As some of you may know, I have dedicated a lot of blood, sweat and tears into decking a Southern Bluefin barrel on topwater.
Winga, Dave Standing, Jason Taylor and I made the trek to the infamous Eagle Hawk Neck, Tasmania.
I can't give away too many secrets, however, we had our shot and were connected to x2 barrel tuna on stickbait - we estimated these fish to be anywhere from 100 - 130kg. It was incredible to be in the right place at the right time to experience a natural, wild feed. Putting us in this extraordinary situation, a lot of credit goes to Winga not only for his tuna locating instincts but his knowledge on how to handle a boat amongst the feed and other competing boats.
Unfortunately, we blew both our chances.
Jason lost his barrel due to one of the resident seal damaging the line during the fight. The fish stripped away most of his line before we even had the motors started! You could see the steel!
I lost mine due to a poor hook-up and subsequent breakage of the stickbait. Despite setting the hook GT style several times and a blitzing run for 20 seconds, I came up short and extremely sooky
The most difficult aspect to these tuna is that they feed on Red Bait in this location - usually 2.5 - 4 inches. Very difficult to match the hatch in a castable offering that has appealing action. By far, stickbaiting could be the most effective method with the right stickbait and boats working together on a feed.
To date, this team has made the most headway and progression for stickbaiting tuna over 100kg in the whole of the Southern Hemisphere, ever. More hook-ups, more secret locations and techniques that we have developed over the years fishing for them. The Southern Bluefin is truly the most fickle yet incredible adversary out there. You will see the report here first.
The destroyed stickbait after being inhaled by a barrel Southern Blue.
View from Tasman Island to the Mainland. Some of those cliffs are hundreds of feet tall!
Reflection Time after the huge hook-up...
Scaled Tasman Island whilst the activity went quiet. She was blowing 50 knots beyond the great southern point of this island that day...
Consolation Prize! Barrel Southern Blue caught on blind strike troll whilst hunting for surface activity...
Consolation Prize! Barrel Southern Blue caught on blind strike troll whilst hunting for surface activity...
