jigging yellowfin - jigs and rigs

[sami]

That's a great jigging article you did in Fishing World Sami, very good reading. The 'spiced' up jig was different where it looks like the Kingie took the plastic squid, if it works , GOOD.
 
I have had a few tuna on jigs but never a YF [yet], mostly Bonito and Mac Tuna and always in 70m or deeper water, not target species but always fun. As Brandon said, in the US they use the smaller profile jigs and also cast for them with stickbaits which is one of my aims this summer.
Let us know how your trip went, we can't get out fishing here as every weekend its blowing 15-25knots.

the spiced up jig and variations come out when the fish are fickle the old faithful jigs don't produce - good to keep trying something different, especially when markng fish that don't want to bite. jury is still out on what is most effective however.

cheers,
sami

[Kil Song]

Nice 300+lb YFT on Surface Bull.

Any tuna over 200 lbs caught on jigs or poppers is extraordinary, but 300 lbs ?

Here are some pictures for comparison.

the fish claimed as 300 lbs.


295 lbs yellowfin


They say the 300 lbs fish is 71 inches.  73 inch bluefin tuna is around 230 - 240 lbs.

[sami]

Hey Sami how you been mate? You know i've always been a big fan of the Zest and Smith jigs, they seem to have the best action and give off a great flutter going down and when ripping up through the water and they always perform when things are a bit slow out there... There pricey but worth it! Let us know how you went with the fin mate We'll have to get out there soon and do some filming and underwater filming with Jeffro.

hey brett - keen to catch up with you guys, has been a while.

how's you're boat going now, u been out much in it ?

cheers,
sami

[sami]

Thank you to all that have posted - appreciate the feedback and ideas.

Went out yesterday wide off sydney hoping to jig a 'fin, trolled and trolled all day but didn't turn a reel. A few fish were caught on other boats but the reports seemed sporadic.

I was hoping to drop a few jigs around some decent markings or when hooked up on the troll but the 'fin didn't read the script unfortunately.

Cheers,
Sami

[Greg Burt]

Thanks Ksong, I read the latest update where they measured wrong.

Formula used: IT MEASURED 71 INCHES LONG WITH A GIRTH OF 49 INCHES. BY OUR FORMULA THE TUNA WEIGHTED AROUND 308 POUNDS.
 Actual Formula: "the formula is the square of the girth in inches by the length in inches and divide by 800. Not the square of the length in inches by the girth in inches and divide by 800. That fish tapes at 213.08875lb not 308.76125lb"
 The angler can still smile

[Brett Carter]

Hey Sami how you been mate? You know i've always been a big fan of the Zest and Smith jigs, they seem to have the best action and give off a great flutter going down and when ripping up through the water and they always perform when things are a bit slow out there... There pricey but worth it! Let us know how you went with the fin mate We'll have to get out there soon and do some filming and underwater filming with Jeffro.

hey brett - keen to catch up with you guys, has been a while.

how's you're boat going now, u been out much in it ?

cheers,
sami

Hey sami, only been out on the boat once since we finished it but no luck on the kings thats day. Heading out with Jeff tommorrow to see if we can get a few. Look forward to catching up soon mate.

[Mark Stotesbury]

Hi ksong.
if you in south africa you let me know and i will take you fishing for yellowfin best time is november to april with march being the safer option as nov-jan the wind blows 35+ knots just about every darn day if you can plan a 2 week trip and we should get a few days in .
cheers mark

[Mark Stotesbury]

Hi Sami
we catch our yellows behind stern trawlers and longliners on bait . when we jig for them its the fish under the chumline that eat the jigs, the fish in the chumline are more keyed into chunks than jigs, although they do nail floating stickbaits cast back in the chumline.had good success with hooker ,jigging master ,fisherman jigs and orion stickbaits, lost the last one to a 80+kg fish next to the boat though .river 2 sea make a shin penn "stickbait "works great in the glitter green .dont think the leader size is a issue as my buddy caught a 50kg on a apple core so go figure .use a blue rose rod stella 20000 ans 50/80lb braid
cheers 

[Kil Song]

Hi ksong.
if you in south africa you let me know and i will take you fishing for yellowfin best time is november to april with march being the safer option as nov-jan the wind blows 35+ knots just about every darn day if you can plan a 2 week trip and we should get a few days in .
cheers mark

Mark, thanks for the invite.  I am leaving for Taveuni, Fiji for GT popping tomorrow. I'll send an e-mail when I come back from the trip.

[Aaron Concord]

I am just a mess!!
2 Swords on jigs IN ONE NIGHT....by a lotto ticket man!!!
The yellowfin are exceptional fish for casting/jigging tackle...

So small 200-250gram jigs with TAIL hooks work best???
Only asking since some of the spool jobs I have seen up at Fraser Island when a free-falling jig has been nailed have run 400+ metres mid water (50-60m down) and just kept trucking.
Some were doggies since they went into reef though I reckon the only other thing they could be is 70+kg yellowfin....I want one!!
Makes chucking poppers at longtail tuna seem a tad lame 

[Kil Song]

So small 200-250gram jigs with TAIL hooks work best???

I am a believer that fish likes to aim at dangling hooks of jigs. So I don't see much difference whether hooks are located at the head of jigs or tail of the jigs. I  use tail hooks just because I have been using it for a long time.

We had a great time in Taveuni, Fiji.  Even though we are novice GT fishermen, we could catch and release many GT.  My biggest GT was about 80 lbs, but we lost 5 huge monster GT for various reasons.

[Russ Roberts]

sami: It is funny.  I was just going to reply to this post recommending that you go over to our 360tuna board here and ask ksong your question, when I saw he had found the site and answered you.  One of the problems we have down here on the Texas coast is that whenever you drop a jig into the water around the big floating oil rigs, a much smaller Black Fin Tuna eats it.

Kil: I cannot remember but on your trip(s) to the Gulf of Mexico, have you been successful at all in jigging up a Yellow Fin?

Russ

[Kil Song]

Russ,
When I fished at a rig out of Venice, LA in june, 2006, I could land  yellowfin on jigs as there are not many blackfin, but I had to give up jigging yft on the 80 hour Carribean Sea trip as blackfin tuna were so thick. On the upcoming 52 hour Big E trip in Gulf of Mexico, I plan to experiment to cast jigs along with poppers for yft.

[Tim Mitsopoulos]

Guys does all this apply to SBT ( southern blue fin tuna ) because we had a bumper SBT season this year down here in Victoria.
If next year is the same i would like to try jigging or popping for them.