BlueFin and my 30WLRSA 50lb??

[JC]

Heading out on a head boat to the canyon for Bluefin. I have a Tiagra 30WLRSA spooled with 570yds of 50lb mono. Captain says, "no braid allowed"! Will the line weight be adequate? On average Tuna are 15-50lbs with their range occasionally spanning to 150lbs.


Any thoughts?

 

[Megabyte]

No braid allowed? :roll:
I'd love to hear the reason for that logic.

 

[FishAC]

JC--Your 30lb class gear should be more than adequate. The tiagra can really holds its own. We troll heavy Int'l 50VSW with 80lb mono and 345GTi's (when we are more inshore) with 40lb mono and of course, the big fish always hit the 345's and they handle 75lb tuna just fine.

On the point of no braid allowed...the boat might be set up with a center deck rocket launcher. I've been on many boats where this is the set up and with all the lines going up to out riggers, if someone is standing in between the line and the transom, and there is a strike, the braid will act like a guilitine (sp?).

Thats the only reason I can think of that the capt. wouldnt allow braid

 

[JC]

Captain claims if a braided line crosses other lines made of mono the braid will cut them. True/False?? I don't know. Makes no sense to me.

 

[FishAC]

ok...i didnt read JC's post correctly the first time... I missed the point of being on a head boat.

The only other thing I can think of is if you dont have that long of a leader, no braid might be for the mate's safety as when leadering a fish. As a mate, I personally dont like dealing with braid, but when I have the rod, i love the stuff.

 

[JC]

The only other thing I can think of is if you dont have that long of a leader, no braid might be for the mate's safety as when leadering a fish. As a mate, I personally dont like dealing with braid, but when I have the rod, i love the stuff.

That makes more sense than the braid cutting mono.

 

[grouperjim]

Head boats down here in FL don't allow braid either. The reason being two fold. One, because the diameter is smaller it hangs straight down (relatively speaking) compared to the larger diameter mono which causes more tangles with other fisherman. Two, it then cuts your neighbor's line.

jim

 

[JC]

FishAC
Well then.......I'll go ahead and use my 30WLRSA with the 50lb mono.

grouperjim
I can understand their reasoning.

Megabyte
We've learned something new.

 

[Megabyte]

Megabyte
We've learned something new.

True 'dat... and I can see the safety thing with leadering a big fish... been there! :shock:
But in the Bay, all my rigs are still loaded with braid. :wink:

 

[CCparker]

JC -
Just out of curiosity, when are you planning on going on this trip? You mention going to the canyons for Bluefin, but also mentioned 15 - 50 pound fish. Last year, when the Bluefins showed up in the canyons, all the fish we got were well over 250 pounds. You could do that on a 30 spooled with 50, but if you have access to a little bigger setup, it could not hurt to bring it along. As far as the braid setups, on big fish, I really feel the need to have a good shock absorber, like 100 yards on top. The braid just is not real forgiving.

 

[rangerdog]

No braid, hummm. I went out on a deep drop head boat last month and fished with a Penn Peerless reel on a 5' 6" St. Croix rod spooled with 30 pound braid over mono. At 140 feet I was able to hold bottom with 3 ounces straight below my station whereas the others fishing with the charter's rigs hardly could hold bottom with 4-6 ounces. Their mono looked to be in the 50 pound range. :shock:

Of course that was bottom fishing as opposed to chunking or trolling but it sounds like you are chunking anyway.

When you say "headboat" for tuna, I assume a smaller 6 pac vice a 50 ton 100 pac behemouth?

 

[JC]

JC -
Just out of curiosity, when are you planning on going on this trip?

When calling for a reservation, the captain said mid to late September small bluefin are the first to show up.

rangerdog

100' behemoth with 26 anglers. It appears allowing braid or not allowing braid varies with each captain and his/her experience good or bad.

 

[Lucky John]

JC, I know you are not far from me,so if you are going on a head boat I suggest the following.
I've fished on head boats for tuna in the canyons,first off you will most likely fishing for yellowfins,not bluefins.
Most of the head boats like the Doris Mae,(Barnegat) Big Jamaca (Brielle) take out 25- 30 passengers.This type of fishing is not like on a a charter boat,to have the best chance of landing a fish you need 80 lb test.Most headboats do not allow braid for the reason mentioned above,mono only.
A Penn 30 TW would be minimal,best bet would be a 50TW with the 30 for jiggin tuna.Also bring a lighter stick with some squid jigs.Putting down a live squid is like candy,and it won't be long before you hook up if the fish are there,you can also use this lighter stick if the mahi come into the slick,just put on a small chunk and you'll have mahi for dinner.


PS The Canyon fishing has been pretty good of late,most fish have been in the 70-100 lb range and alot of Big eyes have been caught as well as quite a few swords.If you want to try for swords fish deeper and use wire or 130 mon leader. Good luck and let us know how you made out.I'm probably going after the 15 of this month.