Fishing Australia

This week, I continue my account of our adventure at Eaglehawk Neck, in the South East Corner of Tasmania as we board the 36 foot Steber Charter Boat ‘Moonshine’ with Skipper Steve Gilbert.

Having caught a few tuna at mid-morning the day before, getting down to Tasman Island by dawn, was ruled out.

It was even calmer and sunnier than our first day of fishing and there were a lot more boats out on the water, so we were all a bit concerned that the fishing was going to be slow.

But the tuna gods lay out some surprise cards at times and at 8am near the Red Dirt area, a good fish had line singing as it peeled off a reel.

This fish was having a red-hot dig, but I went flat out and got her to the boat quickly. However, despite my efforts a hungry seal had heard the engine rev's drop and was already at the back of the boat. I immediately free spooled the fish so she could out run the hungry mammal and this worked a treat as the seal soon lost interest.

The only problem with this approach was the Bluefin!  They have a heart 8 times the size of most fish which helps them recover quickly and I probably shouldn't have been surprised when the second round to the boat proved much harder than the first.

After some fresh sashimi dipped in soy and wasabi sauce, the lines went back in and not long after a double hook up occurred with both fish boated and released. That afternoon saw us go on to catch several more tuna to 30kg.

On one hook-up, we cleared the rest of the lines while leaving the boat moving so that the seals didn’t hear the boat stop. This works ‘some’ of the time but every case is different.  When fishing these waters, all eyes on deck are needed to help judge the seals movements, so you can act accordingly.

TACKLING UP

37kg line is ideal for these bluefin schoolies.  It ensures a quick but exciting battle when needed to beat the seals. A quicker fight also means better tasting tuna and those fish that are released swim off in healthier condition.  Mind you, these fish are incredibly good at recovering from any type of physical exertion.

Mono main line is fine, but I use braid now that I have the experience to do so.  It allows me to carry smaller reels and also feel what the fish is doing during the fight, which can be important.  Especially when there are seals and sharks around. The 37kg Suffix line that I had on for this trip was coloured every 10 metres which made it easier to manage the spread of lures.

For Bluefin tuna, you will need a reel that holds a minimum of 500 metres of 37kg line in case you hook a 100kg plus barrel that is easily capable of peeling off 400 metres of line on the first run. Mind you some large bluefin, peel off a lot more or a lot less.  In the end, every fish is different.

When rigging up, I like to tie a 5 metre double in the braid with a 7-turn Surgeons Loop knot, and then attach 5 metres of 100 pound fluro-carbon via an Albright knot. The lure is attached via a Uni knot. In good hands, this setup can easily handle bluefin tuna to at least 150kg, providing of course that the sharks or seals don’t interfere.

150 or even 200 pound leader is often used at times, but this will result in less fish when it is calm and clear and water visibility is good.  Especially on diving lures where the leader is deep in the water, not skimming across the top.

For our trip, the spread of lures we ran consisted of three deep diving Rapala X Rap Magnum 30’s; one 10 metres back, one 30 metres back, and one 80 metres back. The lure 8O metres back caught as many bluefin as the rest of the lures put together which is often the case on calm clear days.

A 6-inch long Jet Head skirt running just behind of the last X Rap caught only one of the tuna, but never underestimate this ‘shotgun’ position.

Quite a lot of keen tuna angers have been experimenting with single hooks on diving lures and agree that the hook up rate is just as good, if not better. But rather than mess about with split rings and the like, I have worked out a much better way to put single hooks on to this type of lure.

I now simply loop on Williamson Assist Style Hooks straight to the lures eyelet. This offers a short distance between the hook and the lure so there is far less leverage on the lures eyelet and also no split rings or hook eyelets to bend, break or rust.

I will continue to compare trebles to this new set up as I travel around the country, but so far I can report that the hook up rate is sensational with the holding power and overall strength of the setup, unbeatable.

Best of all, it allows you to release any unwanted tuna in even better condition and after all, the bluefin are why I travelled to Eaglehawk Neck in the first place.

It is a special spot, and these are special fish, so please look after them as they continue their run this season.

See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos

Special thanks to Tourism Tasmania (discovertasmania.com), Budget Hire Cars and the Lufra Hotel at Eaglehawk Neck.