Quote:
Originally Posted by -scallywag-
Why would you use spectra for casting irons at tuna offshore? Does it increase casting range? it seems the cons outwieght the pros in a offshore environment where there is no kelp around.
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You can cast further with it, but there are kelp issues offshore as well.
That day I was casting a
Daiwa Saltist STT 20H the capacity on it is something like 400yds of 12 pound. I put around the same amount of forty spectra on it with a short topshot of thirty pound. The Daiwa SST20 is fairly comparable to a Daiwa SL20SH in casting ability, which means with 20 pound mono you can throw it further then just about anything, but the rub is then your just fishing with twenty pound.
In order to have the same capacity with the same line strength in straight mono I'd have to go up to a reel the size Daiwa SST 50 or more realistically a larger Torium 50, both good reels but neither can cast anywhere as near as far as SST20, nor can you cast them with the same pinpoint accuracy. With a magged SST20 and forty pound spectra I can throw just as far as I can with a SL20SH with 20 Mono with twice the line strength.
Hold that thought for a minute..
Now here's the deal with the fishing. We were offshore trolling that day for Marlin. So you have four large jigs out two set up on outriggers. Say you see a kelp paddy. The standard school of thought is you pull all the gear and then go bait the paddy. The issue is every time you pull the gear and then have to put it back out again you loose time, maybe twenty minutes every time you bait a paddy. Every three patty's you bait you loose an hour, bait a dozen and you loose half the day playing with gear.
I tend to fish offshore a lot. A few years ago I was fishing for Marlin outside the 9 mile bank trolling the standard four jig spread. The whole area was filled with nice juicy big kelp patties. I must of baited twenty of them: each time stopping and pulling my gear for each. Didn't hook a thing off them. About mid afternoon I had two jig strikes for Marlin one right after another, one never hooked up the other jumped off. I never got a fish on a patty all day that day so all that time I spent pulling my gear for them and then putting it out again for those 20+ patties was wasted.
Well that got me thinking, and what I was thinking was if I had just kept fishing Marlin I would of doubled my time with Jigs in the water and might of actually gotten a Billfish.
The rub there is I can't stand to pass patties offshore and not fish them.
Hold that thought....
Now with breaking tuna there has always been four basic schools of thought. One if you got tuna jigs out you can box the area keeping an eye on the fish and pick up stragglers with the jigs, or you can troll over them which puts them down but allows you to sometimes hook one.
You can stop and pull your jigs, try to get ahead of them, and actually soak live baits for them but that's a big time commitment and does not always work.
Or you can go up on the bow and throw light iron on them like a mega bait but you have to use light line 20 or even fifteen pound mono to get the distance and accuracy to land on boiling fish before they see the boat and sound.
Now of the three methods I've caught more fish casting on them then any other way, but there is a problem. If you hook a good yellowfin over say 20 pounds it takes so long to get them to the boat that you actually loose the school in the process. Worse if you hook a really big one or a bigeye you can't land them at all. I've lost at least a dozen huge tuna like this and it's frustrating as all hell.
Now when tuna fishing the whole point is to get the school to the boat get a bait bite going, so you want to get them to the boat quickly so casting off the bow with light line even thought it works does not get you the bait bites your after, and also can't land the bigger fish you really want to catch.
Now you may of noticed I do things a little differently on a lot of things like transducer installs etc...
That's not because I want to be different or "special" I just look at things and try to figure out the best way to do them and then come up with my own approach.
My buddy calls these methods stupid Jim Day tricks, but I've come up with a few ways to do things that at least work well for me.
At any rate here's my "stupid Jim Day" trick when it comes to casting Mega baits and small heavy iron offshore.
I put all the things above together and came up with a way of fishing forty spectra with thirty topshots for breaking tuna offshore and patties off shore when trolling that solves all the problems above.
First the obvious: When I'm casting Megabaits for boiling tuna offshore with a magged SST20 or a Penn 525Mag I can cast just as far as I can with a SL20SH with 20 mono but when I hook the fish I can get them to the boat fast enough to bring in the school and get a bait bite. If I hook a larger quality tuna I've got four hundred yards of forty with which to chase him down and beat them. Win Win.
Less obvious has to do with kelp patties. Instead of stopping the boat and pulling gear, what I now do is troll by the patty keeping the patty downwind on the left (port) side. I go up on the bow with my forty spectra rig and a four once mega bait (actually I like the P-line version). As soon as the patty is in casting distance I throw the mega bait so it lands next to the patty on it's left side. I then do not reel it in but let it sink with the reel in gear keeping the line just tight enough to feel if anything hits it on the sink. I then steer the boat so I can pass the patty on the right side about thirty to forty feet off the patty.
As you approach the patty the line makes a bow in the water, so when you get even with the patty the megabait is down a hundred feet on the other side of the patty, and the line has made a big c shape around the patty. Rather the reel it up I just let the forward speed of the Boat pull it up. So the jigs starts moving up rather slow, then speeds up as it makes a big arc behind the patty and then eventually screams up to the surface back in middle of your trolling spread.
In other words to the fish it looks like a frightened baitfish that's hauling butt trying to get away by joining a larger school of bait on the surface.
Now you could do the exact same thing with mono but there would be a few issues.
In order to get the casting distance you would need to use light mono like twenty pound, with mono the jig would not sink as fast or as deep, if you hook a yellowtail on lighter mono he's just going to swim you straight into the patty and cut you off, if you hook a tuna your not going to be able to get him to the boat fast enough to get a bait bite, and if you hook a big tuna your going to get your clock cleaned.
In contrast the forty spectra sinks faster, if you get a yellow you can keep him out, or cut him out of the kelp patty. If you hook a tuna you have enough muscle to get him to the boat quick enough to get the bait bite, and if you hook a big one you can land him. Win Win Win Win Win
One more thing. Like I said as the mega swings up using the forward motion of the boat it also swings back around the patty and ends up with with all your troll jigs or feathers in the pattern. Now this could be a tangle issue if you do not pay attention, but there is a benefit as well. Yellowfin are notorious for following deep drop jigs to the surface but not hitting them. When the mega swings up into your troll pattern it will bring the followers right into your jigs which can result in one or more jig strikes in the pattern. That's a big Win!
Oh and you don't have to stop for every patty and pull your gear, but you do get an idea if they are holding fish. Win Win
So that is how the system works.
We were trolling Marlin Jigs the day I got that YFT above but I got it fishing this exact method. It's a new thing, no-one else is doing it, I did not read it anywhere, this is the first time I have posted it online, and you're welcome to it.
If you tell anyone about it just tell them where you got it.
Jim