Fishing America: Virginia Tuna Fishing
By John C. Banks
"I wasn't quite expecting this" was the remark from our angler
as we fitted him to the harness and urged him to be patient as
the bluefin steadily took line off the reel, with no sign of
stopping.
We had pushed hard to be among the first boats to set lines off
the Virginia coast on this overcast July morning. We had set the
center line, locally known as the way-way back or simply WWB.
The rig consists of a bird, daisy chain of artificial squid and
green machine. Within seconds of placing the rod in the rod
holder, and before we could set the second line, we were hooked
up to a nice bluefin tuna.
Moments later we boated our second fish, a #40 class yellowfin
on another daisy chain as the bulk of the fleet were about to
throttle back and begin setting lines. This was tuna fishing -
Virginia style.
While this day we were successful, the season saw much of
traditional tuna fishing knowledge proved worthless. Things
that were not supposed to happen, did. Any seasoned Virginia
angler will tell you that bluefin arrive first, eating cedar
plugs in 20 fathoms. Farther offshore, yellowfin might appear,
along the canyon edges.
Anglers were pleasantly surprised when sizable schools of small
bluefin appeared along the canyon edges at the beginning of the
season. Meanwhile yellowfin were absent, at least in the first
weeks. Inshore, where bluefin were supposed to be, anglers
found hordes of enormous bluefish which destroyed nearly any
lure fished. Setting 4 lines would not be possible before all
rods would go down.
Just 3-4 miles away lucky boaters could be in small bluefin,
while those inshore were facing the monster blues. Eventually
the bluefish invaded even the canyon waters, something that
simply does not happen, ever. Tournament anglers in search of
the season’s first marlin suffered horrific tackle losses as
the hungry bluefish bit thru hundreds of ballyhoo rigged on
mono leaders.
Eventually, the bluefish subsided and anglers began to key on
the tuna. Most experienced boats enjoyed excellent catches in
the troll using a variety of daisy chains and spreader bars.
Initially the bluefin were small, and their behavior was quite
odd. They would eagerly attack 6 inch squid daisy chains while
9 inch lures were ignored. Small squids rigged on a spreader
bar were equally effective. Many of the normally effective
lures went untouched.
Upon examination of the stomachs, small squid were found, which
correlated with the marks of bait that most anglers were
detecting on their fish finders. Soon after the initial flood
of small fish, events changed for the better. Yellowfin
appeared, and a much larger class of bluefin entered the area.
Suddenly larger spreader bars, full size green machines and 9
inch squid daisy chains drew the attention of tuna.
Boats reported 100+ lb tuna crashing spreader bars right at the
stern, jumping completely out of the water before taking the
hook. Meanwhile yellowfin took spreaders or daisy chains up
close some days, while other days all the fish came on the WWB
line.
Another local rig that saw success has been gaining popularity
in recent years. Anglers will pull a specially rigged ballyhoo
as much as 350 yards behind the boat. Most anglers use a very
small or no skirt. Most anglers choose to utilize a long
leader, 20’ or more, attached to the main line with a small
wind-on swivel. The rig is trolled at 6-7.5 knots in 20 -100
fathoms, depending on where the big bluefin have taken up
residence. This rig is very effective in the dead of summer
when bluefin are deep and refuse to bite other trolled baits.
Fish over 100 lbs are common and some exceed 200.
Catches of tuna remained consistent thru August for those
anglers that were able to capitalize on the fishes’
preferences. Unfortunately Hurricane Katrina took her toll,
scattering the fish and leaving shreds of Sargasso on every
square foot of ocean.
A few days of fair weather allowed anglers to return to
fishing. Anglers working the steep drops in 500-1000 fathoms
found themselves in battles with big eye, sometimes multiples.
About The Author: The author maintains several outdoor related websites
including http://www.cafepress.com/outdoorsusa, http://www.fresh-seafood.net/, and http://www.commercial-fishing.org/.
