# Chunking Advice



## blakeb (Aug 10, 2009)

We have had little luck chunking this year, and it has caused me to question what we are doing again.

At night, do you hold position up current of the rig, or do you drift and make several passes?

How far from the rig do you fish at night for yellowfin?

Do any of you have trouble with the barracudas while hand lining live hard tails? Does it mean we are too close to the rig?

Also, how persistent are you when chunking? If you aren't seeing fish or getting any hits, how long before you leave and try another rig?


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Close proximity will certainly increase Cuda run ins

All the other questions have "generic" answers of course, but typically a controlled drift has always worked best for me. Holding never a allows my baits to drift down naturally and causes a lot of planing in heavy current. I try to stay at least a few hundred yards from the rig or further but the location of the fish will dictate the distance of the rig and sometimes you just have to wade through the teeth to get the tunas

As far as persistence goes.....

If I'm marking yellowfin, I'm not moving. I will get their attention one way or another


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## blakeb (Aug 10, 2009)

So are you doing long drifts that stay that far from the rig the entire time or are you passing by close to the rig halfway through? Do you find that yellowfin hug the rig tighter at night?

Sorry for all the questions, but I hate feeling like we are doing it all wrong when we are out there.


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

blakeb said:


> We have had little luck chunking this year, and it has caused me to question what we are doing again.
> 
> At night, do you hold position up current of the rig, or do you drift and make several passes?


Ok, here we go. Chunking 101. 

Night or day, if chunking, you do not hold your position with your motors. You make drifts from the upcurrent side to the downcurrent side. Then you get reset. If you have no idea where the current is coming from, a good rule of thumb is you want to chunk beam-to, and have the wind in your face. Also, use your bottom machine. If it doesn't work, you are fishing blind. Chunk where you are marking fish. A large cloud usually represents bait or a tight school of blackfin. Large individual red marks represent tuna.



blakeb said:


> How far from the rig do you fish at night for yellowfin?


If I am drifting and marking fish the entire time, I keep chunking. Especially if I am catching. Sometimes the school will follow you a mile or more off the rig.



blakeb said:


> Do any of you have trouble with the barracudas while hand lining live hard tails? Does it mean we are too close to the rig?


I rarely catch cudas at night. One thing I have noticed is that when the current goes slack, for whatever reason, the cudas are a much bigger problem. If my live baits are gettin cut in half regularly, I'm probably going to move. I generally don't live bait at night unless I pull up to a rig and the tuna are going off. Then it's on like donkey kong. Same as I would in the daytime-no difference. Use the motors to hold you up current or where you are marking yellows.



blakeb said:


> Also, how persistent are you when chunking? If you aren't seeing fish or getting any hits, how long before you leave and try another rig?


During the day, chunking usually represents my 2nd or 3rd smoke I throw at tuna. If I am marking fish, but they are not coming up to hit my live baits, I will try a few drifts chunking before deciding to move. So long as I am getting at least one yellow every 30 minutes or so, it is highly unlikely I will move. Don't leave fish to find fish. Unless it is a tournament and I am specifically targeting larger tuna, in which case if I keep releasing smaller fish, I might then make a move. If you're catching the occasional 100 pounder, there are no doubt some 120-140 class fish mixed in there-don't go anywhere. It's not often I catch 60-80 pounders all day/night and then a 150 show up. For the most part, they tend to school in similar weight class. They're just like humans-they're not always hungry. If you're chipping away at them, or see the occasional yellow bust the surface, stay put. There are plenty of fish there.

The night bite has been very good lately and most of my trips have been 18 hours where we catch our tunas in the cool of the night, no other boats around, and then go chase the bills from first light on through the day.


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## blakeb (Aug 10, 2009)

I really appreciate all the info. I swear, the two of you are the reason we catch fish out there. This should give me enough confidence to not doubt what we are doing.


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## cliff k (Oct 1, 2007)

chris and woody are the two reasons??? those guys are just reading sportfishing magazine and reciting articles to you. they don't know how to catch fish. :whistling::jester:


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Hey.....I added a couple words of my own and I've put a few words in Sportfishing magazine so I'm allowed to plagiarize myself.


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## Scruggspc (Mar 20, 2013)

cliff k said:


> chris and woody are the two reasons??? those guys are just reading sportfishing magazine and reciting articles to you. they don't know how to catch fish. :whistling::jester:


I agree with cliff those guys don't now anything.:whistling:


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## SnapperSlapper (Feb 13, 2009)

Chunking doesn't work anymore, so I don't know why y'all are arguing about it. Trolling mold crafts at 9.5 knots is the ticket.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

SnapperSlapper said:


> Chunking doesn't work anymore, so I don't know why y'all are arguing about it. Trolling mold crafts at 9.5 knots is the ticket.


I concur. You will also want to rig those moldcrafts with a chain of six treble hooks


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