Best Tuna Trolling Lures

[Cheechako]

Anchovies, sardines are silver. Tuna like anchovies and sardines. Any questions?

[Bird Dog]

I agree w/ A64 on the rigged hoo. I usually run an Islander in front of the hoo as well as brine it but that's the first tuna trolling bait in the water. Then there's this Marlin Magic Ahi Pussy Bullet - Melton International Tackle

[crabcake]

Originally Posted by Cadence

It may depend on the specie of bait fish running at any given time? I doubt there is a magic lure for all occasions. Try asking a local commercial fisherman if one will spill the beans. You have one thing going for you trolling under sail.

^^^^

What he said. Add to the equation what type of bait is running at the time. Sometimes Tuna are feeding deep and you need a planer to get your lure down, and sometimes they are top feeding and will crush most anything including a Cedar plug, or some feathers.

You can spend $12.00 or $35.00 or you could spend $200.00 - just a matter of how "hooked" you get.

Lots of good information out there! However, make sure your hooks and knots are up to par cause you hook up a big tuna, there will be some very serious strain on your tackle. If you're after larger tuna, I would go with a Ahi hook!

Tight lines and good fishing

[demacsea]

There is of course no single 'best' tuna trolling lure, but the one I'd always have aboard my boat is the Cedar Plug. Not painted, just plain cedar. And you might find the eBook 'Secrets of Sailboat Fishing' of interest. You can download it at The Secrets of Sailboat Fishing Revealed!

[captain58sailin]

Just recently hauled the boat after going for Albacore Tuna commercially, which we caught from Sitka, AK, to Newport, OR. Starting off, we only had a rudimentary knowledge of how to catch tuna, once we got down to Newport, OR the good fishers there shared their experience with us. One of the most crucial factors is water temp. 58*F to 64*F is the ideal, we did catch them in slightly cooler water 57* to 58*F however it was much slower fishing, the fish were bigger though. 61.5*F seemed to be the sweet spot, for us. Our best hook ups occurred right at sunset. A few of the tips we got was, "don't troll into the sun" , "use darker jigs on the cloudy days", we tried many different types of jigs and we had pretty good luck with the purple and black jigs, and the shiny silver ones. In the photos, there are some "toys" that we used, they weren't cheap, but they did help, the trolling boards work really well, they take the jig down and swing back and forth, once a fish is on it turns upside down and comes to the surface, the "water bird" also worked well, it makes a lot of splashing on the surface, the same with the "bug", the bug didn't seem to work as well as the others, but when we started out we were pulling them through the water backwards. The longest lines we pulled were about 20 fathoms and the shortest were 6 fathoms, with about 2 fathoms of 200 lb test mono for leaders. We were making 5 to 6 knots trolling. As others will tell you, look out for birds working the water. If you start catching sharks, then you are in the right area, they are in the area to eat the fish too. The toys run about $40 US on the west coast of the US.

[Symphony]

Subscribed!

[old pirate]

Crossing the Atlantic some years ago we ran out of yellow squid lures, but found yellow plastic shopping bags trimmed and tied to a finger weight did the same job !
Eventualy found out that smaller hooks got smaller fish as some of the tuna were too big to haul aboard and had to be cut loose.

[44'cruisingcat]

With a sailboat, your speed can vary a fair bit. Diving lures are good at lowish speeds, say up to ~ 8 knots, above that we like using skirted lures.


No need to buy them though, I made this one from an empty toothpaste tube:

[Cheechako]

Yeah I heard that about hook size also. I went to only single big hooks eventually. Treble or dual hooks are very hard to get out of the fish while it's banging around, or if you don't want it. Singles seem to hook up just fine. I was surprised how big a hook some fish will take.

[knockabout]

wrap a handful of heavy cooking foil around a large hook / leave a small strip dangling and you have made a diy lure / works well on most palegics / best to have the first mate in on the assembly line or you may be in trouble when you want things cooked in foil later

[Ramona]

I spent 26 years as a professional fisherman and use the same basic set up in my retirement. The lure of choice is a Smiths jig, 3 inch long version in chromed plastic, they are about $6. They work well at slow speeds which is handy for yachts.
I use only one flat line from the transom. 2metres of heavy shock cord,20 metres of 4mm cord to a swivel, 10 metres of 200lb mono to a swivel, 2 metres of 100lb to the Smiths jig. The 3 inch jig is about as large as you want to go. No point hooking too large a tuna. The shock cord will contain a 25 kilo tuna but much larger and the trace will break.
Ultimate Fishing - Halco Smith's Jig size 5" Chrome - Couta Jigs - Saltwater Lures Fishing Tackle, Lures, Line, Outdoor Gear and Much more

[T_Cat]

Finally a great thread to read!!!!

[Don C L]

Great thread, hope we get lots of photos too. A while back my daughter really wanted to go fishing and I wasn't in the mood. So she just threw her line in with a bare hook hanging on it. It wasn't in more than a minute she had a mackerel on it. Threw it back. Back in with the bare hook... another mackerel. I am SURE those fish KNEW I wasn't in the mood for a greasy fish on the deck. So I suggest your mood may have something to do with it. And use a bigger hook.

[poiu]

I got sick of my expensive lures getting eaten, so I stopped buying them. It was getting to the point of it being cheaper to buy fresh lobster at every meal instead of fishing for food. I use a dirt cheap 4 or 5" skirt on a lead oval weight just behind the hook. A trick I learned here was to use heavy mono wire leader as it is much less easy to bite through than other leader lines including multifilament steel. I catch fish and tuna quite often and no less so for using cheap lures.

[Cadence]

Maybe an egg weight, leader and surgical tubing?