Bluefin / marlin lure????

wak'm&stak'm · 02-03-2003, 06:28 PM

I am not sure if there is such a lure...but...I an RJ are planning to run drag something way way way back this year...

Is there a lure that is common to bluefin and marlin????
What would you experts use??
Thanks

Drifty · 02-03-2003, 08:12 PM

The guys that fish for them down in New Zealand swear by a 12 to 18 inch black and purple. That is the goto lure.

fishwhenican · 02-03-2003, 08:30 PM

I spoke with a guy at the Eugene sports show that said one of the techniques that works good for Bluefin is to drop back 100 yds or so then stop the boat and let the lures drop almost straight down then accelerate to bring them up-- repeat --repeat. Best of course if you have marked fish at that spot/depth if deeper drop back further.

I didn't ask what colors though

RJ · 02-03-2003, 08:54 PM

http://www.fishermansoutfitter.com/c...html?E+scstore found this site Dan don't know though it's all East coast stuff for Giants seems most the west coast stuff is live bait

I'll keep looking.RJ

Mark Mc · 02-03-2003, 08:55 PM

Hey Wak, funny you should ask this. I was looking into the same thing a while back. Here's what I came up with:

(1) Yo Zuri Bonita, 170 mm to run deep

(2) Area rule "doorknob", 11.5 or 13 inches (SD 8 or 12) to run on the surface

Charkbait has this stuff.

Of course Marty should chime in here; he just had 6 weeks of Baja fishing under his belt & definitely has the answers to this one....

Marty · 02-06-2003, 09:46 AM

Wak'em

Basically, bluefin don't bite the troll gear very well, as they tend to run deeper than the albacore and any trolled stuff the albies get to it first. They are very boat shy and 'normally' don't show up on the Oregon/Washington coast until the fall months. Maybe that corresponds to the arrival of the big sardine and herring schools????? So few are caught in the Northwest that there is no real info to draw from. In the northern California area, fishing out past the Farralon Islands they catch bluefin on regularly basis. Livebait account for most of the bluefin, but the following is a concensus from the San Francisco Bay Tuna Club members.

1. Live mackeral
2. Braids blue and white little speedy's. The Yozuri's are better than the marauders in my opinion.
3. Cd 18's or 22's in black & purple with the trebles hooks taken off and heavy tandem's put on.
4. Blue and white cedars, or natural's in the 8" or 10" size.
5. Large jets like the burns mag. 44 or the area rule marlin jigs.
6. Chunking, drifting with live or dead bait.

I have been reading more and more about dropping down a big salas jig 150 to 250 feet and cranking it up as fast as possible. This way you are fishing where they are eating. I will try this method more in September and October. Again take the treble off and replace with a big siwash. An off-white or a light colored glow-in-the-dark jig seems to be the colors of choise. Maybe it is representing squid, which is their bait of choice. There was a guy that posted quite a few threads on another board that was a deckhand on the Misty out of Newport and he claimed their best bluefin lure was a white and red (big) ***-head type feather fished 500 to a 1,000 feet back. According to him they caught a #110 lber., that is an "unconfirmed Oregon State Record". I always wanted to go talk to the Misty guys and confirm this story.

Another method that I have read about is called "Dropping Stone", and it is used in Hawaii for deep water fishing for tuna. Wrap chunks of chum up with a rock in a cloth or leaf, along with a hooked bait (chunk). Enough line corresponding to the depth you want to fish is wrapped around this package and dropped over-board. As it is going down, the line rolls off the wrapped up chum and baited chunk until it gets to the end. The chum unwraps, the stone falls away and the bait is left in a cloud of chum.
This method sounds really interesting to me, but KNOWING the fish are down there would be the key.

............and hopefully this summer I will get to fish with you and we can test some of the above.

"A boat is like a greedy mistress. She will give you short periods of intense pleasure during long periods of aggravation"

Marty

corrirod · 02-06-2003, 12:05 PM

Fish Assassin are you out there? I've got a question for you, have you ever tried using your commercial downriggers while out tuna fishing? It seams as though you might be able to catch some interesting items, blues and maybe even Bill.

Just wondering if you've given it a try and what success you might have had. I was thinking about possibly making a heavy, manual rigger but the thought of hoisting a 25-35 lb. ball up 150-250 ft. does not sound appealing in the least.........................unless of course 'Bill' is on the other end of my rod! :grin:

02-06-2003, 04:24 PM

The reel is a 114H for size ref.

02-06-2003, 04:26 PM

Rod,
I have a book that says downrigers work. If you want I'll scan that section and e mail it to you.

[ 02-06-2003, 05:27 PM: Message edited by: Keta ]

wak'm&stak'm · 02-06-2003, 07:44 PM

Hey Thanks Marty....I am not sure what some of these lures are, if you come in March can you throw some in?

I went to school with Rob Wadell the owner of the Misty, and we fished a lot together when the charters started targeting halibut years ago. I haven't seen him for awhile but I will give him a call and ask about it.

I am anxious to try some new tackle....

thanks again Dan...

pkg40 · 02-06-2003, 10:03 PM

WAK,

I believe FA usually runs 2 lines on divers. A little simpler on a handline than a downrigger.

Using a diver on a cord with your line on a downrigger release works too. You have to stop the boat to pull in the diver though. I am not crazy about running downriggers at high speed, but have a new pair of pancake weights I will be giving a try this year.

PK

fish assassin · 02-07-2003, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by corrirod:
Fish Assassin are you out there? I've got a question for you, have you ever tried using your commercial downriggers while out tuna fishing?

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">corrirod:

I've *thought* about it ... does that count? :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:

Actually, it's hard to pull downriggers at any speed. At least,
that has been my experience. Sometimes when I'm Salmon fishing and
trolling along at about 1.5-2 knots and the current is moving fast (like
3 knotts or better) the cannon balls hang Waaaayyy back ... like the
wire enters the water clear at the back of the boat. Not good.

I've had that stainless wire wrapped in the prop on my dory before
and it wasn't a lot of fun unwrapping it with a 35 lb. cannon ball on the
other end!!

My perferred method to get deep is to run the tuna boards which are
just large sized divers.

-assAssin-

fish assassin · 02-07-2003, 05:14 AM

Ditto on what PKG40 said ...

-assAssin-

corrirod · 02-07-2003, 08:22 AM

Thanks FA/Pkg40.

I sort of wondered about that. How deep can you get the divers to go? I'd really like to try some method of getting down really deep this year.

jcarufo · 02-10-2003, 04:24 AM

Try a Z-Wing Model 250. They're designed to troll at greater than 6 knots and you can pull them by hand at speed. The pangero's fish them in Zihuatanejo for yellowfin and sailfish with really good success. We've fished them there and in Cabo up to about 50ft depth on seign(?) twine tied to a cleat. We use an Aftco flat line roller release with a yo-zuri bonita, big jethead, CD 22 rapala or bait. You put your lure or bait out to whatever length, clip the line into the roller clip and drop the Z-Wing over the side. It doesn't drop back much at all. Nothing like a downrigger ball. Charkbait has them for less than $50.00 I think. The boards on Mark's website would be a great place to ask your bluefin question too.
Hope this helps,
Jean