Tuna Gear

Hillbilly · 03-02-2005, 09:18 PM

I recently got a great deal on some sevenstrand tuna lures without hooks. What would be the best hook to run with these? Appreciate all the grreat info here!

bait boy · 03-02-2005, 10:22 PM

Mustad stainless doubles barbless. crimped or tied with the perfection loop.

Hillbilly · 03-03-2005, 11:01 AM

Thanks Bait boy!!!!

bait boy · 03-03-2005, 12:18 PM

Yer welcome!!! Some folks ask why barbless? Its easier and faster to get your gear back in the water. God forbid someone of us have a hook placement accident. I will be happy I have barbless on my gear...

03-03-2005, 12:20 PM

Bait Boy comes through again

Poi Dog · 03-03-2005, 07:54 PM

Bait Boy, I was tying up some tuna clones last night using 200 lb. mono leader with a perfect loop knot on both the hook and the attachment loop. I was following the setup that Pilar describes in his tuna pictorial, and I was trying to avoid sleeve crimps if possible. However, with that heavy leader, I was having difficultly getting my knots tight enough so that they wouldn't loosen up a bit when I relaxed tension. When I reapplied tension, the knots reformed as they should, but it bugs me to see them loosen up, although I am confident they weren't coming untied. I left about 0.5 inch tag on both ends so it wouldn't pull through when it loosens up. Is that too long of a tag end and do you have any suggestions for keeping the knots tight (at least prior to the first tuna making a hard run on each line)?

Also, what was that rootbeer colored lure you were using last trip, or is that a Bait Boy trade secret? I have looked in the catalogs and on-line, and haven't seen that color anywhere. Was that a zuker? If you tell me I promise to serve up another order of that little tickle in the bottom of your stomach when the beach fades to a thin black sliver and then winks out of sight all together when the tuna arrive again this summer.

bait boy · 03-03-2005, 08:43 PM

Hey mike that was a Zukers rootbeer broomtail exactly like the one pictured here ZG 11 oh wait, it was this exact one that did all that killing.

...

Poi Dog · 03-04-2005, 08:54 AM

Rick, and here I thought it was the brain spiking that did all the killing

. That was definately a hot lure.

Now about those knots.....is it common for them to loosen up a bit until their first set on a fish?

Pilar · 03-04-2005, 10:24 AM

Poi Dog .. I have had the same problem. There's two ways to deal with it. One is to warm the line up and slick the knot with water. So soak the knot in hot water and then tighten it. The other is to tighten the crap out of the knot. This heats up the line which does the same thing as 1 above. The technique I saw on the 'Rantin and Ravin' was loop the end over a cleat and take two or three wraps of leader around your forearm and lean hard.

This problem is much more pronounced on cold leader. If you leave a 1/2" tag you will have something to grab for knot tightening.

The third method is to let the junkyard dog action on your handline tighten the knot. I don't recommend this as it may come undone before Charlie whacks it and tightens the knot for you.

Some lines are soft enough to make good knots without much effort and some are pretty hard and slip. Ande 200# works for me.

Poi Dog · 03-04-2005, 04:26 PM

Pilar, thanks for the input

. I was following your direction on making handlines and tying lures, but I think part of the problem was that I didn't have a cold one in front of me, which if I recall, was the first step you showed in your pictorial -- oops!

I used Ande 200#, and I wet the knots when I tightened them, but the lines were not warmed up first. I used the edge of my kitchen table to hold the hook while I yarded on the line, while at the same time pulling the tag end with the pliars. For some crazy reason, my wife was not amused by the notches left on bottom edge of the table by the barbed #10 double Mustad hook

. I tried to explain they were like notches in a gun, but she informed me that I could make notches AFTER these new lures had caught tuna

. How do you argue with that? I like the idea of heating the knots in hot water. Of course I like the idea of using Charlie even more because it means the lures worked, and it's certainly the most fun a person can have tightening a knot, but it's not worth the risk that it will come loose before the strike. Thanks again for the help.

BigBull1 · 03-05-2005, 07:40 PM

I have got to get you guys to go out to tuna town with me and show me the ropes this year. Hopefully my boat proves to be tuna worthy and I will be confident enough to try.