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- properly crimped coated cable
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- Chad with a good sized tuna shot with 400lb Mono and a spectra rigged slip tip
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- Riffe crimp assortment from www.speargun.com
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- properly crimped coated cable
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- Chad with a good sized tuna shot with 400lb Mono and a spectra rigged slip tip
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- Riffe crimp assortment from www.speargun.com
Question for Spearblog.com
We are planning a trip in October to hunt big tuna. How do you rig your shooting line for large tuna(over 200 lbs)? Do you use heavy mono or cable?
Thanks,
Fred C.
Thanks for the question Fred.
In the bluewater you first need to look at the size fish you are hunting and the gear that you will be using. For Tunas over 200lbs you should have at least a 5/16 shaft and 60″ gun rigged with an Ice-pick Slip tip or similar tip.
The tip should be rigged with 1/16″ coated or uncoated cable although some people prefer to use spectra or Dynema on their slip tips I have seen to many fish lost with this type of rigging due to the bones in the fish cutting the line, accidental cuts in the line in the boat, improper rigging and other issues. Again, I would prefer to use as light of rigging gear as possible to keep the weight of the tip and shaft and the amount of drag low but Cable is very reliable for slip tips on big tunas when crimped properly.
Our group of divers that hunt big tunas with consistency use 400lb Mono. With 400lb we have landed dozens over 200lbs and had no problems. Some people like having double crimps but I have yet to see a properly crimped 400lb mono double crimp allow the line to slip.
So in short the answer is 400lb mono is exactly what I would use for hunting big tunas.
As many tunas have been landed with Cable as with mono so it is personal preference. In my experience and in talking to the 30 or so divers that have hunted and been successful with big tunas in the past 20 years… mono is the way to go for hunting big Yellowfins.
When you beef up to hunting Bluefins over 400lbs… You have to step it up again and rig differently but that is for another day.
7 Responses to “Big Yellowfin Tuna Rigging”
Thanks for your answer.We are going with Sebastian(Punta Mita Expeditions)last time we had great conditions and lots of fish.I’ll let you know how we do and hopefully post some pictures.I really enjoy this site.
Hey Cam,
We had a good trip to Mexico.
I landed a 100lb yellowfin and a 40lb cubera.
Not bad for a 60 year old man.
Thanks for your help,
Fred
Hey Cam,
I’m heading to Costa to hunt yellowfin tuna out of flamingo, I have a 120x w/3 27″ 9/16 bands,75′ float line, 25′bungee,1lt rob allen rigid float, 10′ tagline and a rob allen 20lt inflatiable float is this float set up ok? what would you recomend?
Thanks in advance!!!
Tim
Hey Tim
I’d say that you will likely lose all of your gear with that set up shooting any fish over 150lbs. The water there is very deep and the fish will never stop when they head down. The most important part of the gear you could change up would be to get more bungey. For Yellowfins, and the ones you are hunting are the biggest of the big ones, a 75-100ft Bungey is ideal. It needs to be heavy duty material like the Riffe Bungey so that it does not draw down so small you can’t pull it back up under strain.
NExt you need floats. The first float can be a small one, 11 liters all the way up to 30 liters, and then you need bungey or floatline between that and the next buoy, another section of floatline or bungey and a final buoy. The second and third buoys should be 2 Atm floats or similar. You can get away with less buoys if you use the Riffe 2 atm as they have the best lifting power of any float on the market.
Yellowfin have very tough skin so it is unlikely you will tear out of them if you penetrate the fish and have a 75+ft bungey.
Your gun is on the small side but anything is possible. I would see if you can borrow a 63″ or longer gun that shoots at least a 5/16 shaft and has 3 or more bands rigged with an Icepick tip.
Hope this helps. Best of luck!
Cameron Kirkconnell
PS: If you are looking for a good gun that you can also use in the Keys for hunting Grouper, Cuberas, Muttons, big King Mackerel and Wahoo the new Metal Tech Mach 5 that I have developed has the punch and accuracy that you need for both Tunas and big Reef Fish hunting. It has an enclosed track and is what I have been using this year for everything from 250lb Tuna and Marlin to Wahoo and Groupers on the Gulf Coast.Ask your local Dive shop about it or Contact Riffe International to special order one. 1-800-SPEARGUN (773-2748)
Cam,
Thanks for the info!I’m leaving for costa next week so I don’t have time to get the metal tech[unfortunately]. I’m going to purchase the riffe 2 atmos float, should I put the rob allen 11lt hard float first then the riffe float? Also what distance should I space the floats,and should I use bungee in between the floats? I’m also switching the first line to a 100′ bungee is this ok? With my 120x should I use the the thinner shaft or thicker? Sorry for so many questions, I quess thats the price you pay for being the king!
Thanks Again,
Tim
PS: What size/length bands do you recomend?
Yep use the 5/16 shaft because you will need that extra weight to punch through the heavier thicker fish. Take a few with you though as even with a 3/8 (10mm) shaft you will bend it on a big yellowfin almost every time.
Small float first then bungey (10′) then another section of bungey or floatline (25′) and another float. You will be amazed at the stopping power of the 2 atm float but need a back up in case that 400 lb one comes by… The bands that you are using sound like they have been working so I wouldn’t change anything. If the gun shoots accurate leave it the way it is. Test it before you go and make sure it is shooting where you want. If you can’t get it to shoot dead on with the new shaft then change up your bands, adjust your shooting and lastly change back to the lighter shaft. Better to be accurate and confident then big bulky and all over the place
Cameron