# Near shore Blackfin tuna help



## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Ok, so I'm hooked on tuna but my boat isn't a deep water boat. How, where and when do you catch tuna near shore?


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## JohnnCash (Jul 16, 2017)

Hope you get some responses on this... would love to take a shot at some bf...


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## atlantacapt (Oct 2, 2007)

late august through early November, you will find schools of blackfins tucked up in close to the beach chasing ballyhoo and cigs. They even get them off the piers occasionally.


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## old school (Nov 16, 2007)

*tuna*

You have seen Ballyhoos off Pensacola? I have fished off Pensacola for almost 20 years and never seen one Ballyhoo. 

Several times we have chumed up schools of Blackfin at the edge in the winter.


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## BirdNest (Jul 25, 2013)

Ive foul hooked ballyhoo off pensacola pier before with king plugs, they are there


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## cody&ryand (Oct 3, 2007)

old school said:


> You have seen Ballyhoos off Pensacola? I have fished off Pensacola for almost 20 years and never seen one Ballyhoo.
> 
> Several times we have chumed up schools of Blackfin at the edge in the winter.


see small ballyhoo all the time have even netted them in the sound before.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

old school said:


> You have seen Ballyhoos off Pensacola? I have fished off Pensacola for almost 20 years and never seen one Ballyhoo.
> 
> Several times we have chumed up schools of Blackfin at the edge in the winter.


We watch the 'hoos showering off the pier in the fall. We catch 'hood off the pier on sabikis in late summer and fall.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

I have never caught one, sounds interesting. I bet they would tear up the water going after the cigs. If you catch one is there anything special you have to do right away before putting them on ice?


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Pier-Dude said:


> I have never caught one, sounds interesting. I bet they would tear up the water going after the cigs. If you catch one is there anything special you have to do right away before putting them on ice?


Besides bleeding it, thank the fishing gods cause you were in the right place at the right time.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

How do you bleed it? Cut the tail off?

So I take it they are super rare to catch.


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

Pier-Dude said:


> How do you bleed it? Cut the tail off?
> 
> So I take it they are super rare to catch.




I rip their gills out with a pair of needle nose pliers.


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

And ice it down good. I'm always in awe of photos posted and there's one bag of ice from Tom Thumb in the fishbox with 50 lbs of fish.


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## iJabo (Jul 6, 2013)

We saw a school about 20 miles south east a couple of weeks ago. They were there and gone in seconds before we could get over to them. If you see a school, you should be able to tell the difference between them and bonito pretty quickly.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

I would have gone nuts if I saw that. I would be zig zagging all over trying to find them.


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## bigrick (Sep 29, 2010)

how do you tell the difference ?


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## iJabo (Jul 6, 2013)

bigrick said:


> how do you tell the difference ?


From about 500 yards, we could tell they were crashing on bait much harder than a bonito would. When we got within 30-40 yards, we could see individual fish and determine that it was definitely blackfin and not bonito.


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

we used to get all the ballyhoo you need with a large dip net and a spot light on crab island at night. spot em up then slap over the top, not from underneath. they will jump out. these are half beak ballyhoo perfect size for the small islanders. good live trout bait if you snap the beak off.


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## Boat-Dude (Sep 24, 2011)

I wish I could train dolphins to blow a bubble circle so I could throw my net in the middle. I would share.


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Pier-Dude said:


> I would have gone nuts if I saw that. I would be zig zagging all over trying to find them.


We've lost focus on what we were going to do bottom fishing on many trips when the water started blowing up on the way to the "planned" fishing area.

Have to guess which way they went and we haven't been right yet. :no:
Maybe next time we'll start trolling in a ever widening circle, but, do we go clockwise or counterclockwise?


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## reely blessed (Oct 23, 2007)

Doing figure eights in reverse has always brought the school right under the boat for me. Then time to start jigging


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## capehorn19 (Feb 28, 2014)

I've been trolling around here, usually with wired dusters, for 20 years, and only caught kings, bonito, redfish, wahoo and jacks, but never a black fin tuna. Maybe I need to loose the wire, but afraid I'll get cut off.


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## FleaBag (Oct 19, 2016)

lightest flouro you dare to use. those little ballyhoos with blue white islanders or the old go to, plain old cedar plugs and put one way back with a bird on it.


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## Outside9 (Apr 30, 2008)

jspooney said:


> Ok, so I'm hooked on tuna but my boat isn't a deep water boat. How, where and when do you catch tuna near shore?


They will sell you a bigger boat

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

Outside9 said:


> They will sell you a bigger boat
> 
> Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


I figure...if I can't afford to buy it...I can't afford to run it!


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Sorry Jeff, we weren't much help. Just remembered an article I kept, missed this seminar too.

Blackfin Tuna
www.halfhitch.com • www.legendarymarine.com • 10-07-2014
By Tim Broom

When and Where to Catch Blackfin Tuna

We catch some blackfins starting in mid-March until Christmas time. The peak of the season starts with the full moon in August and ends shortly after the full moon in November. Several area charter boats specialize in catching these great eating tuna and it is not uncommon for them to catch 10 to 20 a day.
While the blackfin tuna bite all day and night, the prime time is 30 minutes before sun up and the first three hours of daylight and the last three hours of daylight until about an hour after dark. During the time of the full moon there is normally a great bite right during the middle of the day from 11am to 2pm when the moon is on the opposite side of the earth.
While you can catch them relatively close to shore 5-15 miles out over natural bottom or man-made reefs, most of the prime location lay some 20 to 35 miles offshore. Here are a few examples of places you can catch tuna here along the emerald coast:
South Edge
Knuckle
Southwest Edge
Big Break
3004.890
3004.687
3007.525
2959.426
8643.372
8645.411
8651.068
8658.076
Sometimes you only need to go a mile or so offshore.


Chumming, Chunking and Live Baiting

While you can catch blackfins trolling with Yo-Zuri plugs, cedar plugs, islanders, softheads and ballyhoo the most effective way to catch them here is chumming, chunking and live baiting.
Some of the best chum is fresh bonito, of course frozen bonito, Boston mackerel or king mackerel will work as well. I’m sure most of you have seen the show Wicked Tuna; we’re fishing similar to them and one of the big keys is to have enough chum to last for the day. We sell Boston mackerel by the flat and comes in 25lb or 33lb flats. I would not go with less than one flat, and really you need two flats. If you are using bonita I would say six to seven nice size bonita or kings for a days fishing. What you are looking for is at least one (if not two) full five gallon buckets. I would also take two 5lb blocks of chum I could deploy in a chum bag.
For you chunk chum you are going to use, cut the bonita, Boston mackerel or king mackerel cut into chunks about one inch squares and keep most of it on ice until you are going to use it, the fresher the better. You want big enough pieces to attract the tuna but not so big to fill them up.
-


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## kanaka (Oct 3, 2007)

Lastly, this takes more work on your part, but there is no better way to attract and catch tuna of any sort than live chumming. Go back in the bay and cast net five to 10 gallons of live baby menhaden or ly’s and dump them in the live well. Throw these out with some chunk chum and you will have fish on!!
Once you chose a fishing spot it may take only a few minutes to an hour or more to attract the tuna and get them fired up. You don’t want to drift too fast. So, if the current is fast, or the wind is blowing, or the seas are rough, you may need to deploy a sea anchor to slow your drift. A five-gallon bucket with a rope handle makes an inexpensive sea anchor. Hang the chum bag over and start throwing scoops of chum over until you get a nice slick behind the boat. If you have not seen fish or gotten a bite within an hour this will be your clue to try a different spot. You need enough chum but not too much, let a few pieces disappear and have time to work ¼ to ½ way to the bottom before throwing the next scoop.
You will attract many other species so be prepared for those as well; kings, cobia, dolphin, sharks, amberjack, and snapper.


Rigs and Baits

Fish no more than four rods, one with a balloon, two just free-lined, and one deep with a slip lead. Tuna are leader and hook shy. For those who don’t know, Fluorocarbon was originally designed for tuna fishing. Fluorocarbon works by being the same density as saltwater and not refracting light, making it invisible to the fish.
Leaders should be at least 10ft and up to 20ft, on the balloon rig and the free line rigs splice the leader direct to the main line with no swivel so you can reel most of the leader onto the reel. You will have to have a swivel on the slip lead rig to stop the lead. For leader I suggest 40lb Seagur Fluorocarbon, hooks either a 5/0 to 7/0 Owner Mutu Light or a #2 treble hook. Plan to loose quite a few hooks to kings and dolphin and have plenty on hand.
I am going to give you a secret on bait, you have plenty of choices all of which are good. All should be live for the best results, cigar minnows, herring, threadfin herring, small hardtail, some of the baby menhaden or ly’s you use for live chumming, pieces of the fresh bonita or mackerel. Ok here you go: the secret baits are live pinfish! Yes, tuna on pinfish! Blackfin love them! The other nice thing about pinfish is the other fish don’t seem to like them as much as the baits mentioned earlier so when you get a bite it is normally a tuna. Lastly you can catch them on Shimano Butterfly Jigs and Berkley Swim Shad Power baits, 5in or 6in size.



After the Catch!

Tuna spoil quickly and proper icing will ensure a yummy dinner. As soon as your tuna comes aboard make a small incision almost to the backbone under each pectoral fin and cut a ring around the tuna’s tail, stand him on his nose in a bucket or cooler and he will quickly bleed out in a couple minutes, this helps in preservation. Then have a cooler with a slush mix of salt water and ice. The salt will lower the freezing point and preserve the meat much better than just ice. I use the ice mix for all species and it just keeps them better than ice alone.
Once you are home, filet the tuna as normal and cut out the red meat along the spine. Eat fresh, or vacuum seal and freeze. You can do anything with blackfin tuna that you do with yellowfin tuna. My favorite may surprise you and most people think you can only sear tuna quickly on a grill.
If you have a Primo or Big Green Egg grill, set the temperature to 275 to 300 degrees. Cut the tuna in about 1in thick pieces, spray with olive or avocado oil, salt and pepper, and dredge with powder Italian seasoning (the powder works much better than dressing). Grill at this low temp for about five to seven minutes per side. Yummy right off the grill but store in the fridge overnight and crumble over salad the next
day with fresh avocado and mango for a wonderful delightful salad for lunch or dinner!! Using the Primo or Big Green Egg grill at these low temps won’t dry the tuna out. No worries!!


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## Outside9 (Apr 30, 2008)

It would be pretty cool to go out to the Southwest Edge on a calm day with plenty of chum. There is no telling what may appear out of the depths. 

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