Tuna Questions
- Thread starter chrome/22
- Start date
I haven't really weighed the amount of meat I get off each one. But I think it's something like 30-40% of the bodyweight ( that's trimmed loins).
First tuna to my boat last year was a bluefin (though a peanut of a bluefin). They run closer in, usually in the clean green water. So going for albacore you often run past them. But occasionally they show up in the typical albacore haunts.
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If I recall correctly, @adamcu280 got about 45 lbs from 5 1/2 albacore last year. In my limited experience the tuna were typical size ( except for one peanut).
That sounds about right. I still have a lot in the freezer that I need to eat/give away!
You have a recipe for this?
This is what I've been doing:
Steak some tuna loins about 3/4th inch thick. Coat in a coarse salt for 10-12 minutes. Wash off all the salt with tap water. Put on a rack in frig for an hour or two. Smoke for 1 hour. Make a mix of chili garlic sauce and brown sugar. I eye ball it but roughly 50/50. Brush on the tuna. Smoke for another hour or so.
Steak some tuna loins about 3/4th inch thick. Coat in a coarse salt for 10-12 minutes. Wash off all the salt with tap water. Put on a rack in frig for an hour or two. Smoke for 1 hour. Make a mix of chili garlic sauce and brown sugar. I eye ball it but roughly 50/50. Brush on the tuna. Smoke for another hour or so.
Sam, you going to attempt to smoke some of your? I'm always up for snacks in the DB
How much are folks fishing stinger flies, especially while trolling? Anyone tried a two hook fly, front + stinger? I never do a two hook setup with salmon because of frequent shaker/bycatch/unclipped encounters, but would have no compunctions fishing it for tuna.
SilverFly
Legend
Using 2-hook flies sounds good from a hookup standpoint but sketchy when dealing with freshly gaffed fish in the middle of a hot bite.
That said, short striking does happen with tuna. Found that out using over-sized squid patterns. I'd miss troll strikes, then get "pecks" on the retrieve during the slide to a stop with someone else hooked up. Tried using flies tied on shanks but still missed some strikes, so can't say for sure a stinger is the fix. I've had the best results just down-sizing my patterns. Going smaller with the over-all profile, not necessarily the hook size. Although regarding hooks, size is relative and strength is far more important than actual hook gap. I tie a lot of tuna flies on live bait hooks which are closer to steelhead hooks in terms of gap - but far, far stronger.
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SilverFly
Legend
I'll 2nd that. Never moving again though. The abandoned property next door to us needs his energy and attention.
I have almost solely been using stinger only flies the past couple years. Mostly because my flies were occasionally fouling on the front hook, especially when casting. I found some times when I wasn't getting bit on the troll, or seeing tuna reject my fly on a retrieve, it was because a few hairs were fouled on the hook. So I went to stinger only to insure I didn't have to worry about fouling when casting.
There are short strikes happening, even with the stinger, so I don't think the stinger itself is going to convert those short strikes into hookups.
There are short strikes happening, even with the stinger, so I don't think the stinger itself is going to convert those short strikes into hookups.
Ok, that’s really helpful, because fouling was my other big concern. I’m not one of those people who can tie foul-free flies it seems. I pretty much exclusively fish a stinger clouser for coho because I get so tired of worrying about fouling on every cast. If you’re telling me that going 100% stinger is an option, I’m gonna run with that! Except for maybe 3-10 small thin profile flies that I can gum up pretty good with epoxy around the hook.
I think that’s a great start. I have been using stinger flies amost exclusively as well. Tied on a waddington shanks. Some with spawn heads, some with just uv cure heads. I also like to have some smaller profile and darker colored flies on hand because I’ve been on a couple of trips where that seemed to make a difference. The non spawn head flies I tie are basically the same thing I use for coho, sometimes slightly upsized but not always. The main reason I don’t just raid my coho box for tuna flies is I am not 100% sure I tied in the stinger hook to the standards needed for tuna. I also usually upsize the hook a tad for tuna even if the size/profile of the fly is the same as the coho version.
I will say these flies tend to spin like a top (at least how I tie them
). They work though.
I hate a spinning or rolling fly on the tuna grounds. If it doesn't swim right to my eye, and I get even one refusal or short strike or something, I am cutting that f*cker off, because I can't stand wondering if that's the reason I'm not hooking up.
Maybe @SilverFly will post up some of his ties. Or you can go and search them out. He has a way of tying the materials super high on the hook so it essentially cannot foul, and you can feel very confident that no materials are getting in the hook gap and interfering with hookups.
Maybe @SilverFly will post up some of his ties. Or you can go and search them out. He has a way of tying the materials super high on the hook so it essentially cannot foul, and you can feel very confident that no materials are getting in the hook gap and interfering with hookups.
Considering how metal jigs work, a spinning fly wouldn't even begin to bother me.
Mmm. That's nice.
I know what I've seen out there! And I can't forget it. I seen some shit, man. I seen some shit.
Speaking of metal jigs... this is how we run the hooks on those. Not often getting short struck. May lose a few after the initial run, but this hook configuration works. The only jigs you really see run from the rear are the ones that flutter down vs being retrieved horizontal or vertical. The tuna seem to attack from that end... thus a stinger hook not seeming to make a difference.
