extra weight to cast with. They too are
often hit on the descent as you let them
sink before ripping them back toward
you. One of my old favourites is the Duel
Adagio Heavy, especially with a some
red in the pattern. Daiwa Over There
Skipping and Saltiga Dorado Pencils are
also brilliant.
There is also another viable option
to reach those distant schools in the
form of casting minnows, which are
basically minnows with a bib, but with a
lot of extra weight for casting. They sink
very quickly too, allowing lures to get to
the depth at which the fish are lurking
before cranking them back in. The Zerek
Cavalla and Rapala X Rap Long Cast are
some of the best on the market.
Although it may look a little odd, I like
to take a 3m casting rod to help reach
those distant schools without getting
the boat too close. It sits up in the rocket
launchers on my Surtees Gamefisher 6.1,
well out of the way until the opportunity
presents with a school up on the
surface. With three guys on board,
a little co-ordination helps to safely
execute casting to a visible school.PREVIOUS YEARS
As explained earlier, over the five or so
years we fished at Victor Harbor beforethis season, the majority of the fish
we encountered were all up around
20 kilos, and they seemed to be a lot
less skittish compared to this year. This
is understandable though, with more
and more boats targetting these tuna
schools every year because of ease of
access and abundance of fish.
Because the average size of the tuna
was bigger and they had less contact
with trailer boats, they seemed to be
a lot more aggressive and willing to hit
larger lures. We had a lot of success
using deeper diving minnows in the X
Rap 20’s and 30’s and also the larger
Clackin’ Magnum 20’s. The Halco Laser
Pros in the Angry Bird colour also did
very well.
In fact, out at Sanders Bank the big
deep diving lures tend to come into their
own as the bigger fish to 30 kilos snap
them up. Out there these larger fish
quite often hover over the drop-offs and
pinnacles of the bank, waiting in ambush
for that easy feed. Trolling a deep diver
along these edges, where the fish can
eyeball at close range, is a sure way of
getting it smacked.
On one occasion this season my
Simrad sounder lit up with the most
awesome looking bait ball in mid water
with a dozen big sinister shapes lurkingbeneath it. My only regret was I didn’t
take a snap shot of it for this magazine,
as it just looked so good and was the
perfect illustration of how the tuna
hunt when they are not on the surface.
A River 2 Sea Killer Vibe jigged around
this school would have certainly have
produced fish.
Another successful method used
out here is to cube pilchards and start a
steady berley trail, releasing a constant
smell until the fish follow up to the boat.
This is something I intend to explore
more next season, armed with a 15 kilo
box of IQF pilchards and a little patience.
Craig from South Coast Fishing Charters
fishes this way every day and I will
definitely be heading out with him early
next season.
Of course, the tuna schools out wide
are not always down deep and are often
seen exploding through the surface
amongst splintering silver shards of
panicked baitfish. There is no better
sight in fishing than seeing your lures
getting inhaled on the surface by a big,
angry tuna in full flight. This is where
skirts come into their own, so it always
pays to have several on board also.
Quite honestly, when I used to fish
with Herbie Glacken offshore from
Marion Bay, it didn’t seem to matter
what skirts he used. They all seemed
to produce fish. I know his favourite
was the yellow, green and orange
pattern, usually with a jet head, and
they did seem to do very well. But
my old favourites are pink and blue,
the tried and true red and white and
aquamarine blue.
With three people on board it makes
sense to run just the three lures at a
time, especially if the tuna are actively
feeding on the surface. This makes it so
much easier to quickly wind your lures
in and chase a school that is going off
500m away. You need to get there, drop
your lures in the water and get up to
trolling speed before the surface action
ends abruptly.The Duel Adagio Heavy is great for casting at surface schoolsuoS
th^ A
ustralian (^) An
(^28) rleg http://www.saangler.com.au