San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Hi, and welcome. Wanted to share so you can benefit from the errors of my ways on a recent 2-day trip on the Pacifica, a boat I very much enjoyed. The tuna caught were mostly schoolies in the 25-pound range with a few north of 70lbs. We finished with something like 79 BFT and 21 YFT.

1. Fish LIGHT. The people who got bit the most -- by a wide margin -- were fishing 30lb flyline and lighter. The folks getting bit on pretty much every cast -- when the bite was on -- were fishing 15lb. Obviously, fishing light has its drawbacks. But it all starts with getting bit.

2. DO NOT USE LIGHT WIRE HOOKS! I thought since the fish were relatively small that I could get away with a light wire hook which would let my bait swim better. Wrong. I'll never get the sight of that straightened hook out of my head.

3. Easy on the drag. Pulled one hook, straightened out another and broke off. All within 15 minutes of a hot bite. Freakin' sucked. While the teenagers next to me pulled in fish after fish on lighter lines with LESS drag. Hmm, might be a lesson here.

4. Be able to get your bait away from the boat. The folks who got bit the most could cast a bit. It's worth learning how.

5. Nothing wrong with spinning outfits on smaller tuna. Spinners did well on the smaller grade fish.

6. Live bait ruled. One fish on knife jig -- only fish caught at night. Sinker rig non-factor. A few caught on Colt Snipers.

Best of luck.

Thanks for honest advice, I plan on my tuna trip this year

You can get away with light wire hooks with lighter line and watching your drag

Great attitude after what sounded like a brutal trip. Good to see you've learned from your mistakes and know what to do differently next time. I agree that those smaller tuna are frequently fished better on lighter drag. Unlike many of the big ones they will get tired eventually even if you aren't reefing on them as hard as you can. I'm not sure if its their soft mouths or their speed but they're good at ripping hooks out of their mouths. Hindsight is 20/20 but losing a fish because of what you perceived as a stupid mistake on one's part means you won't lose one that way again.

I straightened a #1 Gamakatsu circle hook on a 15# bonito this passed Saturday. Landed it but was surprised when inspecting the tackle. I'm done with their circle hooks.
I'll also add "#7" that bait selection and changing your sardine often makes a difference. Every deckhand tells their passengers this for a reason. If it's not ripping line off, change it. If it's not bit in 30 seconds during a hot bite, change it. A "long soak" is 2 minutes max. The frequency of a fresh bait also adds to the chances of a bite because the school is circling the boat and you want a fresh one in the chum line when they come back around.
Regarding light line fishing - I agree that generally you'll increase your bites as you decrease line strength. However, some schools of fish don't agree with that. I fished 25# for hours with only one bonito bite to show for it while dudes getting tuna bites on both sides of me. Didn't want to take the time to tie a new hook so I grabbed my 40# and got back to back bluefin on the last stop. So "#8" fish hard. Don't give up til the motors are humming.

The “problem” now days is people are fishing braid to a short, usually fluoro leader. Takes all stretch out (stretch can be your friend). Mono, you’ll hardly every straighten a hook. So the compromise is a “short” (preferably casting distance + so you’re not casting the knot through the guides) top shot of mono to fluoro -That is if you want to fish braid. Look at your line like a rubber band. Try grabbing a rubber band from the ends and it will stretch far, shorten your pinch and you get minimal stretch. So with a lot of line out on a fish, you can button your drag down and let the line stretch as a shock, as the fish gets closer, especially color, back off the drag since you are loosing stretch. This works best with straight mono or more mono than braid, this technique decreases with less mono over braid or no mono at all. Also to note, this technique is to give you the best chance in landing and is especially important if money is on the line. If it’s fun fishing and you aren’t worried about loosing the fish, horse it in.

I got 5 bluefin and 1 yellowfin on the San Diego july 4th. Fishing 40# flouro, #1 owner j hook, 100 feet or so of 40# mono on top of 65# braid. Drag set on strike with a 10lb dumbbell … they barely even pulled drag. Fresh bait was the key like others said. They bit 40 lb just as good as anything else. Every hook set right in the corner of the mouth.

Edit: Rod was a Sabre 660h my dad wrapped in 1994 and reel is a gen1 penn fathom 30ld2