to head for. We haven’t ventured any
further than this, but who knows what
else lies out there?
The tuna schools started to reappear
around the waters of Victor Harbor around
eight years ago after an absence of over
30 years due to overfishing. But better
fishery management, reduced quotas, and
the explosion of tuna farms has brought
this species back from the brink of
extinction. And, luckily for the sportfisho’s
of South Australia, the population seems
to be growing every year.THE 2018 SEASON
Our tuna fishing this year was mainly
conducted within that 5-10 kilometre
zone stretching from West Island
all the way down this ruggedly
magnificent coastline to The Pages
Islands. There were plenty of fish, all
around that 12-15 kilo mark, haunting
these waters for around two and a half
months, from Christmas all the way
through to mid March.Unfortunately, due to the easy
accessibility of these schools, the fish
quickly became very skittish, especially
during the busy school holiday period.
This is quite understandable, as every
man and his dog was out there in
anything that floats trying to catch
their first tuna. In essence, the schools
copped a flogging and also became a
little too familiar with human contact.
In the weeks thereafter the schools
became very spooked, and as soon as a
boat approached within 50m, the fish
would sound and then pop up again 50m
away. Facebook had plenty of videos of
fish clearly jumping out of the water, yet
the punters’ lures remained frustratingly
untouched. This was a common
theme, especially for new tuna hunters
ploughing straight through schools.
Pretty early on we worked out that
the baitfish these tuna were feeding on
were no bigger than 100mm long, so it
made sense to try to ‘match the hatch’.
So, rather than dragging deep diving luresthat were 200mm long through a school
that was up and about on the surface,
we decided to scale things down. These
tactics really worked a treat.
What we needed were smaller,
shallow diving lures that could operate
within the top water column where
they were in the face of hyped up,
hungry tuna. Rapala’s X Rap Clackin’
Magnum 10 fitted the bill perfectly, as
it has a small body profile much like
a small garfish, and a narrow bib that
allows it to track straight at high trolling
speeds – a big advantage, especially
when riding a large swell.
On one trip this year I was using a
Clackin’ Magnum in the tried and true
Bonito pattern and this lure received the
first four hits of the day. I told Skinny
and Wally to borrow my spare Clackin
Magnum 10’s, and as we trolled past the
next school, all three rods buckled over
in unison – a drag-screaming triple hook
up on out of control bluefin tuna.
Similarly, the Rapala X Rap MagnumLaunching before daybreak is a
good idea during peak seasonuoS
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(^26) rleg http://www.saangler.com.au