It was a curious feeling, dropping a jig to the underside and never being solely sure that I wished a fish to eat it. But there I used to be, tight as a bowstring and already sweating as my 9-ounce slab of steel plummeted towards the marks that Captain Dom Petrarca had recognized as big bluefin tuna.
Within the early days of August 2022, a herd of 70- to 100-inch bluefin settled into the fishing grounds east of Cape Cod generally known as the “Regal Sword.” The precise Regal Sword was a 525-foot metal freighter that collided with the Exxon Chester oil tanker on a foggy day in 1979. Whereas the Exxon Chester was capable of limp again to port with the rescued crew members of each vessels, the Regal Sword sank—rapidly, in keeping with stories—and settled to the underside in 270 toes of water.
Whereas the shipwreck attracts and holds groundfish, it’s the confluence of currents, a mixing of the chilly and heat waters from either side of Cape Cod, that draws huge faculties of sand eels to those nutrient-rich waters. The sand eels in flip appeal to mackerel, whales, dolphins, groundfish, and all sizes of bluefin tuna. Tuna captains in search of that collision of marine life, use the wreck as a reference level for zeroing in on a chew that is perhaps taking place “north of the Sword,” “west of the Sword,” and so on.
Whereas I’m new to fishing for big tuna on jigging gear, Petrarca has been bringing light-tackle “knives” to tuna gunfights for the reason that early 2000s. Again in 2010, when many fishermen have been nonetheless determining the best way to rig for and struggle 50- to 60-inch tuna on spinning gear, Petrarca set the bar with a 400-pounder taken on spinning gear and a RonZ.
In addition to the harpooners and spotter-plane pilots, you’d be arduous pressed to discover a constitution captain who’s spent extra time scanning the Atlantic for bluefin than Petrarca. Within the mid-2000s, following a increase within the numbers of small bluefin tuna, Dom, who had simply begun his constitution enterprise, Coastal Charters Sportfishing, started completely focusing on bluefin tuna with gentle deal with.
As these fish grew and returned to the Southern New England waters yearly, Petrarca discovered multitudes concerning the behaviors of those fish, akin to once they feed, the place they’re more likely to transfer after a storm, and the best way to get in place to current one a jig or a plug on gentle deal with. Petrarca says he can inform when the tuna have reached New England as a result of he can odor them on the late-spring southwest winds, and I imagine him.
There’s one thing about bluefin tuna that conjures up such obsession. I consider them as our tuna, the tuna of the chilly and rugged Northeast. Certain, most of the tuna we catch are spawned within the Mediterranean Sea, and winter off North Carolina and factors south, however with your complete Atlantic Ocean at their disposal, it’s our coast they return to season after season.
Whereas most pelagic species want deep, clear, heat waters, bluefin have extra grit. They don’t thoughts if the water is inexperienced or chilly, or so shallow that their finlets sometimes scrape backside. So long as the consuming is nice, they’re joyful to be there.
Fishermen with a broad vary of tuna expertise might declare that pound-for-pound, yellowfin struggle more durable and bigeye style higher, however I’ve by no means seen both of these tunas rampaging on the floor with the seashore in plain view within the background. In addition they don’t develop to 1,000 kilos or extra.
A bluefin tuna is taken into account a “big” at 81 inches. Just a bit over a decade in the past, any tuna of that measurement caught on spinning deal with was newsworthy. Right now, with big tuna round in spectacular numbers, and deal with and rigging as much as the duty, touchdown them on gentle deal with has develop into not solely doable however comparatively widespread. Main the way in which has been Petrarca, who, after breaking the 400-pound light-tackle benchmark in 2010, blasted previous the 500-pound mark in 2014 with a 101-inch, 597-pounder that, in his personal phrases, felt like a “runaway bus” on the tip of the road.
Sort out for Jigging Large Tuna
The Rod: Jigging World Ghost Hunter C450
A brief, stout rod just like the 5’6” Jigging World Ghost Hunter has sufficient tip motion to convey jigs to life and sufficient spine to place the warmth on an enormous bluefin.
The Reel: Shimano Ocea Jigger 4000HG
The excessive line capability and heavy drag of the Shimano Ocea Jigger 4000HG give anglers an opportunity to place the breaks on massive bluefin.
The Line: Tuf Line’s Information’s Alternative
Hole-core braided line like Tuf Line’s Information’s Alternative offers seamless, 100% connections between braided major line and wind-on leaders, for max power when placing the boots to an enormous bluefin.
The Jig: RonZ 10″ Massive Sport HD
The lifelike wiggle of RonZ will get bites from tuna of all sizes, and the heavy-duty swivel eye and swing hook maintain massive fish pinned whereas holding as much as heavy stress.
The Heavy Steel: Level Jude Deep Drive Jig
The Level Jude Deep Drive Jigs would possibly look rudimentary, however they sink rapidly to get in entrance of deep-feeding fish quick, and their flutter and flash have been confirmed to idiot super-sized bluefin.
The “Hatch-Matching” Steel: Shimano Shimmerfall Jig
The Shimano Shimmerfall Jig is designed to sink quick, making it best in deep water. Its tapered edges make it come to life with correct motion utilizing little effort, and it’s profile is a detailed match to the sand eel, a dietary staple for the bluefin off Cape Cod.
In the meantime, I hoped that the marks on the display screen have been about one-sixth that measurement as my jig touched backside and I started a quick retrieve, pumping the rod in rhythm with every flip of the reel deal with. Nevertheless, in a juxtaposition of most fishing situations, the large fish outnumbered the extra fascinating (at the very least recreationally) small ones on the Sword final summer time. Two-hundred and thirty toes down, one thing punched my jig, however failed to search out the hook. The identical occurred to Petrarca. Anthony DeiCicchi, who’d been quietly jigging on the opposite aspect of the boat, grunted and introduced by gritted enamel, “Tight!”
If the 2022 tuna season taught me something, it’s that whereas small tuna feeding on the floor will be pull-your-hair-out choosy, massive fish feeding on the underside are rather more eclectic of their tastes. Smaller bluefin might specialize their diets, specializing in sand eels or halfbeaks (Atlantic sauries) or butterfish to the exclusion of different baitfish, however big tuna, with a lot bigger engines to gasoline, are generalists. Due to this fact, when Petrarca rigged the rods for our journey with large-profile Level Jude Deep Drive jigs, he wasn’t fearful about matching the Sword’s sand eel “hatch;” as a substitute, he centered on getting jigs in entrance of fish rapidly.
Dom helped design the Deep Drive jig with the late Joe Martins of Level Jude Lures. Together with the RonZ, it’s one of many lures he by no means leaves the dock with out. The Deep Drive is available in 4 sizes, all formed to missile by the present to succeed in any marks on the fishfinder earlier than they swim out of vary. The jigs are tapered chrome slabs which have a strip of reflective tape on either side. In comparison with different tuna metals, which have scale patterns, 3D eyes, and lifelike baitfish-matching colours, the Deep Drive seems rudimentary—however to not tuna. Petrarca credit the jig’s flutter and flash because the angler lifts the rod for grabbing the eye of close by bluefin. As soon as it’s executed that, the 13/0 Help hook on its 3-inch leash locks right into a tuna’s latch.
DeiCicchi’s tuna hung nonetheless for a second, assessing the risk with a number of livid headshakes that rocked the angler’s total physique. Then it peeled off on an unstoppable first run, and DeiCicchi locked his knees into the gunwale and braced for the battle.
On the identical time, Petrarca took his place on the boat’s controls however didn’t give chase. He wished the rod and drag to work on tiring the tuna first.
Tuna fishing is a workforce sport. Efficiently touchdown an enormous fish on gentle gear requires a coordinated effort between the captain and the angler (or extra probably, anglers), to beat the fish. It’s unlikely, even unwise, for an angler to attempt to land a tuna this measurement alone. Passing the rod between fishermen provides the anglers time to relaxation with out letting the tuna do the identical. I knew DeiCicchi wished to beat this fish on his personal, however his want to land the fish efficiently, and rapidly, overrode the delight of doing it by himself; quarter-hour into the struggle, he tapped me in.
Watch: Captain Dom’s Rigging for Massive Bluefin Tuna
All through the struggle, Petrarca instructed us to maintain the rod at near a 45-degree angle. The decrease that angle, the much less bend within the rod and the much less warmth on the fish. Forcing the tuna to drag towards the rod is a vital a part of tiring it out, so every time Anthony or I struggled to maintain the rod up, we handed it off to a contemporary set of arms.
By the 45-minute mark, even with common breaks, our arms had handed their sell-by date. I had sweat pouring into my eyes, my imaginative and prescient was blurring, and I considered the scene in Rocky the place Balboa, his eyes swollen shut mentioned, “Reduce me, Mick.” Like Mick, Petrarca was shouting directions and encouragement from his place on the helm. I regarded over at DeiCicchi slumped within the stern, the place he was trying extra like Apollo Creed towards the tip of his match with Drogo in Rocky IV. The tuna is a machine.
Then we acquired our look. The road planed towards the floor, and the sickle fin, then the tail emerged. It was 100 toes away from the boat, and was clearly tiring. It’s not a machine. It’s a fish.
“Pop it or cease it,” Dom mentioned, a mantra he repeated a number of occasions, instructing us to maintain most stress on the fish to pressure an end result come what may.
Over an extended struggle, a bluefin can settle right into a groove, a depth, or a pace it finds comfy because it fights to rid itself of the hook. When a fatigued fisherman rests, so does the tuna, prolonging the struggle indefinitely. Petrarca emphasizes accountable practices in focusing on massive bluefin. If he loses a fish, he desires the hook to drag or the road to interrupt proper on the jig. He doesn’t need to depart a tuna with a whole bunch of yards of line trailing behind it, and he doesn’t need to struggle a fish for hours on finish, decreasing its possibilities of survival after launch.
To be able to struggle big bluefin with a pop-it-or-stop-it mentality, nonetheless, you need to have supreme confidence in your rigging. In any other case, the “pops” will severely outnumber the “stops.”
There was no guide for taking big tuna on gentle gear when Petrarca was first figuring this all out. He went by all of the parted strains, damaged rods, burnt-out reels, and straightened hooks to get his system to a spot that has allowed him to efficiently land so many giants.
His present big jigging deal with consists of a Shimano Ocea Jigger 4000HG, spooled on a machine beneath heavy stress, with 80-pound-test Tuf Line’s Information’s Alternative. The “heavy stress” is vital to pack each doable yard of line onto the reel. The Information’s Alternative is a hollow-core braided line, which will be threaded into itself, creating an finish loop that maintains the total breaking power of the road. Dom loops this onto a wind-on fluorocarbon chief of 100- or 130-pound check that flows easily by the guides and onto the reel.
The rod is a 5’6” Jigging World Ghost Hunter, rated for 450-gram jigs. It’s a stout powerhouse of a rod that also has sufficient tip motion to convey the jigs to life.
The size of the tuna, whereas immense, was overshadowed by its excessive girth, making it look shorter than the 90 inches Petrarca estimated. The hole between bluefin and boat closed to fifteen toes earlier than the fish stormed again to the depths.
Had the business bluefin quota been open, the struggle would have ended there. Petrarca would have thrown the harpoon, and the fish would have been ours.
In 2022, a leisure tuna fisherman might retain two tuna between 27 and 47 inches and another tuna between 47 and 73 inches per vessel, per day. Fish bigger than 73 inches may very well be saved solely by captains with an Atlantic Tunas Common Class Allow, permitting them to promote the fish. Whereas Petrarca carries that allow and sells his light-tackle-caught big tuna, the quota had closed only a few days earlier than our journey, granting a keep of execution to any 73-inch or bigger tuna we hooked.
With the harpoon out of the equation, the issue of touchdown the fish elevated tenfold. As a substitute, we would have liked to convey it shut sufficient to seize the chief, after which the fish.
After a remaining baton-pass of the rod, I used to be on the stick for the house stretch, gaining with half-turns of the reel deal with till Petrarca snatched the chief. With the road in hand, any leeway offered by the bend within the rod or the reel’s drag was faraway from the system. The battle was now between Petrarca and the tuna, and DeiCicchi and I bore witness to a different remaining spherical in a lifelong bout between two of the Western Atlantic’s high predators.
Whereas the bluefin at all times get the more serious finish of the deal when Petrarca’s SeaVee darkens their doorsteps, the pursuit has taken its toll on the captain as nicely. “I depart somewhat little bit of my soul on the market on daily basis,” Petrarca mentioned later in the course of the On The Water Podcast. Not simply his soul, although. A number of years again, Petrarca had again surgical procedure to arrest a number of the put on and tear introduced on by 1000’s of days of high-speed chases after blitzing bluefin.
Petrarca tried to steer the fish shut sufficient to seize its jaw, however with a thunderous shake of its head that reverberated by the hull, the large bluefin parted the 100-pound-test chief and kicked off out of sight. We known as it a draw.
Cramping fists bumped and aching backs slapped in celebration, I assumed the captain would level the SeaVee west when he returned to the helm.
“There they’re,” Petrarca mentioned, eyes locked on the fishfinder. In a single fluid movement, he was away from the console, rod in hand, with a jig hurtling again to the underside, hungry, as at all times, for the subsequent battle with Thunnus thynnus.
Associated Content material
Hear: The On The Water Podcast – Searching Tuna with Captain Dom Petrarca
Large Bluefin Caught on Sluggish-Pitch Jigging Sort out
Large Bluefin: Heartbreak and Redemption
