Sportfishing…just the usual med. ballyhoo/sea witch combo. Blue/white,black/red,black/purple,naked,etc.
Commercial fishing…mostly on a greenstick,but got some really big yellowfins and bigeyes on squid and boston mackeral for swordfish.
Capt. John Mallette
1(843) 422-5580
captjohn86@yahoo.com
Have you had any good experiences with cedar plugs?
Yeah,mostly on the plain wood color or the dolphin color at around 8 knots. I haven’t tried them with ballyhoo in the same spread,but I’ve pulled them with drones on planers and picked a few fish on them as well. I like pulling about 5 or 6 cedar plugs at that speed to find fish and cover more ground. If you find a good concentration of fish,you could switch back to bait if you want.
Capt. John Mallette
1(843) 422-5580
captjohn86@yahoo.com
quote:Nobody defined a "run" meaning that it is impossible to catch fish at other times of the year. The term "run" can mean a lot of things. You bring up waterfowl migration. Note that you can go up to canada in the dead of winter and still find ducks to shoot. Not only that, warm snaps can push ducks back up north even if only for a few weeks. Different ducks stop at different places. A lot of ducks never make it past NC. Some make it down to Florida. Some may even make it down to Mexico.
Originally posted by greg1I could give 100’s of reasons, but right now I only have time for a few off the top of my head.
1st) I saw Special Lady bring in some very impressive tuna catches late in the Summer when stealing jugs off Les’s boat. I’m sure other boats caught fish too. Just maybe not the ones that post here.
I also don’t think anybody fishes for them after tourist season ends and all the charter boats stop posting reports.
I also think 90% of the YF caught here are cuaght by 10% of the boats. When those boats don’t get booked, those tuna don’t get caught
It may take different techniques during different times of the year. In La. we don’t catch our winter tuna on ballyhoo and we don’t anchor and chum during the summer.
Yes, I understand it’s easier to locate and find fish during certain times of the year, but I still don’t think the fish are migrating and only here for a few weeks a year. I don’t think the fish at the 226 on Tuesday are at the GTH on Saturday and then off Morehead City on Wednesday. I think they forage back and forth in the gulfstream their whole lives and when the warm waters comes close they get caught. They’d get caught in December too when the stream pushes in if anybody was there to meet them.
Heck…somebody just caught some in February.
I agree with the term “run”. I disagree with the term “season”.
There can be a “December run” of Yellowfin when the stream gets close enough.
And I understand that the “spring run” is the most consistant and the most predictable.
But when I hear guys talk about “getting ready for tuna season” it makes me COL (Chuckle out loud).
I just want to know when “tuna season” officially kicks off.
I mean…I know when deer season, turkey season, duck season, dove season, and down in the gulf we even have a snapper season and I just want to know when tuna season starts and ends.
quote:
Originally posted by purposeoneSo what would be your advice for catching them year round?
2007 Mako 264
Twin Suzuki 175
Watching your SST charts and keeping tabs on where the bait is holding.
And when the conditions appear right you have to leave the dock and go look for them.
Skinee, I didn’t read your whole post, I have aconference call in a minute but I saw the highlights.
I think the fish have “tolerable water temperatures”. They stay within those temperatures and forage for bait. When they find a local that consistantly holds bait they try to stay near it. Unfortunately when there isn’t enough bait to feed everybody then some of the fish have to move around find more food.
I think this conversation is the difference between a salesman describing a general feeding habit of yellowfin tuna and a computer guy arguing the technicality of what a fish movement technically is.
If you want to argue that fish “move” to find food…I won’t argue that. But I still think they stay a lot closer to home than people realize.
Of course…fish are wild animals and have tails, but studies can indicate trends or habits. Here’s an interesting excerpt:
"The yellowfin inhabit vast areas of the earth’s ocean. They are warm-water fishes and are usually found in waters with temperatures between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The yellowfin does not travel as long or as far as other tunas, because they do not undertake a spawning migration. Tagging has shown that they tend to stay in the same geographical area throughout their lives, seldom, if ever, mixing with populations from different regions. "
Confernece calls suck and I like posting old pictures…
I know this isn’t the Gulf of mexico, but here’s some food for thought.
The 1st 2 pictures are of the same fish. A 184 lb YF caught in June on a ballyhoo ilander combo.
The next 2 pictures are of a 180ish YF caught 50 miles away in late January on a dead Pogey drifted 60 ft below the boat.
Perhaps a more appropriate term for the “Spring Tuna Season” should be “ballyhoo season”.
In my opinion a ballyhoo/sea witch, ilander, feather combo resembles a flying fish.
When the water warms up or cools off and the flying fish can no longer thrive, perhaps the tuna stay deep and eat squid and other finfish that appear on the ledge or the edge of the gulf stream.
Plus…YF are mostly nocturnal. Maybe the only way to catch them in the winter is at night?
quote:I want you to read definition #3 here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/season
Originally posted by greg1I agree with the term “run”. I disagree with the term “season”.
There can be a “December run” of Yellowfin when the stream gets close enough.
And I understand that the “spring run” is the most consistant and the most predictable.
But when I hear guys talk about “getting ready for tuna season” it makes me COL (Chuckle out loud).
I just want to know when “tuna season” officially kicks off.
I mean…I know when deer season, turkey season, duck season, dove season, and down in the gulf we even have a snapper season and I just want to know when tuna season starts and ends.
Also, since this is just a matter of nomenclature for you, then maybe you have a suggestion for what the locals can call “the period of time where tuna are most available and caught”.
I think it really all depends on what the meaning of “Is” is.
“a period of the year when something is best or available”
So, how many tuna seasons are there per year here?
quote:That all depends young gregory. It seems like last year, there was only one decent time frame of tuna catches. I've heard before that they show up in the fall, but haven't really seen it yet. I guess all of that depends on El Nino this year...
Originally posted by greg1“a period of the year when something is best or available”
So, how many tuna seasons are there per year here?
quote:I knew you slept on the way out, but surely, you would see the large quantities of flyers all through the summer. As a matter of fact, thre seem to be more of them here in the heat of the summer than in the earlier spring months.
Originally posted by greg1Perhaps a more appropriate term for the “Spring Tuna Season” should be “ballyhoo season”.
In my opinion a ballyhoo/sea witch, ilander, feather combo resembles a flying fish.
When the water warms up or cools off and the flying fish can no longer thrive, perhaps the tuna stay deep and eat squid and other finfish that appear on the ledge or the edge of the gulf stream.
Plus…YF are mostly nocturnal. Maybe the only way to catch them in the winter is at night?
Nocturnal is okay, but you told me once that tuna have to feed every 4-6 hours.
The water get’s very hot during the summer. YF also don’t have eye lids or Costa Del Mars.
Tagging studies show: Yellowfin remain 180 to 330 feet below the surface 80% of daylight hours. They spend only 6% of their time within 90 feet of the surface during this time frame.
Late summer when the water is real hot they may stay down and eat other fish and squid during the day and only come up to the surface at night. Doesn’t mean they leave…just means trolling ballyhoo may not be the best way to catch them.
Perhaps July and August the most effective method to catch them maybe to drift and jig?
The 4-6 hour feeding is a theory. Perhaps during the warmest months they feed on squid at depths of 250 ft or more?
I look at it like surfing. Sure…there maybe a time of year when the “breaks” are “ripping curl” and “hanging ten”, but if you know what to look for you can surf all year round if you’re willing to pay some dues and do some homework.
quote:I guess that in that same time of the year, they go into invisible mode where they are undetectable on sonar as well. That probably helps them hide from the squid they are foraging on.
Originally posted by greg1The water get’s very hot during the summer. YF also don’t have eye lids or Costa Del Mars.
Tagging studies show: Yellowfin remain 180 to 330 feet below the surface 80% of daylight hours. They spend only 6% of their time within 90 feet of the surface during this time frame.
Late summer when the water is real hot they may stay down and eat other fish and squid during the day and only come up to the surface at night. Doesn’t mean they leave…just means trolling ballyhoo may not be the best way to catch them.
Perhaps July and August the most effective method to catch them maybe to drift and jig?
The 4-6 hour feeding is a theory. Perhaps during the warmest months they feed on squid at depths of 250 ft or more?
I look at it like surfing. Sure…there maybe a time of year when the “breaks” are “ripping curl” and “hanging ten”, but if you know what to look for you can surf all year round if you’re willing to pay some dues and do some homework.
Greg, let’s end this thread now. We have some rigging to do. Are you ready for tuna season, or not?
Does Stretch need to settle this one?
He took the bait like a jugbelly redfish on an olive and white clouser.
We marked a lot of undersea life forms on the Carla Dee’s sonar on our August sword trips.
You’re right, this thread should end, but then where would I post my pictures? Have you ever seen this one?
Also, we should be almost rigged out. I got that new batch of Firecrotches in the mail yesterday. Just need to crimp on the jewelry and we should be set to go.
quote:
Originally posted by greg1Tagging studies show: Yellowfin remain 180 to 330 feet below the surface 80% of daylight hours. They spend only 6% of their time within 90 feet of the surface during this time frame.
If I’m not mistaken, this is one of the main reasons the Japanese developed the whole butterfly jig system… I dropped a few to some deep mid-water-column marks (200’ down in 400’ depth) last fall and hooked into a couple of freight trains that stole my jigs. Maybe that’s the new trick.
Ryan
Worldcat 266SF “Little Miracle”
Garden City Beach
We’ve been jigging tuna for years in the gulf. Just get’s real old jigging a 50W after a couple hours.
Trolling is white collar fishing.
That’s why the old saying…“Billfish are for pu—ies, real men fish for tuna”.