There is nothing more exciting than catching your first yellowfin tuna. When you hook up on a large fish, the thrill of victory is instantly followed by the agony of defeat when it sounds and you are left with line only to turn around and see it still attached to the fish. It is a terrible feeling, and something that new tuna fishermen dread. Once you get over this hurdle of losing your first yellowfin it gets much easier and you will start to feel like an experienced fisherman. The most important advice I can give about catching yellowfin (and any other type of tuna for that matter), is to use a plan for your battle. This is probably an area where most fisherman slack off, not having a plan when they get one on the line.
When I was first starting out in tuna fishing, my dad would tell me that there are three phases to catching a yellowfin tuna. The first phase is when you hook up and lose your fish. The second phase is when you get the fish to boat side. The third phase is getting the fish into the box . It always seemed quite simple in my mind that it was just about reeling in the tuna until you got him into the boat or into your hand. Well, I found out by experience that there is a lot more too it than just reeling in the fish.
I have divided this article into two parts. The first part is about catching your first yellowfin tuna, and the second part is how to keep them coming back every year. I will start with some helpful hints that are very important when you hook up on a big yellowfin tuna for the first time; then I go into detail about how to actually catch the tuna.
Catching Your First Yellowfin Tuna
There are three common scenarios when you first hook up on a yellowfin; you could be trolling at 1-2 miles per hour, or drifting at 2-3 miles per hour, or anchored up waiting for them to come into your spread . Whichever speed you are fishing at will determine how fast you have to go when the line starts peeling off your reel.
When I was first starting out, my dad would always tell me to "get them on the boat side" as soon as possible. He told me that if I let a yellowfin get deep enough so he can put his muscle into it, I will never get him up to the boat. He said "when he starts screaming off line, you should already be in high gear." I could not understand what high gear was until my dad and I went out one night and he showed me by putting a 25 pound yellowfin into high gear. While we were fighting this fish, he started yelling at me to go into high gear. I looked over at him curious as to what he meant, and then it happened; the fish sounded, my dad yelled "SHIT!" and instantly turned around in his chair to grab the gaff hook. The line was peeling off the reel so fast that it was smoking! As soon as he hooked the fish, he hit the kill switch and let the fish run for a few seconds. Then he started jigging up and down until we got the fish close to the boat. If you don't get them on the boat side right away, a yellowfin will easily get into his running gear and strip off all of your line. Below is an example of what I am talking about.
I didn't know what high gear meant, so when this yellowfin started to scream off line I was in my normal gear...of course it didn't work and the fish got deep. You can see here that somebody is busy trying to get the gaff hook ready!
When you hook up on a big yellowfin, try not to put too much pressure on him right away. This will just cause him to get deeper, and strip off more line. When I hook up on a big tuna my first reaction is usually to put some pressure on the fish. You have to fight this urge, because you are only helping the yellowfin achieve his goal of getting deep down so he can put his muscles into it. What most people don't know is that when you put pressure on a yellowfin, the fins in his tail will lock down so he can't slow himself down. Once this happens, you are in for a long night of fighting. You might even say that your fish is done at this point. Again, once the fins in the tail lock down there is nothing you can do to get the fish up to the surface. However, there is a trick I have learned that will help you slow down a yellowfin so he won't go deep so fast. Let's say you are drifting with live bait, or using squid at about 4 miles per hour. If this were the case, all you would need to do to get the fish to slow down is put your hand out behind your boat. I have found that it only takes a split second for the yellowfin to see a big cloud of feathers, or a school of squids and instantly slow down. If you don't have anything in the water, try backing off on him until he slows down enough so you can get him shallow. You have to be patient, because the fish will not slow down on his own. If he were to slow down on his own, there would be no reason for him to go deep in the first place!
