Getting Ready for the Tuna Season

[Scent Blazer Lures]

With whispers of Big Yellowfin Tuna and the odd Barrel Bluefin showing up on the NSW south coast I thought id write a little something to get you in that Tuna mood.

There is nothing like being out at sea on a crisp winters afternoon pulling lures in the search of those barrel like Bluefin or long sickled friends the Yellowfin Tuna. Those afternoons where there isn’t the slightest bit of wind or swell, lots of bait and the sound of the VHF radio yelling “4 way hook up”! Now you know you’re near the boat that’s just hooked up. You can feel those Tiagra’s about to burst into action, you’re on the edge of your seat, hoping that the next boat to hook up is you!

The radio burst out another scream of “we’re on”. The mood on the boat is high with all the crew keeping their eyes on the surface and on the lures, ready to jump up and grab the rod! Then you see it, the sounder marks fish 10 fathoms below the surface but by the time you go to scream out ‘Tuna!’ the two outriggers explode and the Tiagra’s burst into a scream only to be followed by the corners!!

You’re now hooked up, four big fish going different directions. You look at your mates and they are all getting stretched with big grins across their faces. Now you think to yourself, this is what game fishing is all about!! 1,2,3,4 fish hit the deck and high fives are exchanged, it’s all worth it. All the time, all the effort and all those fishless session come down to this moment!

This is how things went for us one crisp afternoon last season, there were fish being caught only a few miles south of us. The sun was just about to set and the light was fading quickly. The call to add LED lights to the lures to make them more visible, and it was the right call! Only moments after adding the LEDs to the lures, daylight disappeared. Then the sounder lit up followed by 5 rods going off all at once!

It was mayhem, the crew jumped up and everyone was fishing a fish. After 45 minutes, the first, second and third fish hit the deck. The 4^th fish pulled the hooks and the 5^th fish managed to damage the line resulting in a bust off. If we didn’t add the LED lights to the lures the chances of hooking up would have been reduced! We had a sixth lure out without a LED that didn’t get touched during the Tuna ambush. That was all the proof I needed that the LEDs along with the bait assisted in the bite.

100kg+ Bluefin Tuna The Scent Blazer Crew caught last season at night. By adding LEDs to the lures made the lures stand out to the Bluefin Tuna at night, this is why Scent Blazers are such a versatile lure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx7MdlJ80FI&feature=player_detailpage

Bluefin Tuna footage, how and what Scent Blazer Lures to use to catch Tuna.

I am sure many others out there had that exact same feeling and for the Reef Magic crew, they had a blinder of a season. Damo and the boys put many fishraiders on to their first ever Tuna. I was told stories of big bluefin over the 100kg mark eating the teaser out of Damo’s hand. I was also informed that the Scent Blazers they ran would always be the first lure to be eaten out of the spread.

Winner of the Scent Blazer Photo Competition and happy customer, Josh Walden with a 70kg Bluefin Tuna caught on a Scent Blazer aboard Reef Magic Charters.

There is something special about catching Tuna. It seems like there is hours, days and weeks of effort put into preparing for the arrival of the first Tuna to our local waters. It doesn’t matter what you have on you just seem to drop everything and find any excuse to head east in the search for a piece of the action.

After having a successful season last year I decided to do a little research on what drives tuna to feed. I found one piece of information that confirmed that Scent Blazers lures have the advantage in attracting and encouraging a strike! It’s a scientific fact that tuna have an acute sense of smell, they locate potential food using their ability to hone in on a scent trail. Scent Blazer Teasers are designed to lay a steady scent trail behind your boats and lures.

The advantage is that the fishy scent and bits of bait falling out of the teaser will create a path for Tuna to swim up and find your lures. Having scent in your lures will help the tuna locate the lures. When the tuna strike the lures they will taste the fishy scent inside the lure.

The lures actually look and taste like real bait fish that makes them irresistible to all types of Tuna. Having bait inside the chamber will increase the strike rate but will also keep the fish coming back in the event of a missed hook up. Tuna hunt with their nose and when using Scent Blazer Lures and Teasers you will find when they fish are in the area they will find your lures!!

Last season saw most of our bites towards the end of the day as the sun and light completely disappeared. Most of our Tuna hook ups were in complete darkness. By adding LED lights and glow sticks as well as bait to the lures made the lures more visible at night to any predatory fish.

Adding lights to your Scent Blazer lures is a great way to attract Tuna to your lures at night, on late afternoons and even overcast days. Something so simple has seen us continue to catch many Tuna into the evening when regular lures are far less effective.

Check out the Tuna Pack at the link bellow, it comes fully rigged and comes with a free 12” Teaser all for a great price! Make sure you get all the tuna lures you need to get into some fish this season! Don’t head to sea without having a couple of Scent Blazers on board, you’ll regret it!

http://scentblazer.com/Products/tabid/292/ProdID/1212/Game_Fishing_Lure_Pack_2__Tuna.aspx

Finding Tuna can be tricky, check out this article on tips and tricks in finding Tuna!

http://www.scentblazer.com/FishingAdvice/OffshoreTrolling/Trickstofindingtuna.aspx

Keeping my eyes and ears peeled for reports of the arrival of Tuna off Sydney.

Tight Lines

Andrew

SBC

[PRED-ATOR]

OMG they are monsters!

could you imagine tackling them on spin reels

[mangus]

Great report can't wait

[Scratchie]

Very inspiring Andrew! They are some cracking fish there! That is what I dream of most nights, the reels screaming and we're all on!

Soon matey, soon!!!!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[REEF MAGIC CHARTERS]

Nice write up Andrew. Yes the scent blazers definitely went well for us last year on the bluefin & it was great to see the smiles on clients catching their first fish! Our biggest fish was just over 100kg & was on an eggbeater & took around 2 hours. We didn't have glow sticks in our lures but i am definitely going to try them this season.

The water has definitely improved off Sydney so we are going to start taking charter bookings now that we think we have a good chance of catching fish. We caught our first bluefin on the 30th of June & our last on the 21st of July last year. There were a few gemmies on the mountain last week so we should start to see a few makos turn up as well.

Cheers

Damo

[Guest]

Dammmmmmmmmm I want another GO at the BLUEFIN I hope to go out with Mike again as the last time we had a 5 way hook-up as well on scent blazer lures

[Plumb]

Dammmmmmmmmm I want another GO at the BLUEFIN I hope to go out with Mike again as the last time we had a 5 way hook-up as well on scent blazer lures

+1 again this year for sure

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mr.e.p.d]

Waters looking good off kiama might put a big one in and see what we can find, ill keep you posted

Edited June 16, 2013 by mr.e.d

[tasker]

Great post and I'm sure every fisho is keeping there eyes and ears peeled for there arrival soon(hopefully)but in all honestly from what we experienced last year we could have towed a spread of thongs and gumboots and got fish!!