# Tunadactyl



## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

You're obviously communicating in sign language there at the end.

I got, "You're a wanker, I have a fish, all you do is talk."


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## captaincoochin (Nov 11, 2012)

Nice mate.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Good tunny mate, sashimi?


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## tonieventer (Jul 27, 2009)

Nice one Salti!


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Thank goodness you can still catch sharks Salti.  The tuna is a goodun too....length and weight?



Zed said:


> You're obviously communicating in sign language there at the end.
> 
> I got, "You're a wanker, I have a fish, all you do is talk."


That's normal Salti Troy. He eats a lot of shrooms, methinks special ones.


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## wayneedden (May 19, 2012)

Noice mate. They got some staying power don't them. Lots a birds working the surface again?


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

salticrak said:


> Did not weigh or measure em Trev, the second one i hooked was a horse. Measured him from my footpedal to my ass.Easily over a 1m fish.Best legit run I have had this season.Man they go some.


Yep give me a longtail over a spanish any day.
Keep em warm for me Salti!


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

salticrak said:


> Did not weigh or measure em Trev, the second one i hooked was a horse. Measured him from my footpedal to my ass.Easily over a 1m fish.Best legit run I have had this season.Man they go some.


THET DO GO, but: Get a decent rod and reel Salti. What are you using Paulie?

Ask BIGKEV about a twelve kg one (i.1 metres) in eight minutes (it's amazing what a man will do to keep his mate's wife from getting stroppy).

Ugly Stick Bluewater 7' 3" - 8 - 15 kg with a Penn 850 spooled with 40 lb Platypus Platinum Mono right through. The rod gives you more control on a big fish.

TT Headhunter Extreme jighead *(1/4 oz - often designated 3/0 XH - and they are sharp), with a 4" white flat-tailed ZMan Swimmerz. Nothing can break or deform, regardless of the pressure, and you spend a lot less time fighting the fish, plus reducing or eliminating the circle work. (we have never had one of these hooks straighten or deform - but tested only up to a 5' cobia, 90 + cm snapper (both preceding are Jimbos), and 2 X 15 kg tuna.

This gives you more time to get another one (I'd rather be sore from three fish than one). 

* I recall Paulo recounted deformation of a TT JIGHEAD in his magnificent 'how to catch and land tuna' account. What was the URL to that, as I failed to bookmark it? Were they the above Paul, or were they the tournament series?


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

kayakone said:


> salticrak said:
> 
> 
> > Did not weigh or measure em Trev, the second one i hooked was a horse. Measured him from my footpedal to my ass.Easily over a 1m fish.Best legit run I have had this season.Man they go some.
> ...


You have it all wrong Trev. I dont use anything over a 20lb stick and would rather cast to them on the surface than troll around for them. I prefer a battle where the fish has a chance rather than winching them in. 9 minutes on 20lb is the fastest I have brought one up.
FOTM: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=65065&hilit=+longtail


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## IsoBar (Nov 24, 2011)

Well done Crak!

I was fortunate enough to catch up with you just as you reeled in that tuna.
I chased the schools about 2km offshore, where they finally settled and I was able to get a cast at them.
First cast I was on and 30 minutes later, I had a similar model in the hatch.
I came in just in time to catch up with redgreg, who had a LT as well, and norman (NY), who came to say hello with his grandson  
We waited for you for a while, got a bit worried, with those monster swells breaking over the shallow reefs.

Anyone knows how did martywe do? we saw him at launch in the morning and considering it was only second time offshore, he got some challenging conditions.


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## paulsod (Dec 28, 2008)

Great Tuna, Salti.
It's going to be busy at Moffats come this weekend.
Sunday is the pick at the moment.
cheers
Paul


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

salticrak said:


> Trev mate, none of those rods come out of K.mart mate. The overhead stick was made bespoke for this kinda fishing.Douglas made it for me and it is a pleasure to use and does the job perfectly.The spin stick is a shimano terez,built for big fish.
> There is more to fishing than scull dragging the bastards in, but I am somewhere in the middle. I like to give the fish a sporting chance but do not want to fight a longie for 1.5 hrs cos I can't lift it's head. The overheads make it easier to fight the fish.bI think even on my best day, the fish I released yesterday would have taken over an hour to land on my spinstick. You just can't get the same leverage imo.
> I spoke to a joker yesterday who says when the tuna start to do their circle work he gives 'em a bit of slack/lets the pressure off and they come up to the surface again. I have done this but find unless you can keep him up on the surface they go back to their circle work pdq.


Interesting theory Paulie re the circle work. My gear is so heavy, and I don't want to be sharked, so I just scull dragging the bastards in. They hit so hard, and I fish for them with a reasonably high strike drag setting (Sprocket's advice), that I figure once they are on, they are hooked, and nothing is going to break (hasn't so far - touch wood). I readily admit there is no finesse in my style with these rockets.

Last year I caught only five out of six trips, whereas the masters (Paulo and Lynette} probably caught fifty +. I wonder if using lighter gear makes any difference to the hook-up rate (it undoubtedly will to increasing the casting distance into bust-ups). I surmise the lighter gear just makes hard work for you, increases the chances of a bust-off, and increases the sharking risk. Many may beg to differ........


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## mrwalker (Feb 23, 2009)

Well done on some good fish Salti. Loving all the info that is flying around on these threads. It's what makes the forum so interesting. Cheers, Dave.


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## Paulos (Nov 7, 2012)

Nice work salti, not keen on chasing yaroomba Spanish anymore?

Tuna are everywhere down here at the moment, bust ups galore. Haven't been able to get out and see if they are Mack tuna or Lt because the surf has been pumping. Maybe this weekend.

Beg to differ on the heavy gear. We spend all this time talking about fishing, why cut the fight short and skull drag em in.. That's not fun.My new stick has 15lb braid, looking forward to a screaming drag, seing my mono backing and some good battles.


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## Geoffw (Jan 23, 2011)

Nice fish salti. You make it look easy.


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## Minny (Dec 2, 2013)

Nice stick, good fish you lucky basted,
well done


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

Thanks for taking the time with the vid salti, nice work!


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

Nice work Salti, fun times.


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

salticrak said:


> I just wanted to add as others have noted,if you can't see any bust ups or birds it doesn't mean the fish are not there.I believe this is the best opportunity to troll/drift a white softie. Also if using braid,i like to have a 4m leader or more,for casting an FG knot works great.20lbs or 30lbs leader is fine.


x 2 on everything Crak says. I always have a plastic drifting when chasing\casting. I switched from 25lb fluro to 40lb mono with an fg knot after losing too many a few years back. Strike rate when casting is still good and I have the confidence in my knots to go harder. A 5m leader means you pretty much have them in the bag once the knot hits the spool.


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## wayneedden (May 19, 2012)

Cheers for the interesting tips on the longtails salti and Paulo, that's the great thing about this site.


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