Well, many of the members would be aware that barrel sized Bluefin showed up last weekend (if not earlier), some 60km south of Apollo Bay, VIC Australia.
I've been chasing tuna on topwater in varying capacity for the last 4 years, starting in Sydney with not so much as even a sniff. Only the last two years, particularly, in Victoria and Tasmania has a topwater bite on monster tuna ever become such a viable prospect.
Last Sunday, I got the call from the Big Man - Brendan Wing. If there is a guy that can find and read tuna in southern waters better than this bloke - I wanna meet him! A 153.9 kg Tuna was trolled on X-Rap with reports of big schools of bait and busting tuna to go with them, we had to be there. Being the week leading up to Easter, if we could've dropped things on the Monday then we would've and I think our prospects of converting a barrel on topwater would've been at their highest.
Anyway, we made the call to fish Sunday. I got the confirmation on the Saturday, day before easter at 3:00pm....Truck was packed at 4:00pm and I was rolling down south
the things we do for fishing right?
After an 11 hour, fuel stop only trip - I arrived at the "Wingdom" at 2:00am. Straight to bed and on the road by 8:30am, due West on the 3 hour journey to Apollo Bay.
How frustrating! The Great Ocean Road is arguably the most beautiful and scenic in the world - but no very fun towing a 7m boat in slippery conditions, coupled with holiday weekend traffic....like banging your head against a wall. My poor clutch
After numerous delays, we arrived in AB at 2:00pm! So much for a 3 hours journey it would typically take with a boat in stow.
We launched the boat and decided to do some reconnaissance away from the main patch and reef where bait and tuna had been typically encountered. After a short look with nothing happening - we heading to the mark some 68km from the ramp, at 4:00pm, a mere 1.5 hours before sunset - but we had a good feeling
What a decision that was! As soon as we arrived, most boats had left and we instantly found busting barrels. Slashing all around the boat as the sun slowly descended. Real eat your eat out stuff with barrels smashing bait as close as 5 metres away, and as we were informed by another boat - one barrel following my stickbait all the way to the boat. I didn't see this, but just as well as I think it would've increased my frustration! They were feeding very tentatively, more like an afternoon frolic than anything. I put this down to not only small boat, but monumental pressure during the day from trolling boats.
The next day was nearly the same. Launching at 4:30am...in the dark we cruised out slowly, navigating the numerous and inconveniently placed Cray traps along the Cape. Timed perfectly - we arrived just before first light out at the big reef, 68km offshore.
It took about 30 minutes before the bird and seal action begin, and like a switch was "flicked", monster barrles started slashing. We hoped this would be our best chance, but then other boats started to arrive like clockwork. They are certainly entitled to fish at anytime and anywhere they like - but obviously, all this traffic simply isnt conducive to a succesful topwater bite.
After several hours trolling around whilst casting stickbaits, we decided to sit on one of the seal schools, with Winga and Chook reading an extraordinary amount of bait fish - with awesome showings of big fat arches - barrels. He could'be picked any school, but his instincts told him this was the one - and how right he was. A mere 20 minutes drifting with this school - barrels had risen and continued to slash and feed around the boat for the next 45 - 60 minutes. This was our best chance, and probably these chance almost anyone has had to convert a barrel on stickbait - the perfect testing and conversion scenario. However, it wasn't to be.
We through every size, shapes and colour of stickbait with every kind of retrieve ranging from twitches, flat-out, dead stick, combination etc. We simply could not coax them to bite. We matched size and colour of red bait, anchovy/pilchard, yakka and every other bait fish likely to be in these waters. We downsized to 100mm - the approx size of many baitfish we could see in flight trying to avoid the jaws of a big Bluefin. If only we had something 80mm with a castable weight, something that I will try to work on over the course of this year. There were some bigger baits later in the day - however, they simply would not take a lure. Winga got a momentary grab on a Squidgy soft plastic but it was short lived and a one-off, I also got a couple half-hearted slashes, but alas - No Cigar.
Whatever happened, it was an amazing experience to be amongst this Tuna bust. Majestic almost, full body profiles of 100kg, 150kg+ barrels porpoising and slashing. I will never forget this. We do have footage and will upload soon - there might be a fair bit of expletives bleeped out - I'm sure you will hear the frustration
That day, only 2 barrels were hooked. With one landed @ 101kg. One was lost, hooked up at dusk and busted off around 9:30pm. Out of what are probably thousands of tuna, you can see how tentative these fish are feeding in the prescene of the boat traffic, not to mention the timid. fussy and skittish nature that the this species has already!
Next week, Eagle Hawk Neck - Round 2.
