Tuna

For strength and speed, tunas offer unmatched challenge as elite big game species.

Wintertime Tuna Fishing off Venice, Louisiana

There may be no better place on the planet to catch wintertime tuna.

Fish Facts: Sorry Aussies, There’s No Such Thing as a Northern Bluefin Tuna

Although called “northern bluefin” by Aussie anglers, this nearshore nomad is a very different species.

40-Year-Old Albacore Record Broken

The outsized longfin albacore, which was caught in the Hudson Canyon, breaks a nearly 40-year-old Garden State record.

Biggest Bluefin Ever Caught in the UK

The 900-pound giant bluefin was safely released after an epic battle.

Technically the tunas are part of the mackerel family, Scombridae, but for anglers’ purposes, they fall under the genus Thunnus, apart from kingfish, wahoo, mackerel, and other members of the family. The mostly pelagic tunas, from the diminutive bonitos, often favored as bait for larger bluewater predators, to bluefins, that can top half a ton, offer a range of sport in the world’s oceans, on an equally varietal range of tackle, from fly-rods to 130-pound trolling gear, on everything from feathers, to live baits and trolled lures.

The middleweights, blackfins in the Atlantic, which run to 40-pounds, and albacore in the Pacific, generally 20 to 40 pounds, provide fast action to trolled baits and lures around rips and seamounts on medium tackle. For strength and speed, the royalty of the oceanic tribe, bluefins, yellowfins and bigeye offer unmatched challenge as elite big game species; and provide some of the best table fare that swims.