What great weather – can it get any better? And they’re saying it’ll last all week and of course the weather bureau is never wrong!!!
We’ve had one of the best tuna seasons on record even though it seemed a little bit skewiff sometimes. It actually seemed like the Longtail Tuna would never really school up and get some consistency about them – but hey, now they’re here in full swing and boy there are some very big fish in amongst them too. One fish we saw and got a shot at was about 4′ from the dorsal fin to the tail – lord help us if it actually ate!
Even though the Longtails were late or hard to find, I think every angler was amazed by the quality and size of the Mactuna over the last 2 months. Quite a lot of guys were surprised to find that what they had hooked was not a Longtail Tuna but “Just a Mac!!” Mind you it never ceases to amaze me that some people don’t like Mactuna. I believe a Mactuna is a harder fighting fish than a Longtail, it’s just that the Mactuna doesn’t grow as big as a Longtail. Me – I live for tuna of any size and just down size my tackle or upsize as the case may be to suit the size of the tuna that are around.
It’s good to see that a lot of anglers this year started to appreciate the small tuna species as well as the bigger Longtails and Yellowfin. I think that we have been so spoilt with such an easy fishery of fish around 6 to 10 kgs that we just plain forgot about how good “all” tuna are on a fly rod. I mean really tuna fishing is easy and only a matter of finding the tuna. This of course is the easy part as all you have to do is look for birds – they are the ones that find the fish!! With most other forms of flyfishing it’s a lot harder as you have to find the fish by basically running over them, far easier to spot a bird and follow him (or her) – no sophisticated electronic equipment necessary, just a good pair of eyes.
Some things to remember for next year – the Longtails school harder when the air temperature drops and the water temperature stays constant, this usually occurs around the first westerlies. This year this has only just happened and usually this happens around April, but hey who really cares as long as it happens and we get a shot at some Longtails.
So if your having withdrawals and need a good dose of line stretching – now is the time!! I have a few days vacant over the next 2 weeks and it really has all the indications of being a very late season.
Right now the Longtails are thick. Yesterday we (Michael, Judy & I) went for a run to check out a number of bait holding areas and found Longtails on every spot.
Tomorrow night is the full moon and Thursday and Friday are free, the long range weather looks excellent – first in best dressed.
Cheers,
Capt Gavin Platz
Ph: (61) 0-7 5444 0611
FFF Certified Fly Casting Instructor
GLoomis Pro Staff
