Venice winter recap
With the winter season that was not the typical winter season starting to wind down. Well I say winding down it never really got started to wind down. There were a few flurries of big fish and some scattered ones to be had. The best way this winter season could be described as, fun fishing. Plenty of small yellowfin were to be had to make up for the lack of there older bigger brothers and sisters. My last group put it perfectly with the quote; I have never bass fished for yellowfin tuna before. Pretty much all winter I shifted gears and went with what mother ocean had decided to throw our way. I made some adjustments in tackle and lures and pretty much fished for the tuna the same way you would fish for largemouth bass chasing shad. It definitely made things fun since it was hands on. When a fish was lost there was no accusing looks. It was man I should have waited to set the hook or I knew I should have sped the retrieve up. The lighter tackle was just much more fun to use. Some days we could have caught a few more fish by using more standard methods and did so. But quickly switched back due to the fun factor which is what it’s about anyway.
My trip with Matt Paulk brought the fun factor into things. We went on a big fish search that was not to be. With the onslaught of kings and sharks that day. We switched over to topwater lures and jigs and fished for the fun of it. Suddenly even kingfish became fun instead of just a nusicence. When they are in the 20-45lb class it’s a fun fish. It makes a perfect target for throwing topwaters at. After that trip I fished my next seven or eight trips the same way. Well except no kingfish we just made more runs to the floaters and beat up on the smaller yellowfin and on most days had no problem with getting a nice box of the smaller yellowfin and a few blackfin along with tons of released blackfin
I told you I switched out my tackle to better accommodate the smaller fish. I went with 30-50lb braid on Quantum Cabo 50’s. On 20-30lb. spinning rods. Never once were we undergunned or felt at a disadvantage with the light line and tackle. I do have a shameless plug for some gear that I got to use while filming an episode of Addictive Fishing with Blair Wiggins. We used Blair’s line of rods and reels from Wright McGill. The rods were powerful light and had great action. I was very impressed with them. So much that I went to ****’s to try and pick a couple up. The jigging tackle was pretty standard with 300 gram rods and 160-270 gram flutter jigs color didn’t make a difference. But they kept the fish coming in when the yellows went down. Also on thing that helped the catch is a lure I discovered last year before the spill. It perfectly matches the hatch right now. The lure is a Japanese import from Tackle House and it’s called a Flitz it’s pretty small but can still be cast a mile with traditional topwater rods with heavier braid. The other lure is the new Shimano Waxwing and a DOA swimming mullet lure they really seemed to like those three the best.
Now that the cold weather should be behind us the tuna should fall into hopefully an early summer pattern. We have had a springtime pattern for about two months. The one real exciting thing is that the tinker mackerel have stared to show. They are a little to small to fish right now but at least they are here. It shouldn’t be long until they become the goto bait.
Capt. Mike
Tagged: Tuna, venice fishing
