Tuna Bait Ball Frenzy Video

Ahhhhhhh!!!! This is what we live for!
Michael Takach took some video earlier this year of some bait balls in Panama and it was pretty sick. This one I pulled off the net and it just makes me smile knowing that it is still possible to get this deep in 50-100lb tunas and the net boats haven’t killed them all yet.
This happens all over the world and I’ve seen in in Central America, off the coast of Oman, the Maldives, and even (to a certain degree) in the Gulf Stream and Gulf of Mexico when the Tunas find a patch of weeds that is full of bait.
To get the full on bait ball experience though is a lifetime achievement.
Its pretty incredible when you have sharks, marlin, tuna, snappers, dolphins, and birds all vying for the same unhappy pod of bait. While throwing a topwater plug or any other type of lure or bait into it gives you a 100% chance of getting hooked up, shooting one out of the maelstrom takes patience and a steady aim anticipating where a fish is going to go before he even knows it.
Darren Shields speared the New Zealand record Yellowfin on a bait ball a few years back and hit it in the base of the tail. Thinking he was going to lose it and not wanting to waste the time he could spend on the baitball actually shooting one in a better spot he put a lot of pressure on the fish thinking he could pull his shaft out and reload. The fish coming to eat a bait ball swim so fast and come up at it your shots are very difficult and the adrenaline coursing through your body doesn’t help matters.
Turns out the fish was on for good and he landed what still stands as the NZ record.
Until we get the chance to see the same… Drool over this video and pray we get the chance to do it at some point.
If you are looking to shoot a Yellowfin Tuna in Central America the two best I can suggest are:
www.puntamitaexpeditions.com in Mexico
and www.panamafishingcharters.net in Panama