Tuna time!
I got an invitation to chase tuna on my buddy Jim's boat out of Terminal Island...four of us left around 3:30 am, picked up some nice sardines and small anchovies for chum from the barge, and headed southeast to the 209 spot...started trolling...and trolling...and looking for paddies....got a nice bonito on the troll, but nothing else, and saw no paddies at all...we saw lots of fish on the meter, but no surface action....we finally decided to join the other boats in the area that were drifting bait...we started chumming and soon had boils around the boat, and soon after my sardine got bit...a while later a 20 lb. yellowfin came over the rail...I love the glowing blue and yellow on a live fish...
I retied, threw some chum, put out another sardine, and got bit immediately...at this point, Jim asked what kind of line I was using since I was the only one getting bit in boiling tuna...20 lb. fluoro...and they started digging in the tackle boxes....an eon later, this 30 lb. bluefin came aboard
All three of the other guys started getting hooked up too...eventually the fish also stopped biting the lighter line, even though they were still boiling around the boat...that's when I went to the anchovy on 12 lb. fluoro leader on a spinning reel...you had to throw the bait in with a scoop of chum to get bit, and Jim and I got a couple more yellowfin doing that...then the fish stopped biting that as well, though they'd happily eat any chum we threw...eventually we headed for home, trolling and looking for paddies or boiling fish...saw some of both, but weren't able to get any other takers...final count was five yellowfin, one bluefin, and one bonito...not too bad for a day where they were so touchy.
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Originally Posted by Wingnut
