Can you chum for tuna?
When fishing for tuna, you want to become a source of food and hold them around your boat for as long as possible. Chumming, in various forms, allows you to switch the tuna off from what they were focused on to what you have to offer.
How do you catch blackfin tuna in the Gulf of Mexico?
The most popular being trolling artificial lures such as plugs and skirts. Chumming and chunking with live and dead bait while having lines out with baits is also very effective, baits typically used for this are spanish sardines, pilchards and thread fin herring.
How far offshore do you have to go to catch blackfin tuna?
On the Atlantic side, Trosset says the blackfin bite is best in 180 to 260 feet of water, on offshore wrecks and reefs.
What size hooks for blackfin tuna?
5/0-6/0 size
A 5/0-6/0 size circle hook works the best. Additionally, using live chum (typically pilchards) we can attract and raise tunas to eat on the surface, and lure them to the boat.
What is live chumming?
Live chumming is a technique so effective it has been outlawed in almost every major tournament around the world. The technique is simple in theory: catch a ton of bait and throw it overboard while fishing. Proper technique however is an art.
What do you use to catch blackfin tuna?
The number one bait for tunas is live bait. Fished from the kite or flat line, a fresh live bait like a sardine, herring, goggle eye or pilchard will outproduce lures, chunks or jigs. Trolling lures include small feathers, cedar plugs and ballyhoo rigs.
Where is blackfin tuna caught?
The blackfin tuna is one of the few tuna with a limited range. It occurs only in the western Atlantic Ocean from Massachusetts (US) south to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
How fast do you troll for blackfin tuna?
You should vary your trolling speed between 4 kt and 12 kt, until you get a feel for what speed the fish want. At twelve knots, your straw lures may need a bit of weight to keep them down in the water.