PE rating for tuna

[Patrick Cooper]

Curious to know what size PE line you use for tuna?.. Do you use PE8 - PE10 like for GT's and fight them hard or does the lack of difficult terrain and relatively clean flight of the tuna enable you to go lighter to say PE6 and increase your line capacity? I imagine you would also increase your casting distance with those small stickbaits using PE6 over PE10.

[Chuen Fan]

I'm a complete novice at tuna stickbaiting, but I'll be fishing PE6 and PE8 for them for the reasons which you've already stated (ie line capacity and lure sizes) I don't think PE10 is a necessity as I doubt you would need the kind of shock strength that PE10 provides for turning GTs away from reef. I could be wrong, but it should hopefully be a fun  learning process for the group of anglers that I'll be chasing SBT with.

[Patrick Cooper]

Thanks Sunny. yeah its something I'm planning on getting involved in shortly too. Im currently in the process of deciding which rod to buy and noticed quite a few of the heavier rods designed for casting to tuna, such as the race point special, black devil 300, BLC83/40R are rated up to PE8 or 10, with max drag ratings up to 20 kilos or 44 pounds. If your max drag is 44 pounds, then varivas SMP PE6 which is rated at 90 pounds is within the limits of the max you can push the gear to anyway.. now im starting to confuse myself 

[Saltywater Tackle]

Curious to know what size PE line you use for tuna?.. Do you use PE8 - PE10 like for GT's and fight them hard or does the lack of difficult terrain and relatively clean flight of the tuna enable you to go lighter to say PE6 and increase your line capacity? I imagine you would also increase your casting distance with those small stickbaits using PE6 over PE10.

Hi Patrick,
If your target species in the range of 200lb i suggest you a minimum of PE8 and also as you stated the terrain play a factor over here,
but from my experience if i am targeting the 200lb class i would go with PE8, other factor would be taking into consideration such as your intention to kill or release, if you intend to release you better off fight hard and quick to get the job done fast for a better survival rate.
line capacity is needed for deeper water and lighter drag, i had never had any issue with spooled reel,
i believe if you put enough heat on the fish you will be able to control and start gaining line, as long you control the head you are in charge.
        Tight lines
           Sami

[Patrick Cooper]

Thanks Sami, i'm all for release, so getting the job done as quick as possible to increase survival rate makes sense. maybe I will look at PE8 with a yumeya max spool to allow for that little bit of extra capacity..
what would be a suitable PE8 rod for stickbaits at the smaller end of the scale say 60 to 120 grams?
would the race point be suitable as its shown as a PE10 rod with 180 gram max lure weight?

[Saltywater Tackle]

Thanks Sami, i'm all for release, so getting the job done as quick as possible to increase survival rate makes sense. maybe I will look at PE8 with a yumeya max spool to allow for that little bit of extra capacity..
what would be a suitable PE8 rod for stickbaits at the smaller end of the scale say 60 to 120 grams?
would the race point be suitable as its shown as a PE10 rod with 180 gram max lure weight?

Hi Patrick,
So far we did not see the need to switch to PE10 but i believe we are heading toward that direction at the beginning of 2012 
to answer your question to the point, many of our customers are casting lures from 85g to 120g with the Race Point with no problem,
in your case the yumeya max spool is a good choice if you intend to have the line capacity confidence.
i used the Race Point for GT fishing and push it to the extreme and had no problem to max the lure with PE10 line,
the Race Point took 43lb of drag for 45 minutes and scored a 240lb Blue fin tuna in North Carolina,
it is a proven Rod that been tested and released after excessive abuse and landing!!
the Carpenter Blue chaser 83/40 is another good alternative.
    Tight lines
         Sami

[Patrick Cooper]

Thanks Sami!

[Marc Inoue]

Hi Sami
I have a question concerning PE line for tunas.
I am fishing in the med. and I am using mostly PE 6 + PE8 braid.
I saw on your website, that you are selling Varivas Avani Tuna.
Is that line meant for casting, or for jigging?
What is the difference to the Avani jigging, and casting braids?

[Chuen Fan]

Avani Tuna is a jigging braid, meaning it is color coded every 10m. Casting braid like Avani GT come with a small marking every 25m and longer blue marking every 50m.

[Marc Inoue]

Thank you!

[Tony Busscher]

I'm of the opion as Sami stated that PE 8 is on the edge ,PE 10 is needed if you hook up a barrel on a stick bait ,length of leader is very important as you have no stretch in your braid ,I'm of the op ion that a parabolic rod is required ,and you Will have to go hard on the fish from the start of the hook up .I'm not sure but may be Luke can comfirm that the race point rods are parabolic in nature .