When it comes to eating, tuna have the mindset of teenage boys: The more food, the better - and free food is better yet! Anglers can exploit the yellowfin's adolescent appetite by doling out free snacks to attract fish and finally prompt them to gobble baited hooks. This technique, called chunking, proves deadly effective on tuna in the Gulf and Northeast.
The Midnight Lump off the Louisiana coast acts as a tremendous tuna magnet, offering excellent yellowfin action that usually begins in November and continues through March. "Even though the Lump covers a rather small area, you shouldn't just drop anchor and fish anywhere on it," advises Bryan Bennett of J&M Tackle in Orange Beach, Alabama (800-483-7069; www.jmtackle.com). "Try to position the boat over peaks, points or humps on the Lump itself that attract baitfish and tuna."
The Lump's limited acreage often forces 100 or more boats to fish in close proximity to each other, so anglers should observe proper etiquette to avoid upsetting their neighbors. "Don't anchor right off the stern of a boat that's been working to establish a slick. It's polite to anchor parallel to other boats," Bennett says. "And don't go firewalling through chum slicks as you jockey for a spot."
Capt. Michael Marro of Bluefin Charters (877-259-9920; 860-227-2724; www.bluefincharters.com) faces an entirely different scenario. Based in Clinton, Connecticut, he runs more than 100 miles offshore to fish the area between Veatch and Hudson canyons. Marro says he leaves the dock with a "ballpark idea" of where he wants to fish, basing the choice on his own recent offshore trips combined with intel from researching surface-temperature maps and talking to other skippers.
Chunking in the Northeast is a night game; however, Marro always gets to the park well before sunset so he can inspect the playing field. "Even if I have reliable info pinpointing a good location, I reconnoiter the area before setting up for the night," he says. "We troll around while looking for temperature breaks and signs of life such as bait or birds. If we catch tuna on the troll, we examine their stomach contents to see what they've been feeding on. All these things help me decide exactly where to drop anchor."
Hot spots rarely remain a secret during the Northeast chunking season, which usually kicks off in August and reaches full swing in September and October, so the fishing grounds often resemble a busy parking lot. Marro says he has caught plenty of tuna while fishing among the fleet, but he would rather not join the crowd. He prefers to set up on the outskirts, as much as a mile down-current of the fleet, so his chunk line represents the only restaurant in the immediate area.
Distance from the competition provides room to release the anchor and maneuver on big fish without disturbing others or having to contend with neighbors' anchor lines. Positioning himself away from the fleet also allows Marro to capitalize on the bite. "When a bunch of boats are throwing chunks in the water, tuna tend to keep moving from one to the other," he says. "If you're out on your own, you can hold fish in the chum line and have the school to yourself."
By The Handful
Marro uses 10 or more 25-pound flats of butterfish per night of chunking; Bennett recommends taking at least 100 pounds of pogies (menhaden) for a day on the Lump. Crews in the Gulf and Northeast begin chunking - dropping bite-size pieces of baitfish in the water - as soon as the anchor takes hold, but each area calls for working at a different pace.
Bennett emphasizes that anglers must attract tuna to the transom without overfeeding them. "We toss out about three chunks every four or five minutes," he says. "If you chunk at a faster rate, the current carries the pieces away too quickly. Fish will sit 100 yards behind the boat, just waiting for the chunks to come to them. Chunk slowly to draw fish closer as they swim toward the food source."
Bonito (little tunny) and hardtails (blue runners) usually show up quickly. "Break out the 4/0 or heavy spinning gear and start bailing bonito," Bennett says. "Sometimes yellowfin want pogies; sometimes they prefer bonito. Start adding bonito chunks to the slick and see which bait the tuna key on."
A somewhat miserly approach to chunking makes sense on the crowded Lump because bait that drifts too far away may contribute to a down-current neighbor's slick rather than your own. Northeast fishermen can usually afford to show more generosity.
Spreader lights illuminate Marro's cockpit, and a Hydro Glow Fish Light hangs off the transom. The man on chunk duty cuts butterfish into inch-wide pieces and keeps a ready supply in a 5-gallon bucket. "We toss out a handful at a time, six chunks or so. As each handful sinks out of sight, we toss out another, making every effort to ensure the chunk line never breaks," Marro says. "If you stop chunking, even for a few minutes, it's like starting all over from scratch."
Just as bonito provide an on-the-spot bait source in the Gulf, squid often show up in the lights of boats anchored out at the canyons. "Live squid make excellent baits," says Marro. "We always station a man at the transom, watching to scoop up squid in a dip net with a 14-foot handle. Another angler works a squid jig off the side of the boat."
Lines In
Both Bennett and Marro recommend 50-pound reels on 6-foot or shorter stand-up rods because these outfits provide the muscle and maneuverability needed to fight bulldozer yellowfin in close quarters. Bennett spools up with 100-pound Spectra and a top shot of 60- or 100-pound mono, while Marro opts for 60-pound monofilament. "We typically start off with leaders of 80- or 130-pound fluorocarbon, but sometimes have to go as light as 40-pound to get bites in clear water," Bennett says.
In the leader department, Marro starts with 6 feet of 40- or 50-pound fluorocarbon and may work his way up to 60- or 80-pound if tuna feed aggressively. "Instead of not getting bit at all, I'd rather get the hookup first and risk losing fish on a lighter-than-necessary leader," he says.
Chunkers on the Lump often wait to deploy hook baits until they actually see yellowfin off the transom. "When you have tuna in the slick, keep tossing them a few chunks at a time. It's OK to increase the pace to hold them close," Bennett explains. "Then add a hook bait to one of those handfuls."
The bad news for tuna usually consists of a circle hook hidden in a hunk of bonito or pogy, but it won't fool any fish unless it drifts along like the freebies. "Strip some line off the reel and drop in the bait with the other chunks. Continue feeding out line so the bait drifts down naturally," Bennett says. "If you let out 30 yards of line without getting a bite, reel up and repeat the process."
Since Marro usually has more room to work with, he deploys three baits - whole butterfish carrying completely concealed 8/0 Gamakatsu live-bait hooks - along the path taken by drifting chunks. Using balloons to suspend baits at specific depths, he positions one down 50 or 60 feet, 50 feet behind the boat. Another bait rides 90 feet deep, 75 feet back, and the third sits 100 feet back at 120 feet deep.
He also assigns one man to the "yo-yo rod," rigged with an 8-foot leader and 7/0 live-bait hook in half a butterfish. The angler drops the hook bait in with a handful of chunks and pays out line, so the bait descends with them. "If no bites come after feeding out 75 pulls of line, the angler reels up and waits about five minutes before trying again," Marro says. "On a hot bite, we may fish two or three yo-yo rods."
When he has a supply of live squid, Marro puts one or more out instead of butterfish on the balloon rods. He makes no attempt to hide hooks in squid, simply pinning them through the tip of the mantle.
Stay Focused
"When we hook a fish, we immediately dump half a bucket of chunks overboard," Marro says. "If you hook a couple yellowfin, there are probably 50 more under the boat. You can't overfeed that many tuna. Pouring in a half-bucket of chunks often brings up the school, so we can see fish darting through the lights. Remember, the idea is to hold the school. We don't want them to eat a little and take off."
Marro also observes which lines get the most bites and may adjust his baits accordingly. For example, if the 90-foot bait draws several strikes, he pulls in one of the other rigs and sets it to that depth as well. "Sometimes tuna seem to hold at a particular depth all night, so you have to ride it for all it's worth," he says.
No room for slackers on chunking trips! Every man has a job - cutting bait, doling out chunks, catching squid, scanning the slick for tuna - and teamwork proves crucial to success. A common mistake usually occurs after a hookup: Crews get so excited about fighting one or more fish that they forget to maintain the flow of chunks. Tuna seem to have not only the appetite of an adolescent, but the attention span too. Any break in the chunk line could send them searching for food elsewhere.
