Thanks for sharing. My observations: even with the 30lb leader, tuna up to around 100lbs should be able to be handled in 30 minutes or less. Once you go past that you are looking at a much bigger bluefin or maybe a foul hooked situation, but either way, at an hour you have to put more heat on the fish. You shouldn't be fighting a tuna for multi-hours at which point, even if you boat it, the meat will probably be cooked from the long fight.
Yup. I think the thought though was we weren't radically offshore and weren't expecting that big a tuna to hit our line. A number of boats over the radio talked about catching fish with 30 pound leader
Man. Shame losing the fish, totally agree that the man on the wheel is just as important as the man on the rod. Y’all were totally undergunned. Also needed a real stand up harness in addition to some technique changes.
You should try jigging and popping for yellowfin and bluefin. Muchhhhh more exciting than trolling and chunking. Insane fishery off of Long Island for the jig and pop bite. Might spark your love for targeting tuna!
Awesome video! I think using light leader for tuna is the dumbest thing ever invented. I was fishing that same bite off of Long Island on Sept 12 using 130 lb leader and caught a 67” BFT. What is the point of using 30lb leader to try and provoke a bite just to decrease your chances of landing it substantially! Whoever’s idea was to use 30lb leader LOL… that fish was probably not even 50 inches. A giant tuna would have spooled the entire reel before you guys were able to clear the other rods and chase the fish.
I think the guys weren't expecting to hook a big fish. The GoPro doesn't do it justice, but these guys thought the fish was north of 200. We saw it a bunch of times, but again, GoPros don't do well on anything more than 20 feet away.
If you're always chunking with 130 you're missing bites. Agreed 30 is light, but many overs have been caught with 40lb fluoro. You need to drop leader size in certain scenarios to get a bite.
Lots of Monday Morning Quaterbacks out there John ! Looked to me like there were too many rods in the way, but I don’t know squat about Tuna Fishing ? I found your video well done educational and entertaining, as usual. Thanks.
Great Vid John! Never caught one myself but I have hooked and fought unknowns when striper fishing. I will try for them a few more times hopefully this year and can't wait to get my first.
Great vid! had me on the edge of my seat. Figured it was going to be lost when you mentioned the possibility of heart break at the beginning. Especially loved when you kept zooming in on the rod tip around the 21:30 timeframe. was expecting it to go pop around then!
Interesting video John. Have personally caught many Tuna in the past. I am really surprised that you guys were only using a 30 lb leader. There is no way that you can boat a good sized tune using that type of set up. Also, after such a long fight like that, I doubt that Tuna will be able to survive for very long. I think that you need to head out with someone that knows how to fish for Tuna on your next trip! There are many good charters leaving out of Montauk. Better luck next time.
@@sapelesteve Glad someone said it… that captain does not know what he’s doing. Not only did he lose the fish using that light of a leader, that fish is probably dead too after the exhaustion of a 4 hour fight…
Thanks for both comments guys. I mentioned it in the video but these guys have been doing this for years and typically use heavier leader. They went with 30 here because it was a bright, calm sunny day and we were relatively close to shore. I don't think anyone predicted a monster fish would wind up on the line. The radio chatter was loaded with boats mentioning catching them on 30. I think if we had to do it all over again, we would have tightened the drag at some point earlier and lived with the consequences
Man wish I owned that Boston whaler omg beautiful must be nice awesome vid brotherbut ouch that hurts but keep up the great work your friend Mike from nj 👍
100% what c-j outdoor said!! Watch some of the late great Tred Barta he was amazing man from shinicock . More tuna on rod and reel then anyone . We were fishing the Hudson one time and Tred was right next to us unbelievable
@@gregoryshamett6783 had the pleasure of meeting him in Islamorada before he passed. Was absolutely great and spent a few minutes talking fishing with me - just a great guy and amazing outdoorsman
Having 45 yrs tuna fishing under my belt, I just had to make this comment, if you know your fish are school size fish less than 100 lbs., 30 lb. test leader is ok, but to be honest, there's no need to go light if you know how to pattern the fish you are targeting. On my channel I have a video of me fighting an 80lb YFT using 25lb test with an 80lb fluro leader. My equipment was a Penn international 12T custom 2 speeded by Cal Sheets, the rod was made by me a seeker 8' 40 to 60 lb class hybrid blank and using Fuji concept guides, it took me 35 minutes to land that fish and its in the video, but, not all the time are the fish so eager, they can be line shy but I learned from some of the best tuna fisherman on the east and west coast. Al Ristori was one person I met and took a liking to, he showed me how to patter finicky tuna by tossing out a hand full of chunks then dropping his chunk in with them and free spooling the chunk so it sank with the other chunks. You may have to do this several times, but it sure beats sitting there hoping that one of your rods set at different depts will get a hit. I have caught hundreds of tuna this way. Your line presentation has a lot to do with it, no swivels are involved, I at the time was using JB hollow braid spliced into 80 to 130 lb fluro depending on what class of tuna we were into, using a short shank gama 5/0 to 7/0 circle hooks tied to the fluro with a Palomar knot I caught tuna when no one else did. Dead sticking tuna is just as boring as trolling, me I like to work for my tuna be it the method I mentioned or jigging for them. I also believe in the the do or die philosophy, pushing my equipment to the max, rule of thumb is 1/3rd the line strength to set your drag at, 30lb test your only applying 10lbs of drag, I have pushed 30lb line to 18lbs of drag and more, you have to turn the tunas head, if you don't you end up in a situation such as yours. That fish is gaining strength when you are just sitting there holding against the pressure, frankly I'm amazed that the line lasted that long, I knew you weren't going to land it, I was just waiting for the line to break or wear a hole in the tunas' mouth to pull the hook. I started Fishing off shore in the 70's and stopped around 2016, the canyons on the east coast just aren't producing the size tuna they were getting back in the 80's and 90's, I have several YFT up to 185 lbs. and was on the trip when a friend of mine set the Ct. State record for YFT tuna, 225 lbs., that night we caught 18 YFT from 165 lbs. to 225 lbs., mine being 185. I sure miss those days. I have pics if you would like to see them. P.S. Like the new ride. Jay Benson
There ya go get that offshore going. There is nothing like hooking a big tuna and being tortured for an hour or 2 on the rod 😆 🤣 😂. I've had 3 bites this year that were unstoppable with 60lb leader. Broke all 3 off. It sucks cause we were targeting yellowfin each time. With similar gear. It's a catch 22. You beef up and less bites and when yellowfin are around it's just not that fun
There was probably still no way you were landing that fish. No harpoon? Would of been very hard. Also, a 4 hour fight would indicate a fish much bigger than a recreational size keeper unless it was a yellow. Even with 30lb test. A 72inch fish should take about 2 hours to land. And how are you not a big tuna fisher?? The bite has been on fire out south of Hamptons/montauk all summer. Been to easy to catch bluefin over there this year.
Hey man, I wanted to send you some photos of the 1974 Starcraft Kingfisher16, that I converted to a cool center console. Where canI do that. If you don't give a shit, I understand.
Thanks John that was amazing! I kind of sort of knew the outcome when you mentioned demoralizing in the intro. Never the less outstanding video.
Thanks Ray!
Thanks for sharing. My observations: even with the 30lb leader, tuna up to around 100lbs should be able to be handled in 30 minutes or less. Once you go past that you are looking at a much bigger bluefin or maybe a foul hooked situation, but either way, at an hour you have to put more heat on the fish. You shouldn't be fighting a tuna for multi-hours at which point, even if you boat it, the meat will probably be cooked from the long fight.
Yup. I think the thought though was we weren't radically offshore and weren't expecting that big a tuna to hit our line. A number of boats over the radio talked about catching fish with 30 pound leader
Regardless of the line size u shuda put the heat on the fish either tighten drag or thumb it when its taking line.
Awesome vid!!! About time you went out for some blue water fishing...please get out some more and post more of these.
Man. Shame losing the fish, totally agree that the man on the wheel is just as important as the man on the rod. Y’all were totally undergunned. Also needed a real stand up harness in addition to some technique changes.
You should try jigging and popping for yellowfin and bluefin. Muchhhhh more exciting than trolling and chunking. Insane fishery off of Long Island for the jig and pop bite. Might spark your love for targeting tuna!
Awesome video! I think using light leader for tuna is the dumbest thing ever invented. I was fishing that same bite off of Long Island on Sept 12 using 130 lb leader and caught a 67” BFT. What is the point of using 30lb leader to try and provoke a bite just to decrease your chances of landing it substantially! Whoever’s idea was to use 30lb leader LOL… that fish was probably not even 50 inches. A giant tuna would have spooled the entire reel before you guys were able to clear the other rods and chase the fish.
I think the guys weren't expecting to hook a big fish. The GoPro doesn't do it justice, but these guys thought the fish was north of 200. We saw it a bunch of times, but again, GoPros don't do well on anything more than 20 feet away.
If you're always chunking with 130 you're missing bites. Agreed 30 is light, but many overs have been caught with 40lb fluoro. You need to drop leader size in certain scenarios to get a bite.
If your not getting bites then it's pretty hard to catch them! Having 5 bites and losing 4 is better then no bites at all.
If you lose 100% of fish it makes no difference your still going home empty handed@anthony3603
Lots of Monday Morning Quaterbacks out there John ! Looked to me like there were too many rods in the way, but I don’t know squat about Tuna Fishing ? I found your video well done educational and entertaining, as usual. Thanks.
That’s brutally disappointing after 4 hrs. Beautiful day at least
Great Vid John! Never caught one myself but I have hooked and fought unknowns when striper fishing. I will try for them a few more times hopefully this year and can't wait to get my first.
Great vid! had me on the edge of my seat. Figured it was going to be lost when you mentioned the possibility of heart break at the beginning. Especially loved when you kept zooming in on the rod tip around the 21:30 timeframe. was expecting it to go pop around then!
Interesting video John. Have personally caught many Tuna in the past. I am really surprised that you guys were only using a 30 lb leader. There is no way that you can boat a good sized tune using that type of set up. Also, after such a long fight like that, I doubt that Tuna will be able to survive for very long. I think that you need to head out with someone that knows how to fish for Tuna on your next trip! There are many good charters leaving out of Montauk. Better luck next time.
@@sapelesteve Glad someone said it… that captain does not know what he’s doing. Not only did he lose the fish using that light of a leader, that fish is probably dead too after the exhaustion of a 4 hour fight…
Thanks for both comments guys. I mentioned it in the video but these guys have been doing this for years and typically use heavier leader. They went with 30 here because it was a bright, calm sunny day and we were relatively close to shore. I don't think anyone predicted a monster fish would wind up on the line. The radio chatter was loaded with boats mentioning catching them on 30. I think if we had to do it all over again, we would have tightened the drag at some point earlier and lived with the consequences
I guess the old adage of brining a knife to a gunfight rings true again! Hellluva a battle!
Man wish I owned that Boston whaler omg beautiful must be nice awesome vid brotherbut ouch that hurts but keep up the great work your friend Mike from nj 👍
Welcome to Tuna Fishing!!!
Amazing how close those giants get to shore..
100% what c-j outdoor said!!
Watch some of the late great Tred Barta he was amazing man from shinicock . More tuna on rod and reel then anyone . We were fishing the Hudson one time and Tred was right next to us unbelievable
@@gregoryshamett6783 had the pleasure of meeting him in Islamorada before he passed. Was absolutely great and spent a few minutes talking fishing with me - just a great guy and amazing outdoorsman
How’d you like the v10 mercs? Looking at them on my 36 cat
Awesome engines. The torque is sick. Boat stops on a dime with light reverse and you have to hold on when the throttles go down.
Thanks for the video.
See John! Tuna fishing is fun
That was an amazing video...
Having 45 yrs tuna fishing under my belt, I just had to make this comment, if you know your fish are school size fish less than 100 lbs., 30 lb. test leader is ok, but to be honest, there's no need to go light if you know how to pattern the fish you are targeting. On my channel I have a video of me fighting an 80lb YFT using 25lb test with an 80lb fluro leader. My equipment was a Penn international 12T custom 2 speeded by Cal Sheets, the rod was made by me a seeker 8' 40 to 60 lb class hybrid blank and using Fuji concept guides, it took me 35 minutes to land that fish and its in the video, but, not all the time are the fish so eager, they can be line shy but I learned from some of the best tuna fisherman on the east and west coast. Al Ristori was one person I met and took a liking to, he showed me how to patter finicky tuna by tossing out a hand full of chunks then dropping his chunk in with them and free spooling the chunk so it sank with the other chunks.
You may have to do this several times, but it sure beats sitting there hoping that one of your rods set at different depts will get a hit. I have caught hundreds of tuna this way. Your line presentation has a lot to do with it, no swivels are involved, I at the time was using JB hollow braid spliced into 80 to 130 lb fluro depending on what class of tuna we were into, using a short shank gama 5/0 to 7/0 circle hooks tied to the fluro with a Palomar knot I caught tuna when no one else did.
Dead sticking tuna is just as boring as trolling, me I like to work for my tuna be it the method I mentioned or jigging for them.
I also believe in the the do or die philosophy, pushing my equipment to the max, rule of thumb is 1/3rd the line strength to set your drag at, 30lb test your only applying 10lbs of drag, I have pushed 30lb line to 18lbs of drag and more, you have to turn the tunas head, if you don't you end up in a situation such as yours. That fish is gaining strength when you are just sitting there holding against the pressure, frankly I'm amazed that the line lasted that long, I knew you weren't going to land it, I was just waiting for the line to break or wear a hole in the tunas' mouth to pull the hook.
I started Fishing off shore in the 70's and stopped around 2016, the canyons on the east coast just aren't producing the size tuna they were getting back in the 80's and 90's, I have several YFT up to 185 lbs. and was on the trip when a friend of mine set the Ct. State record for YFT tuna, 225 lbs., that night we caught 18 YFT from 165 lbs. to 225 lbs., mine being 185. I sure miss those days.
I have pics if you would like to see them.
P.S.
Like the new ride.
Jay Benson
ahhh thats a rough one john .. but thats tuna fising haha .. also what go pro are u using?
It is I guess lol. I use an 11
How can any fish be that powerful
John, are you on anchor when chunking the sardines/butterfish chum?
No sir....we are drifting
What size braid was on the line?
Was mono....no braid. Not sure on line but I'm guessing 80
@@jiggingjerks ahhh touché!
Great video to my buddy but THATS WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT BRINGING SKINNER!!!!!!!!
Hahahaha, Skinner may know less about tuna fishing than I do!!!!!
There ya go get that offshore going. There is nothing like hooking a big tuna and being tortured for an hour or 2 on the rod 😆 🤣 😂. I've had 3 bites this year that were unstoppable with 60lb leader. Broke all 3 off. It sucks cause we were targeting yellowfin each time. With similar gear. It's a catch 22. You beef up and less bites and when yellowfin are around it's just not that fun
You should’ve started this video at three hours and 49 minutes shows the fish being caught went on to go fishing for flukes
There was probably still no way you were landing that fish. No harpoon? Would of been very hard.
Also, a 4 hour fight would indicate a fish much bigger than a recreational size keeper unless it was a yellow. Even with 30lb test. A 72inch fish should take about 2 hours to land. And how are you not a big tuna fisher?? The bite has been on fire out south of Hamptons/montauk all summer. Been to easy to catch bluefin over there this year.
And I'm saying 2hours on your tackle (reel, line rod)
Devastating
anytime the drag pulls and stops repetitively like that its not good
Hey man, I wanted to send you some photos of the 1974 Starcraft Kingfisher16, that I converted to a cool center console. Where canI do that. If you don't give a shit, I understand.
Jiggingjerks@gmail.com
I would like to boat one just to say I did it.
drag too tight