Northern Pacific Tuna fishing downunder

[TomD]

Just thought I would enlighten you all to a fairly new fishery that's been going off in New Zealand for the last 3 to 5 years.

I fished there 3 days last year and T & R 3 BF est 200,250,250...thats in kilograms fisho's with fight times varying from 1 1/2 hours,45 and 50 min...stand up on 80lb
I just got back from another trip ( 36 hour trip ) and landed another after a 5 hour battle stand up and I kept this fish which went 180kg caught on 80lb

I met George Shillinger who has been sat tagging these fish and here is some info he has written........Last-Ditch Effort to Find Bluefin | TOPP

The way we fish for them might be considered a little crazy but It's worth It.....when that net comes up the back of those big trawlers you see in the link we throw a bait right in there and BANG your on!

These fish are out of condition so have no value to the local commercial guys who target the Southern Bluefin from July to early August..the Northern Pacific's show up around mid August

A DVD has been produced by a fishing show here and when It's available I'll let you all know...

happy fishing

I'm the dude with the sun glasses on

Seeker 6455xxh loaded

[islandshark633]

thats pretty cool, Tom. The tunas are 'out of condition' does that mean no good for sushi? Low fat content or such like? Didi it taste good? Just curious.

[Certifiable]

Awesome fish !!

Pretty cool knowing the bite will be right off the back of a net boat. You don't have to drift around in the cold waiting for a drive by hook up.

[Knot Proper]

Beautyful fish! Still waiting from my shot at them I passed up a shot in africa(cape Town) when the seas were around 8' boy have I lived to regret that!

[TomD]

Originally Posted by islandshark633

thats pretty cool, Tom. The tunas are 'out of condition' does that mean no good for sushi? Low fat content or such like? Didi it taste good? Just curious.

they are skinny and putting on weight hence why they follow the trawlers.......this one was really fat....tastes just fine too..

All tackle record so far is 300kg.........(not sure why they don't have line class for them).....that's over 600lb and they recently sat tagged a brute est at 400kg.

The spear fish record is 255kg....now that guy had to be mad

[islandshark633]

Originally Posted by TomD

All tackle record so far is 300kg.........(not sure why they don't have line class for them).....:

maybe 'cuz trying to catch a 300kg tuna on 50# line would be a bit silly ! The fight time would be about a week I would imagine. Of coarse there may be some vacant line class world records to be had by anyone willing to give it a shot.

[chummer]

Tred Barta claims he's the world's greatest tuna fisherman and I've seen his shows where indeed he boats fish over 100 pounds on 20 pound main line. I was thinking this might be possible because he's in relatively shallow water (i.e. 600' ?) and maybe it wouldn't work in water that's thousands of feet deep. Last year we had what we think was a 150lb YFT sound down to 1000' on 50 lb test. He finally chaffed through the leader after about an hour. I learned later how to plane them up, but I can't imagine how you'd do that for any fish larger than 500 lbs on 50 pound line. Maybe someone should challenge Tred to go down there and try it. That would be an episode worth watching.

[Boboe]

Tred Barta :eyeroll: . I've seen him fish and hunt on TV. I could do a better job and look like less of a spastic assclown.

[TomD]

Originally Posted by islandshark633

maybe 'cuz trying to catch a 300kg tuna on 50# line would be a bit silly ! The fight time would be about a week I would imagine. Of coarse there may be some vacant line class world records to be had by anyone willing to give it a shot.

I don't think they recognise individule line classes...well they didn't last year, not really sure why...took a while for the IGFA to even acknowledge the species after a few tests,DNA etc etc.

50 would be silly but I'm sure someone will give It a go If not this year maybe next....good luck to them

Nice lutes too IS633!

[DIRTYFOOT2]

Sweet Fish. New Zealand Hmmmmmmm. I'm having an attack of wanderlust.
What port did you sail from?

[TomD]

Originally Posted by DIRTYFOOT2

Sweet Fish. New Zealand Hmmmmmmm. I'm having an attack of wanderlust.
What port did you sail from?

Last year we sailed from Greymouth ( south island ) which was only 25 miles to the fishing grounds.
Port of Greymouth

We went to Greymouth again for a trip on the 14th but we canceled It due to high winds for the next 3 days.During this time the trawlers had moved north and the fish followed so we went back to the south island on the 19th with a break in the weather and sailed from Westport also in the south island.
Port of Westport Official Web Site
Some fisho's fly into Christchurch and drive to Greymouth which is about 4 hours or 6 to Westport.
I live in the north so catch a 3 hour ferry sailing and drive either 3 or 4 1/2 hours....

both ports have an infamous bar to cross