There’s no trolling needed when the tuna move inshore.

Despite the lack of surface activity, Bogdon Ilisie was throwing a large stickbait, the same bait that had worked so well in the fall when bluefin were feeding on the surface. Given the lack of breaking fish, I didn’t expect anything to eat it.

A school of skippies came up off the bow, and Bogdon winged a plug past them and retrieving it using a sweep-and-reel motion. Right in the middle of the skipjack school, the water exploded and Bogdon’s reel started screaming. Ten minutes later, we were all astounded by the beautiful 60-pound yellowfin tuna on the deck.

Inside The Canyons

While yellowfin tuna certainly aren’t unheard of on the 30-fathom curve, they are not frequent visitors either. Generally, people don’t target them here. Sure, you see and hear of them being caught incidentally while fishing for bluefin every now and then, but some years are different.

In late July and into August, there can be so many yellowfin at the 30 line that they appear to have pushed the bluefin out. July and August are usually peak months on the bluefin grounds, but some years you can’t buy one in August.

It’s hard to say why there are so many yellowfin inside the canyons some years. The water temperature isn’t always higher than usual and large concentrations of bait don’t always appear. Some years there are fewer sand eels than in previous years, and the ones that are alround can be very small, about 2 to 4 inches long. Nevertheless, the yellowfin we catch are loaded with the tiny sand eels. Whatever the reason, the yellowfin hold up in the area, and I’m hoping they return again this year.

There are times when I will run out and see yellowfin feeding on the surface, but more often than not, that isn’t the case. I will find the usual signs of life—nervous water, bait on the surface, busting skipjack or false albacore, whales and dolphins, sea turtles, birds, marks on the sounder—as well as blue water in the mid-70s, but even when these are absent, it doesn’t mean the tuna aren’t around. In fact, I saw a number of instances last year, and the year before, when we caught fish blind-casting stickbaits and big poppers when there were no signs of life at all.

I know it sounds unlikely, not to mention tedious, to continuously blind-cast at dead water. I was skeptical of such a technique until fishing with the guys from Saltywater Tackle in Sayreville, New Jersey. They are constantly casting, and they are constantly generating some ferocious pelagic surface strikes from waters that seem devoid of life.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets the heart pounding like a good-sized tuna coming out of nowhere to smash a surface plug. Trolling just isn’t as exciting.

Trolling, however, can be an excellent way to find the fish. When I look for those yellowfin, I have both radios turned on and tuned to channels 68 and 65, the offshore fishing channels. If the trolling boats are catching, they are generally talking about it on one of those two channels. Find the trolling fleet and you’ll usually find the fish.

Getting in the same general area is good, but separate yourself from the fleet a bit. For one, 45-foot sportfishing vessels don’t really like it when you get in their way. You’re likely to hear some pretty nasty comments on the VHF if you park yourself in the middle of the fleet and start throwing plugs. Plus, tuna seem far less likely to eat surface plugs when boats are running over them. Get far enough away from the fleet where you and the fish can have some space. And start casting!

As a last resort, even if I don’t plan on chunking, I always bring at least one flat of herring or sardines offshore with me. Even if all we are doing is throwing plugs I’ll start cutting the baits and throwing them in the water. I believe it attracts yellowfin, and gets them excited. If it’s dead and we aren’t doing anything, sometimes it’s a real confidence booster when you see yellowfin in the slick eating the chunks.

Skipjacks and Porpoises

On a number of occasions, the yellowfin will hang right under the skipjack and false albacore schools. If you throw a large plug into one of these schools, the big yellows will come up and smash it. The yellowfin aren’t just found near the large schools—if you chase down even a few skippies or albies and get a cast into them or in front of them, there is a good chance your plug will get crushed by a tuna.

Many times the yellowfin will follow schools of porpoises. We will run-and-gun at the dolphin and the yellows will come up from below them, sometimes leaping completely out of the water to grab the plug. It’s important to note here that almost all of our strikes will come from casts made directly in front of the cruising/feeding porpoises. Those casts in the middle or behind them never got touched.

On some days, as long as you got your plug in the right place (in front of the moving pod of dolphin), it almost always get smashed. However, there are others when we make a hundred casts in the perfect spot only to have the plug get struck on the one-hundred-and-first cast. The point is that even if you don’t score with this technique right off the bat, sometimes it really pays to be persistent.

Gear and Technique

Whether you are just blind-casting, casting at skippies or porpoises, or casting to busting yellowfin, you must make long, accurate casts if you want to catch. That means rods in the 8-foot range that can launch heavy 4-ounce plugs and have the backbone to fight a 100-plus-pound tuna.

I like the Saltywater Tackle El Maestro 7-foot, 10-inch medium/heavy. It has proven to be very tough, easy to load, and has a powerful backbone for fighting and lifting. It’s also pretty light, which is a huge bonus when casting for several hours straight. While most would probably consider it in the lighter range for tuna, thus far we’ve had no problems beating fish in the 100- to 150-pound class.

I’m also a big fan of the Saltywater Tackle Race Point 100. It’s a little heavier than the El Maestro, and longer at 8 feet, 7 inches so you can get that plug out there even further. It has a unique flexibility that loads the rod and gets you the required casting distance.

As far as reels go, the Shimano Stella 18000, 20000, and Van Staal VSB250 are all up to the task. These reels have ample line capacity and superb drag systems, which you will absolutely need. Once these fish crash a plug, they make a crazy initial run.

I generally spool up with 65-pound-test braided line, but some anglers recommend at least 80-pound-test. I can squeeze out a little more casting distance with the 65, and have yet to break off a fish—knock on wood.

I use about 6 feet of 80-pound-test fluorocarbon leader material. Many fishermen like wind-on leaders, securing them with a loop-to-loop connection. I tie the leader material directly to the braid using a slim beauty knot. While not easy and somewhat time-consuming to tie, it is an incredibly strong knot and is very low profile so it goes though the guides easily.

Heavy Stickbaits

Heavy stickbaits are the author’s favorite choice for topwater tuna. These baits are quite heavy and cast very well.

The best plugs by far are the Japanese-style stickbaits. These baits are surprisingly heavy, giving the angler the ability to make long casts quickly, which is crucial. Equally important is their action. With a correct sweep-and-stop retrieve, stickbaits have erratic movement, darting and diving like actual baitfish in distress. Furthermore, stickbaits can be worked slowly and still have a lot of action, which keeps the lure in the strike zone longer.

The retrieve is very important. The most common mistake with this type of lure is trying to work it too fast, and I constantly have to tell anglers to slow it down. If you are an inshore plug fisherman, you will feel compelled to twitch it as you would a pencil popper or a walk-the-dog lure. This may draw some strikes, but I can tell you first-hand, the following method works far better.

After the plug lands, give it a second to settle, take up the slack, make a long sweep with the rod tip, then reel in the slack and repeat. If you are doing this correctly, the bait will make a unique dart-and-dive movement. This is what drives tuna crazy! Keep in mind, the longer it’s in the water, the more of an opportunity a tuna has to see it and grab it. Fast retrieves, like you would do for busting albies, do not work well.

Most stickbaits come in floating and sinking models. Use the floating versions on calm days; the sinking versions tend to hold better on the windy, choppy days.
I’ve found that colors aren’t that important, as all colors seem to work. If I had to pick one, pink does seem to draw the most attention.

That’s it. Next time you hear of a good inshore bite for yellowfin, put away the trolling gear and see if you can score a few on plugs. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that those yellowfin frequent the 30 line again this year!