Hervey Bay Longtail Tuna March 2012

[bunchofbananas]

Location : Platypus Bay Hervey Bay 7/4/12
Target : Longtail Tuna
Choice of weapons : Nitro 6-8kg spin rod teamed up with a Daiwa Sol 4000, 30lb braid. Z-Mans 5 inch Electric Chicken Shadz, Snap Backs pink and large Cotton Cordell Poppers.

result: 30+ Longtail Tuna (between 8-10KG each)

With a near perfect day ahead of us we headed out to the beautiful blue calm waters inside Platypus Bay, only to be greeted with large hungry schools of Longtail Tuna smashing bait balls into pieces. It wasn't long to connect with these speedsters and among three fisherman there was mayhem, sore forearms, sore backs and aching mouths from smiling so much. Dave was a Tuna virgin but not for long

The sharks behaved themselves for this trip exept for a 10 foot Bronze Whaler which exploded a metre from the boat with a Tuna in it's mouth and my Brother Mick holding the leader seconds away from tailing the fish. I think he had to change his pants after that one . We got some fantastic surface strikes on the pencil poppers and kept a fish each for some tasty Tuna steaks on the BBQ with lime, salt and pepper.

Gotta love Hervey Bay when it fires
Kev

[HookWorm]

Awesome stuff mate. Hard to beat the Longtails for exciting fishing!!!!!!

[malby]

Very well done Kev! Wow, what a day hey!!
Just wondering, was any type of lure working better than others or were they keen for just anything? Also, I'm guessing they were not easily spooked but do you have a 4 stroke or 2 and how close were they letting you get?

[bunchofbananas]

Hi Malby,

the 5 inch plastics were the better lure on the day although poppers are more visual. The schools were on the move all day and were up and down within seconds, we were in casting distance most times and it was like getting a hole in one when you land smack on top of them with instant hook up. 4 stroke was the motor we used and also a fibreglass hull seemed to be more quieter than aluminium.

cheers
Kev

[malby]

Thanks for that Kev. I have never fished for long tails with plastics but would love to try. I was out in M Bay 3 days ago and the Longies were popping up for a split second (always out of casting distance) and then re-appearing sometimes hundreds of mtrs away if you could find them again at all (the birds were even losing them). I have a glass boat with a 90 2 stroke. Keen to give it a go this season and break the duck. Any tips?? For eg, what size jig head should I be using? By the way, how much of your 30lb braid were they pulling off on their first run? Heaps I bet! I have caught a 30kg model on a livie and was one of the most memorable catch's of my life. 1km 1st run on 10kg off the rocks! Longies are an amazing fighter hey!!

[bunchofbananas]

Hi mate,

we use 5/0 with 5/8 weight jig heads, this gets the distance for casting and most of the runs go 50mt to 100mt depending on their mongrel. No two fish run the same which make it exciting. Your rig sounds great to chase them in, one good tip is to go ahead of the wind, current and their general direction and either cut off your engine or slowly idle to them. It's a buzz when they are heading towards you and you suddenly see the eruption of bait balls appear and thats when you cast onto them.

Good luck and let me know how you go
Kev

[robfin]

Great report and great fish... it looked like you all had a ball!! I love fishing HVB. Dave and I have tried a couple of times for the speedsters but it never worked out with weather and lack of local knowledge so it was good to see him pop his cherry.
Hopefully we can get into them next year to pop mine.

Rob