Video of Albacore Catch in July 2006

[skip]

Just finished editing this one last night! It's a bit long so you are forewarned!!

[Jonathan]

Prosit Skip! Brilliant video - I enjoyed every second of it. Well done and looking forward to seeing more! 

[twoutes]

Nice work Nick. Keep them coming mate!

[shanook]

Good job nick. I hate this but being a friend I just have to tell u. Everything is fine but I think u spend too much time to put the lures back in the water. I have two 30ltr tanks cutoff and when i catch and land a fish I first spike and cut the main vein i place it in this tank with running water and immediately let out the lures back in water. Alungi who would have followed the caught fish might still  be around increasing the chance of a second strike. With the new boat u can have these tanks hanging on the transom. Anytime u feel like it come over to the garage at Burmarrad and we can have a chat there.

[skip]

Hi Tony, you're right about the redeployment we do tend to take too much time! On that particular trip I think we weren't catching that much so fixated on getting the fish in the boat. Nice idea about the tanks, in fact I saw them on your video or one of the pictures you put up.

This year one thing I would like to try aside from perhaps getting lures back in, is having another person jigging off the opposite side with a jigging lure around 10 meters down as we pull in the caught fish. As you say the other Alungi and tuna tend to follow in so it's an excellent opportunity. The other thing they do in the US is to cast surface poppers in as they are retreiving a hooked fish for similar extra chances of another strike.

This winter I plan to save to buy a jigging/popping rod/reel set up and an electric reel for deep bottom fishing! But this year out of money! lol

[The_Gaffer]

I spoke about this elsewhere here on the forum.  It all revolves around the window of opportunity.  Once alungi come up to the surface, either because they were raised by the boat/prop wash/lures, or they came up to feed, then you have to react quick and maximise the oppportunity to have more strikes.  One way of doing this is to increase your chance of a multiple strike.  This can only be achieved if after the initial stike, you continue to troll at the same speed, without touching the rod that was hit, and count to 10 to allow for other alungi to stike at your other lures.  Slightly turning the boat windward will also help during this time.  Along with this strategy, it would be important to retreive your catch in the quickest possible time, and get your lures into the water immediately after that.  Stay in the vicinity of your 1st strike as alungi tend to stick there too.  The more boats there are in the area, the better, so call you mates to join you.

[skip]

So none of you guys have tried jigging or popping then as you are retreiving a fish?

[Granitu]

if you want to get into jigging check the shimano reel range skip especially the firebold. those are some really expensive but good material. top quality stuff

[shanook]

Nope never did jigging although I tried it out during Lampukli season. I have 3 jigging lures of different weight and size. I bought rod which is an inbetween  jigging and casting. I will try it out during the alungi season (when and if it comes?!?!?). Gaffer to keep the boat going at the same speed u need to tighten the drag up a bit so that the fish doesnt go a lot backwards otherwise the other lures wont be hit.

[The_Gaffer]

Never tried that.  I always thought that the other alungi follow the lures and not the fish.....If you tighten the drag, you risk the chance of either cutting the line(remember, the boat is doing 6knts at that time) or else you could lose the fish due to the hook not embedding itself well.  I guess tightening the drag is too risky, it would also put undue pressure on the drag system

[skip]

Depends on the reel Joe, I would be worrying about what you said about pulling the hook out due to the pressure. But then again, you are also effectively setting the hook by doing the system shanook mentioned. If it pulls out it wasn't hooked well and you might well have lost the fish anyway. It's a tradeoff, being extra careful you might land that fish that wasn't hooked well, but at the sacrifice of not hooking up any others.

I've been cautious in the past due to the amount of fuel I used to burn, preferred to come back with at least one fish rather than empty handed, but this year will try some of the techniques posted above and be a bit more 'aggresive'.

[shanook]

cant do any harm to rod reel or fish. Once u have a good set drag there is no way to cause any harm. If the drag is set tight and by that i mean if u have a 60lb line than the full drag would be set on 20lb right. By using a lever drag u can set the drag at say 15lbs instead of the usual 6lbs that way u have a tighter drag setting and once the fish strikes it doesnt shoot off taking the rest of the school with it away from your other trolled lures. I have a friend who puts the drag on just enough not to spider it, and he allows the fish to take a lot of line before tightening the drag, my style is different. Now if while fishing i get pulls on the rod tip without a strike THEN I let go of the drag and keep it very light REASON is that it could be a pastardella or a swordfish. regarding setting the hook there is no problem with alungi they have soft mouths  not like swordfish, once they bite they get hooked.

[The_Gaffer]

OK, no harm in trying this technique when I'm out for Alungi.  Will also try out a spreader bar....I have some new lures lined up for this season, particularly the Pakula Dogo Peche 'destroyer' lures...advanced tchnology!!!!.  Goto www.pakula.com.au for a full video and demo of these new lures.  Competition, watch out - I have 2 lures!!

[skip]

Do you already have a spreader bar? I have three of different sizes and numbers of bait, but as I have stepped down to a smaller boat this year the large one will probably be an overkill but good behind your boat. It's a model with a 30 inch wide bar, and 30 x 4 1/2 inch Tako skirts, happy to lend it to you.

[Gazzetta]

Using a spreader bar is better than havin only one lure on 1 line ey ?  But wouldn't be a problem if more than 1 alunga strikes on the same bar

Have you bought them from abroad or maybe constructred them here ?

Chris