ON Monday this week I realised a goal I have been trying to achieve for a number of years: that is, to catch a tuna of some description … I just never thought it would happen quite the way it did.
Thanks to Facebook news can travel fast, so when my good mate Josh Tynan posted on my wall around 2pm saying “Tuna in the keys, hurry up. Can’t believe it”, I grabbed my rod and a tackle box and literally flew out the door, thinking to myself “if he’s pulling my leg, I’ll bloody kill him”.
When I reached the clearing at the end of one of the canal systems in Forster Keys my eyes almost popped out of my head, there was a yellowfin tuna casually cruising around without a care in the world. We soon realised that this Tuna wasn’t alone, that he had three other mates with him and that they were bailing the small mullet that inhabit the canal systems up into tight balls, and absolutely SMASHING them.
Josh and I proceeded to throw pretty much every big lure that we owned at these fish, but they were content to leave our lures alone and keep snacking on poddy mullet. In a moment of either pure brilliance, or sheer desperation (it’s a fine line) I opted to tie on a trusty Ecogear SX-40F in 302m colour, and twitched the lure through the school of mullet, hoping for a strike. The change paid off, after 10 or so casts I managed to entice what can only be described as a freight train into eating my lure.
The next 15-20 minutes were some of the most adrenaline packed moments of my life. The drag on the 2000 Daiwa Freams was singing like a game reel as the tuna zoomed off up the canal. When the fish finally gave up and Josh grabbed it by the tail and swung him ashore, we found out just how powerful these fish are. The fin went ballistic, thrashing all over the place and covering the two of us in mud.
Landing my first tuna on bream gear was certainly a very welcome surprise, and it serves as a reminder at just how well canal systems can fish at times.
Gear used:
*7’6 2-6lb Samaki Vamp phase II rod
*2000 Daiwa Freams with 6lb TD Sensor braid
*6lb Harris fighter fluorocarbon leader
*Ecogear SX-40F #302 lure
