Tuna mayhem

I just cant get over how amazing the tuna run has been this season. It really has been nothing short of staggering and so far I have achieved a PB bluefin, yellowfin and then topping it off with the huge bigeye for the Strikezone team off Sydney. However it doesn’t stop there because then we took it one step further and dived with wild bluefin off Bermi. We encountered a huge school of bluefin and after catching a couple on the troll we pulled up and started cubing.

Within moments we had hundreds of huge fish swarming around the boat scoffing down cubes in a mad frenzy. In a situation like this you would think we would simply fish hard and catch as many fish as possible. But these days I am more obsessed with capturing everything on film rather than just on the rod. Donning a mask and flippers and leaping in more and more these days is really giving me a whole new understanding of fish behaviour. Over the years I have leapt in with all types of fish from whales to marlin but my dream has been to swim with huge wild tuna. It is something I thought would never happen especially with the endless doom and gloom that the greens and scientist keep preaching about that state of our fisheries, but it seems they are wrong again!

Taking the plunge in almost 4000 metres of water is not for the feint hearted, but I have to say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. For more than two hours we fed these awesome fish more than ten kilos of pilchards before finally running out of bait. The experience has given me a whole new insight into how bluefin behave. Check it out at Better still we filmed it all so everyone could experience it as well so check it out at www.almcglashan.com/videos.php?video_id=59 and watch out for the lost whale!

Bluefin gone yellowfin back

The bad news is with the water warming up the bluefin are going to clear out pretty quick and continue on their endless migration. The good news is the yellowfin are returning and in the last few weeks there have been some good reports of Sydney. Roddy Findlay and the boys on Murrifin trolled a pile of schoolies while Sondal Benson cubed up a 44kg model and I also heard of reports of bigger fish to more than 60kg coming in from Stanwell Canyons as well.

The water is holding at the moment but at this time of year the currents can be fickle so the fish seem to move a lot. My best advice is watch those SST charts ( www.seasurface.com ) and try and focus your efforts in the 19-21 degree water where there isn’t too much current. My advice is to troll and have  bucket of cubes ready to go. The moment I get a bite immediately get the crew to start flicking cubes trying to draw in the rest of the school. It’s not one hundred percent but when it does work it is awesome!

Don’t forget the albacore either because they have been around in good numbers this season and late winter is prime tome for these lightweights. The ably really is the unsung hero of the tuna clan and they are easy to catch on the troll cube or even the jig.

The bluefin may have thinned out in NSW but there are still a few smaller school sized  fish in both Tasmania and Western Victoria. The trick is with these smaller fish is to downsize your tackle.

Makos back up and running

Well even though Garrett and the Labor Government bent over backwards for the radical greens it seems anglers finally got organised enough to overturn the attempted ban. Ironically there have been more makos around both inshore and offshore than ever before.

When it comes to catching makos there is only one hook serious anglers use these days and that is the circle. The hook up rate is far higher than J hooks and it also maximises the survival rate for release. Small makos are great on the table but I think it is high time that we banned the killing of big sharks for both commercial and recreational. Anglers are in the public eye these days whether we like it or not so angling groups like the GFAA need to drag themselves into the 21 century and start addressing the issues. I have no problem with harvesting one for food, but it is simply criminal to kill it to weigh it and then dump it. Talk about handing the greens the ammunition!

Jigging kings

There has been reports of some nice kings around this year. Sydney has been a bit slow but the block and cheese of Jervis Bay has been really firing with fish to 15kg or more. Like I always say use the sounder to find the fish and then stay right on top of them. Keep the boat in reverse and hold right over the fish for as long as it takes to hook up. This is where a four stroke is invaluable because being quieter and smoother the chance of spooking the fish is minimal - if you doubt me just check out what type of engines the boats that keep hooking up are using!

Marine parks madness

Just when it looked like we were winning the mark park saga explodes again. Firstly there are the new Commonwealth marine parks which have the potential to lock us out of all our traditional fishing grounds and if that wasn’t enough the National Parks Association has submitted radical plans to close up much of Victoria’s valuable fishing grounds. With the election around the corner all I can say is if you vote for labor or the greens you are going to help put the nail in the coffin for fishing in this country!