3-Day Trip

[Paddler]

Just got back from a 3-day trip out of San Diego on the Pacific Dawn.  We fished the area around San Clemente Island, vertical jigging at night and fishing bait during the day, fly-lining sardines hooked near the pelvic fin and nose hooked with 2-3 ounce weights 3' above the bait.  There were ten of us, the limit was 6/man, exclusively bluefin tuna.  It's okay to catch more, as a few didn't get their fish and the crew has limits also, but you can only keep 6.  I caught a total of 8 fish, which weighed nearly 500#, and the 6 I kept weighed ~400#.  Most fish came from 240'-360' down, at night, on heavy jigs.  Mine started out red, but color didn't matter, as it quickly lost its paint.  A good time was had by all:

[Piscophilic]

Sounds like a great outing, thanks for sharing!

[wiperhunter2]

Wow, that's a lot of tuna, congrats on a great trip. How much did the one you are holding weigh? What do you do with that much meat?

[Paddler]

I don't know how much that one weighed. Probably between 60 and 70 lb. That wasn't the biggest I caught, that one weighed 80 lb. The biggest one for the trip was 101 lb.

We all had our fish professional process. I came home with a bit over 150 lb of sushi grade tuna, plus collars. We had grilled collar last night for dinner.

I'll spread the meat around to family and friends.

[wiperhunter2]

I don't know how much that one weighed. Probably between 60 and 70 lb. That wasn't the biggest I caught, that one weighed 80 lb. The biggest one for the trip was 101 lb.

We all had our fish professional process. I came home with a bit over 150 lb of sushi grade tuna, plus collars.  We had grilled collar last night for dinner.

I'll spread the meat around to family and friends.

From 400 lbs down to 150 lbs, wow, that's a lot of lose. From the pics it almost looks like beef. By the way what part does the collars come from?

[BoatBallast]

Looks like a great trip. Congrats! What line did you use for the leader?

The collar is the line from just behind the pectoral fin to the gill plate, all around the fish. It's a very tasty part of a tuna.

[wiperhunter2]

Looks like a great trip.  Congrats!  What line did you use for the leader?

The collar is the line from just behind the pectoral fin to the gill plate, all around the fish.  It's a very tasty part of a tuna.

Thanks for the info, is it kind of like a tender loin on a cow?

[BoatBallast]

Looks like a great trip.  Congrats!  What line did you use for the leader?

The collar is the line from just behind the pectoral fin to the gill plate, all around the fish.  It's a very tasty part of a tuna.

Thanks for the info, is it kind of like a tender loin on a cow?

Kind of, in that the muscles there on a tuna don't work all that hard, like the tenderloin on a cow.  The meat falls apart pretty well when it is cooked, generally.  Generally decent fat content too.

Yelllowtail collars are super desirable.

[Paddler]

Looks like a great trip.  Congrats!  What line did you use for the leader?

The collar is the line from just behind the pectoral fin to the gill plate, all around the fish.  It's a very tasty part of a tuna.

The so-called "bite leader", which was 3' long, measures .064".  I rigged my own tuna jigs with 130# and 250# Big Game leaders, the latter of which mikes out at .058".  That means the bite leader is 300# material.  

We bought the jigs, pre-rigged hooks and bite leaders from the tackle shop in Fisherman's Landing, at exhorbitant prices.  Their prices on rental gear was very high as well, considering the condition it was in.  I was told that my gear wouldn't work well, but knowing what I know now I'd take my Shimano Tiagra 30Ws, maybe even a Daiwa SLT50W on my Calstars.  I like using nice gear, and my stuff is much nicer that the rental stuff.

[BoatBallast]

Looks like a great trip.  Congrats!  What line did you use for the leader?

The collar is the line from just behind the pectoral fin to the gill plate, all around the fish.  It's a very tasty part of a tuna.

The so-called "bite leader", which was 3' long, measures .064".  I rigged my own tuna jigs with 130# and 250# Big Game leaders, the latter of which mikes out at .058".  That means the bite leader is 300# material.  

We bought the jigs, pre-rigged hooks and bite leaders from the tackle shop in Fisherman's Landing, at exhorbitant prices.  Their prices on rental gear was very high as well, considering the condition it was in.  I was told that my gear wouldn't work well, but knowing what I know now I'd take my Shimano Tiagra 30Ws, maybe even a Daiwa SLT50W on my Calstars.  I like using nice gear, and my stuff is much nicer that the rental stuff.

Good to know, thanks! 

How many grams was the jig itself?  400ish to get down 2-300+ feet?

Would jigging with a 30W get pretty tiring?  Or would you just run that for the bait setup?  The Calstars are sweet rods.  I like the Seekers a lot too.

[Paddler]

Looks like a great trip.  Congrats!  What line did you use for the leader?

The collar is the line from just behind the pectoral fin to the gill plate, all around the fish.  It's a very tasty part of a tuna.

The so-called "bite leader", which was 3' long, measures .064".  I rigged my own tuna jigs with 130# and 250# Big Game leaders, the latter of which mikes out at .058".  That means the bite leader is 300# material.  

We bought the jigs, pre-rigged hooks and bite leaders from the tackle shop in Fisherman's Landing, at exhorbitant prices.  Their prices on rental gear was very high as well, considering the condition it was in.  I was told that my gear wouldn't work well, but knowing what I know now I'd take my Shimano Tiagra 30Ws, maybe even a Daiwa SLT50W on my Calstars.  I like using nice gear, and my stuff is much nicer that the rental stuff.

Good to know, thanks! 

How many grams was the jig itself?  400ish to get down 2-300+ feet?

Would jigging with a 30W get pretty tiring?  Or would you just run that for the bait setup?  The Calstars are sweet rods.  I like the Seekers a lot too.

Yeah, I think 400gms, as the jig plus hooks and leader weigh 15oz.

As far as jigging, that's what I thought.  But we didn't yo-yo.  We just dropped down and reeled up fast with the rod on the rail.  So the weight of the reel didn't matter.  Same with fly lining or using a 2-3oz weight above the bait.  I caught my last fish with a weight.  Casting that is hard on the bait, it's better to just slowly let it down so your sardine swims around naturally.  I was playing with the drag to lower it down smothly when the fish bit, and it was ~70lb.

I like my yellow poles and gold reels.  This photo is offshore from La Push.

[Redrebel]

Just got back from a 3-day trip out of San Diego on the Pacific Dawn.  We fished the area around San Clemente Island, vertical jigging at night and fishing bait during the day, fly-lining sardines hooked near the pelvic fin and nose hooked with 2-3 ounce weights 3' above the bait.  There were ten of us, the limit was 6/man, exclusively bluefin tuna.  It's okay to catch more, as a few didn't get their fish and the crew has limits also, but you can only keep 6.  I caught a total of 8 fish, which weighed nearly 500#, and the 6 I kept weighed ~400#.  Most fish came from 240'-360' down, at night, on heavy jigs.  Mine started out red, but color didn't matter, as it quickly lost its paint.  A good time was had by all:

Congratulations on a great trip. I grew up in SoCal and have many memories going out of fisherman’s or H & M. There is nothing like a deck full of tuna and tuna blood!!!