefin, offer more manageable sport. If smaller tuna are fished for and caught on proper-sized tackle, both of these species will represent themselves honorably in a battle but will not drag out the fight like the bluefin.

There are numerous tuna species caught with rod and reel but the bluefin, blackfin, and yellowfin are the most popular tuna fishing targets for anglers in North America. 

The Atlantic and Pacific bonitos, close relatives of tuna, hunt and migrate in similar patterns. An easy find and very tough fight, the bonito is also favored by a good number of saltwater anglers in the Atlantic and Pacific, but it is small in comparison to the bluefin.  

The Tuna's Fishing Range

Tuna are truly international characters. The bluefin travels both sides of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Mediterranean, Bluefin have been caught off the African coast and found on the eastern Atlantic coast at various times of the year from the Caribbean Newfoundland. In 1958 a bluefin tuna weighing only 35 pounds was tagged at Guadalupe Island off Mexico -- five years later it  was caught 6,000 miles away in Japan, weighing over 240 pounds. 
  

Appearance of the Tuna -- BULLET

The tuna is shaped like a bullet (a very large bullet). Tuna fins fold down close against their bodies allowing them to move through the water with powerful strokes of their large, crescent-shaped tails at terrific speeds of 35-45 mph. The blackfin is distinguished from other tuna by its very long pectoral fins and dark brown-black dorsal fins. Yellowfin tuna can be distinguished from blackfin by the black margins on their finlets as well as their overextended second dorsal and anal fins that may reach more than halfway to the tail. 
 

General Size of Tuna

Bluefins often weigh more than 750 pounds. The world-record fish was taken off Nova Scotia in 1979, measuring 13' long and weighing 1,496 pounds. Yellowfin average around 40-50 pounds, but some heavier specimens are boated in the 175 to 200 pound range. The world record weighed 389 pounds and was caught near Mexico off San Benedicto Island. Although the blackfin are among the smallest tuna, they provide the liveliest sport on light tackle.
 

A Few Tuna Fishing Notes

All tuna feast on various forms of baitfish, from mackerel and menhaden to herring and even the flying fish. The larger the tuna, the larger the individual fish it will pursue. Bluefin feed especially hard during their summer runs off the northeast coast, fattening up for the long fall swim to South America and the Gulf of Mexico's spawning grounds. Once hooked, tuna will head for the deep, deep water. A giant bluefin of more than 300 or 400 pounds can tow a good-sized fishing boat for miles, and require hours of pumping and cranking (with the assistance of a skilled captain,  a big boat engine and reverse gear) to get the fish alongside.  

Bluefin is big-game, big-tackle fishing: Heavy braided line, high-speed lures, huge reels, and heavy glass rods. Chumming, linked to trolling of herring or other baitfish is the primary fishing method of professional tuna guides and charters. Other captains will also trail large feathered trolling jigs to attract the tuna and, but since many big fish hesitate to strike large baits, the guides will follow up by trolling smaller herring type bait rigs that skip along the surface. 

The favorite bluefin trolling areas include, during May and early June, Tuna Alley off Cat Cay and Bimini in the Bahamas. The open waters off Montauk and Rhode Island beginning in late June. Canadian points around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, off Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia in August and early September.