A giant bluefin comes through the transom door off Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Tuna are members of the Scombridae family, which includes mackerel (see) and numbers some 50 species in 15 genera. They are schooling fish found throughout the open waters of most of the world’s temperate and tropical seas, and are among the most commercially important fish, as they are all good to eat.

Tuna are also great gamefish. Anglers consider them the most powerful gamefish of all, and the largest members of the bluefin tuna species are the strongest of all fish pursued with rod and reel. They are also among the fastest; schools of these swift swimmers may cruise at 30 miles per hour.

All tuna have an especially streamlined body shape, with a pointed head and a much-tapered tail. The large caudal fin is lunate (crescent shaped). The spiny and soft-rayed dorsal fins are separate, the soft-rayed dorsal matched in size and shape by the **** fin directly beneath it. Following each fin is a series of finlets, the number varying with the species. In all species, the scales are extremely small or lacking. Most tuna and mackerel are ocean blue or greenish on the back, grading into silvery on the sides and the belly, but some notable exceptions occur.

Whereas fish are generally cold-blooded, tuna expert and biologist Frank Carey of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts determined that tuna are able to maintain a body temperature up to 18°F above that of the surrounding water. Carey concluded that a rise in body temperature effectively triples the power and response of a muscle mass, and explains not only the ability of tuna to seemingly fight forever on light tackle but also their adaptability to both Gulf Stream waters off the Bahamas and frigid Nova Scotian waters.

The unique physiology of tuna is such that they must consume great amounts of food to maintain their constant-swimming lifestyle and fuel the rapid growth characteristic of the tuna. Thus, tuna are likely to be encountered where massive quantities of schooling baitfish are located and feeding can be accomplished with a minimum expenditure of energy. For instance, giant bluefin tuna tend to stay with schools of herring, mack-erel, and squid during summer visits to cool northern areas, whereas school bluefins may hang around shoals of sand launce (sand eels), anchovies, and other smaller baitfish off the Mid-Atlantic States. Yet, these eating machines are often no pushovers, as they can also be surpri-singly fussy about baits and very line shy.

Angling for tuna is fairly similar throughout most of their range, as they are seldom encountered anywhere but in open water. Trolling with rigged baits and lures, and fishing bait from a drifting or anchored boat, are the major angling methods. A minor amount of casting is done, usually when fish are attracted close to a boat via chumming.

Prominent Species

There are 13 species of tuna, 6 of which are intensively exploited by commercial interests. Most are considered overexploited, and some—especially both species of bluefin tuna—have declined dramatically. The bluefins are relatively slow to mature and are especially vulnerable to overfishing. Albacore and skipjack tuna are the species most frequently sold in cans in the United States; the yellowfin tuna fishery in the eastern Pacific is best known for causing the deaths of porpoises (a k a “dolphins”), which are encircled and then become trapped in the purse seining nets.

Most popular among anglers are members of the Thunnus genus, which includes the largest of the true tuna—the bluefin and southern bluefin, yellowfin, and bigeye—as well as the smaller albacore, longtail, and blackfin. The dogtooth tuna grows to about 300 pounds, but this relatively scarce Indo-Pacific species is actually part of the closely related bonito tribe and the only one with an air bladder.

Bluefin tuna

Perhaps more than any other species, bluefin tuna are categorized in terms of their size, but, unlike most other fish, there is a definite understanding of what these terms mean. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has changed what used to be commonly accepted angler definitions of school (under 100 pounds), medium (100 to 400 pounds) and giant (400 pounds up) bluefins. The definitions they now use for management purposes are definitive. Small school bluefins are those under 27 inches curved fork length; these can never be retained. School bluefins are from 27 to 47 inches (about 14 to 66 pounds). Large schoolies range from 47 to 59 inches (66 to 135 pounds), and small mediums from 59 to 73 inches (135 to 235 pounds). All bluefin of these sizes in the U.S. are reserved for angling and cannot be sold. Large medium bluefins are from 73 to 81 inches (235 to 310 pounds), and giants are from 81 inches up. Large medium and giant bluefin can be sold.

Fishing for giant bluefins is fundamentally different from fishing for all other tuna in that the sheer size and power of the fish dictate the use of very heavy tackle. The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) limits sportfishing tackle to 130-pound line, and this was traditionally the standard for giant tuna sportfishing. Some anglers also used 80-pound tackle, but only those seeking records dropped to 50-pound, and they found it almost impossible to boat giants until the IGFA extended the allowable length of double line and leader.

Tackle got much heavier when Japanese fish buyers began paying big money for giants starting in the mid-1970s. Most giant tuna anglers from New Jersey through Maine now use lines even heavier than 130 pounds and “fight” their quarry out of pivoting rod holders by just cranking on the handle of a two-speed lever-drag 130-pound reel. Hardly any of the giants boated during the spring to fall northeastern U.S. season are caught in sporting fashion, as the objective is getting a valuable fish in quickly.

Sporting tackle still prevails during the winter fishery off Hatteras and Morehead City, North Carolina, and will as long as the NMFS continues to prohibit the sale of those fish, which are almost exclusively released. Most winter bluefins are also tagged and provide a wealth of information for scientists. Because those fish are encountered in relatively shallow waters, sometimes less than 90 feet, it’s possible to not only fight them on standard 130-pound gear, but also for experienced anglers to release most in 5 to 15 minutes by using heavy drags.

Unlike most other members of the genus, bluefins are basically inshore fish that at times even enter the mouths of large bays, such as Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. When much more abundant, giant tuna were even regularly caught in ocean fish traps along the northern New Jersey shore. Many popular fishing areas for bluefins, such as the Mud Hole in the New York/New Jersey Bight and Stellwagen Bight in Cape Cod Bay, are within 20 miles of shore. Boats out of North Lake in Prince Edward Island and in the Canso Causeway area of Nova Scotia can start trolling daisy chains of mackerel almost as soon as they leave their docks.

Bluefins are important to anglers along the U.S. Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to the Canadian Maritimes. Many spawning bluefins are encountered by longliners in the Gulf of Mexico during the winter, but few are caught by anglers in those waters. However, there is a traditional trolling fishery for giants off Bimini and Cat Cay in the Bahamas, as those giants head north in the spring. Bluefins also provide a major fishery in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Atlantic around Spain, although the formerly strong North Sea fisheries have long been depleted.

This fishery is managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which has imposed severe restrictions on the depleted western Atlantic bluefin stocks but provides much more liberal regulations on the European and African fisheries, which harvest vast numbers of tiny bluefins as well as giants. Management has been based on a two-stock theory that assumes there is only occasional interchange across the ocean. Extensive tagging, however, now indicates there may be a much more regular interchange, which would dictate a change in regulations.

The same species occurs in the North Pacific Ocean, although it never seems to grow to much more than 500 pounds—as compared to a maximum of about 1,500 pounds in the Atlantic. Sportfishing for tuna started when Charles Holder subdued a 183-pound bluefin off Santa Catalina Island in Southern California in 1898, and the Tuna Club of Avalon record was pushed to 2511/2 pounds the next year despite the primitive tackle used during the infancy of big-game fishing. Commercial fishing pressure severely reduced that fishery within a few decades, and bluefins were eventually all but wiped out by purse seiners along the coasts of California and Mexico’s Baja California, as the last significant sportfishing catches of even small schoolies by the wide-ranging California sportfishing fleet were made in 1956. The decline of the San Pedro purse seining fleet, however, permitted a return of fair numbers of school bluefins in 1992, and they’ve built up since then, and ever-larger fish are now encountered.

School bluefins provided a consistent trolling fishery for slow private and charter boats along the mid-Atlantic coast from at least the 1920s, as they rarely had to run more than 20 miles offshore in order to fill their boxes. Large charter fleets developed in such ports as Beach Haven, New Jersey, and Freeport, New York, but most of those boats disappeared after tuna stocks were decimated by purse seining in the 1960s and 1970s, plus an extensive Japanese longlining effort on spawning giants in the Gulf of Mexico during a portion of the same period. Regulations adopted during the 1990s prohibit the sale of bluefins under 225 pounds and impose severe catch limitations on anglers but have failed to return that fishery to even a fraction of the early-1970s level, which was already only a shadow of what existed prior to the 1960s.

The southern bluefin is found worldwide from about 30° to 50° south latitude. It is distinguished from the bluefin only by a difference in the number of gill rakers and by being the only species of Thunnus in which the caudal keels are bright yellow. It is most commonly caught in Australia and New Zealand, and doesn’t appear to achieve true “giant” sizes of 400 pounds or more.

Yellowfin tuna

Yellowfins are the most common warmwater tuna, and the most colorful. Indeed, many large yellowfins become particularly distinguished as they grow extremely long second dorsal and anal fins. These fish are often referred to as Allisons and were once thought to be a separate species. Although heavily pursued by purse seiners and longliners, yellowfins have managed to remain reasonably abundant in their ocean haunts. Although not strictly committed to the depths, yellowfins only occasionally wander relatively close to shore. One such exception occurred during the mid-1980s when vast quantities of sand launce (sand eels) lured yellowfins to banks and sloughs within 12 miles of northern New Jersey and Montauk, New York, for several summers. The only area along the U.S. Atlantic coast where they’re regularly caught within 30 miles of shore is off the Outer Banks of North Carolina due to the proximity of the Gulf Stream.

A surface fish, yellowfins are a good target for trollers. Canyon anglers usually make their biggest catches by chunking for yellowfins at night and are often able to spot them racing through the slick to pick up chunks.

Most yellowfins are caught in sizes under 100 pounds, but they are common up to 200 pounds and can grow to 400 or more pounds. The largest yellowfins have been encountered by San Diego long-range party boats fishing in the Revillagigedo Islands off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Specimens exceeding 200 pounds are common during many winter trips, and some in the 300- to 400-pound class are boated.

Bigeye tuna

Bigeyes are found in warm temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Although the IGFA maintains separate records for the Atlantic and Pacific, the species is the same. They frequent the depths, particularly during the day, and, unlike other tuna, are rarely seen chasing baits at the surface.

Bigeyes are very strong fighters caught on baits primarily set at depths of 100 feet or more during the night and are irregularly caught by trolling, even at night around a full moon. They are just about as highly regarded as fresh fish by sophisticated Japanese food purveyors, as are medium and giant bluefins.

Anglers tend to troll for them with heavy tackle, such as 80-pound outfits, although most caught in mid-Atlantic canyons are only in the 100- to 250-pound class; any exceeding 300 pounds are exceptional. The maximum size of these fish in the Atlantic appears to be around 400 pounds. A Pacific fishery off Ecuador and Cabo Blanco, Peru, has produced bigeyes exceeding 400 pounds, although the once-large runs in that area have been depleted by commercial fishing.

Its large eyes, which probably facilitate feeding activities in low light deep below the surface, aren’t sufficient to differentiate this species from yellowfins in smaller sizes, especially after the fish are dead. Sure identification involves the liver, as there are striations on the margin of the bigeye’s liver, and the right and left lobes are about the same size. The yellowfin’s liver is smooth, and its right lobe is longer than the middle or left.

Albacore

Albacore are the only white meat tuna and as such are highly valued by Americans as the finest canned tuna, but Japanese fish processors downgrade them for the same reason. Although much smaller than other members of their genus, these fish are good sport on lighter tackle. Often referred to as longfins, they are easily distinguished by pectoral fins that extend beyond the anal fin and by their somewhat slimmer form.

These oceanic wanderers are most important to anglers in the Pacific, and their summer appearances well off California lure thousands of anglers to the docks. Although Southern California is the focal point for that summer fishery, the migration takes them far north, and they are frequently found within range of boats from Northern California to Washington. El Niño years provide much warmer waters that bring albacore even closer, and can provide an unusual tropical fishery in British Columbia. Not only did that occur in 1997, but much larger than normal albacore were caught, and the 90-pound mark was finally broached off California when those fish should have been long gone, in January 1998. Anglers could thank El Niño for this.

Albacore are also important to canyon anglers in the western North Atlantic. Only a scattered few are normally caught from the more southerly canyons, but large schools tend to show during late summer into early fall from Hudson Canyon east. Anglers also enjoy good fishing for albacore across the Atlantic in the Azores, Canary Islands, and Madeira.

Longtail tuna

The longtail tuna is more elongated than the southern bluefin and much smaller, with a maximum size possibly around 80 pounds. It is an inshore species of the tropical and subtropical Pacific and the eastern Indian Ocean, and is caught in large schools off the western and northeastern coasts of Australia.

Blackfin tuna

The blackfin only runs up to about 50 pounds and is most common in the 10- to 30-pound range. It is Florida’s primary tuna, and is most abundant from there south to Brazil and also in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. Blackfins are fine light-tackle fish, especially when chummed to the boat with live baits. Charter captains at Islamorada, Florida, specialize in that sport, cast netting hundreds of pilchards that are then distributed on The Hump (a mountain peak in the Gulf Stream) to attract blackfins, which can be hooked on the live baits or sometimes even by flycasters. Another popular but more complicated method involves rigging the wings of dead flyingfish to hold them straight out and then bouncing those baits in and out of the water from outriggers.

Little tunny

The genus Euthynnus includes three tuna species that tend to live closer to shore and are highly regarded as baitfish, although they are generally considered the least palatable of the tuna. The coarse red flesh of the Atlantic’s little tunny results in its being looked down on, although it may well be one of the world’s finest small gamefish. Indeed, they frequently fight so hard on light tackle that anglers find themselves boating dead or almost dead fish. Little tunny are almost never referred to by their correct name, instead being called false albacore in the northeastern U.S. and “bonito” (confusing them with Atlantic bonito) from Virginia south to the Gulf of Mexico. Identification is never a problem due to the several black spots always present under the pectoral fin.

Although they spread themselves out over the continental shelf, little tunny are most abundant within 30 miles of shore during a late-summer to early-fall run along the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coasts, when they average 5 to 15 pounds. Unlike the other tuna, the little tunny commonly chases baits into the surf and can be caught by surf casters retrieving small metal lures and jigs at high speed. Many are also caught by trollers seeking school tuna and in chum lines intended for bluefish. The same species is encountered south to Brazil and across the Atlantic to Europe and the Mediterranean and down to South Africa.

Black skipjack

The black skipjack is the eastern Pacific version of the little tunny. Primarily found from California to Peru, it is often conveniently available in large schools at black marlin hotspots such as Hannibal Bank and Piñas Reef in Panama, where ideal-size live baits in the 2- to 4-pound class will swim for hours when rigged Australian-style. The third very similar member of the genus is the kawakawa, which is primarily found in the western Pacific and Oceania. All three species would be considered large when weighing in the midteens, and they grow to a maximum of about 35 pounds in the case of the little tunny.

Skipjack tuna

The skipjack tuna (not to be confused with the black skipjack) is the lone member of the genus Katsuwonus, and has also suffered from name misidentification over the years with such misnomers as arctic bonito and oceanic bonito—even though it’s a tuna, not a bonito. It is readily identified by the stripes along its belly, which are unique in the clan. This fine gamefish is widely distributed in temperate and tropical seas, and often travels in huge schools, making it a favorite of purse seiners, who capture it for cannery conversion into chunk light tuna. Despite that, many anglers turn their noses up at the softer skipjacks as being less desirable than most other tuna. Anglers catch skipjacks primarily while trolling. They are quite common from 5 to 15 pounds but may run as large as 50 pounds.

Sportfishing Techniques

Swirls and boils in the water off this boat’s transom are made by frenzied school tuna ripping through bait and chum.

Anglers pursue tuna by many means around the globe, but their basic physical characteristics largely determine the methodology. For instance, trolling occurs almost invariably at as high a speed as will work the lures or baits correctly. An exception involves the spreader bar rigs that have become popular for medium and giant bluefins in the northeast U.S. They’re trolled somewhat slower than other tuna lures due to the action provided by multiple mackerel or artificial squid splashing on the surface. Live baits also can be trolled as slowly as necessary to keep them alive, and the same applies to live or dead baits fished from downriggers.

The vast majority of tuna trolling, however, involves rigged baits or lures being trolled at speeds of 6 to 8 knots or more. It’s probably impossible to run away from a tuna that wants to eat at any speed at which that bait or lure can be kept in the water. High-speed trolling is particularly effective, as most species of tuna seem to be attracted by wakes and possibly engine noise. Some lures should always be placed in the whitewater very close to the boat and pinned down to stay there. Feathers and cedar jigs are ideal for that purpose. The wakes created by some boats seem to produce more tuna than others, and theories abound as to what the reason might be.

Trolling can be “blind” in areas where tuna should be present, or directed to surface schooling fish. Most of the yellowfin, bigeye, and albacore tuna trolled in U.S. East Coast canyons (100- fathom dropoffs at the edge of the continental shelf far offshore) are caught by blind trolling, especially where baits are marked and around temperature breaks. The arrival of a Gulf Stream eddy usually ensures a tuna bite.

In areas without such “structure,” trollers often depend on sightings in order to focus their efforts. This is particularly the case with yellowfin tuna in the Pacific, as those fish associate with porpoises, a fact purse seiners learned long ago. Invariably, those feeding tuna are moving at a high rate of speed, and boaters may have a hard time keeping up with them.

Balao and large squid make good natural trolling baits. Straight-running high-speed offshore trolling lures work well for larger tuna; jethead versions are particularly favored for bigeyes. Lure sizes are scaled down for smaller specimens of large tuna as well as the smaller species, but even the largest tuna sometimes prefer short lures if they’re feeding on similar-looking baits. Plugs that can be run at relatively high trolling speeds are also effective.

The lack of an air bladder is also a clue to hooking tuna on bait. Anyone who has watched tuna feeding alongside understands that no matter how much bait is provided, tuna always move through at a steady swimming pace. There is no such thing as a tuna “nibble.” They either suck in or reject a bait as they swim through. Thus, it’s possible to instantly hook a tuna by coming tight when it hits. Dropping back to those fish may result in deeper hooking, if that’s the object, provided that the tuna doesn’t spit the bait first if it feels something is wrong.

Chumming (see) is a popular method of attracting tuna in many areas. In some cases it’s accomplished with ground-up fish that forms a slick. Tuna seem to be more attracted to meat than scent, however, so chunking with pieces of baitfish tends to be more effective. Chunking is the primary means of catching bluefins in the northeast U.S., from schoolies, which are sought primarily for sport and food in the Mid-Atlantic States, to giants, which are big business in New England for shipment at very high prices to Japan.

Chumming is also the basic method of yellowfin tuna fishing on Challenger and Argus Banks off Bermuda. Long-range party boat anglers from San Diego who used to fish yellowfins exclusively with live baits, found during the 1990s that chunking was sometimes more effective, particularly for the largest fish.

At first it would seem that tuna would be reluctant to eat dead baits in a chum line. But these fish have learned to adapt and frequently are found feeding on fish spilling out of trawler nets or being thrown overboard by commercial vessels as unmarketable. Bluefins are particularly noted for this tendency, and they rarely display any selectivity in eating everything provided free. It’s only when a heavy hook and leader are attached to one of those baits that tuna become selective. Frequently they’ll run through the chum line picking up every scrap of even old rotten fish while leaving the freshest item in the selection—the one with a hook in it that isn’t drifting down at the correct rate.

The general rule in tuna chunking is to drop over just a few chunks and wait until the current carries them out of sight before repeating the procedure. Baited lines may be worked in the chum line by being dropped back with the chunks and fed out for a couple of hundred feet, after which it will be well below the chunks. Other lines are set at various depths with the aid of sinkers and held in place with floats. The depth selected may be based on recent experience, or by viewing marks on sonar. Many professionals use scanning sonar as well as conventional recorders in order to pinpoint tuna movements and bait placement. In earlier days, this was accomplished with a spool of 4-pound monofilament line tied to a bait and fed back into the slick where a tuna would surely grab it on such light line and give away its presence.

Anglers use a great variety of dead baits. Butterfish and menhaden are the most likely choices in the Mid-Atlantic, whereas New England anglers use mostly the herring and mackerel that attract giants to that area during the summer. These baits may be used whole or cut. When giant tuna are fussy, anglers often resort to a mousetrap rig in which a cable leader is bundled up on a short-shanked hook and secured with a rubber band or shrink tape before being sewn into the bait. The small teeth of tuna wear down leaders during the course of a long fight, but the cable eliminates that problem, and the mousetrap rig permits elimination of a heavy leader that could spook fish. Most tuna anglers are turning to fluorocarbon leaders in order to overcome the visibility factor with 300-pound mono leaders.

Any sort of small live bait found in the area is desirable. Mackerel, harbor pollock, silver hake (whiting), red hake (ling), menhaden (bunker), and bluefish are most commonly used in the northeastern U.S. Live baits are also used as chum in situations where large quantities can be obtained and kept. For instance, anglers fishing out of Southern California have long gone to sea with livewells full of anchovies to be tossed at schools of yellowfin tuna. Long-range party boats from San Diego also jig up quantities of mackerel and scad, which may be used in smaller quantities as chum in addition to live baits. Commercial fishermen at Madeira net mackerel at night and then chum with them during the day to raise bigeye tuna to their live mackerel offerings.

Relatively few tuna are caught on lures that are cast, but that method is very exciting and seems to be gaining popularity. Casting usually involves spotting surfacing schools of tuna and getting ahead of them to make a cast. Popping and swimming plugs that can be retrieved at a rapid pace are ideal for this method, which is becoming more common off Virginia and North Carolina. Watching a school of tuna attack a popper is among the greatest thrills in fishing. When tuna are feeding in chum lines, it’s often possible to stir them up with a popping or darting plug, and that is frequently done with yellowfins in Bermuda.

Various types of jigs can also be worked effectively for tuna. Anglers in the northeastern U.S. catch many school and medium bluefins on diamond jigs. The usual method involves a fast retrieve, but the flutter of a falling diamond jig is often sufficient to attract tuna strikes when the lure is simply moved up and down in long sweeps at a level where the depth recorder indicates the fish are coming through.

Tackle for tuna fishing runs the gamut, from the heaviest gear to almost ultralight. Sportfishing for giant tuna almost invariably involves fighting them out of a fighting chair with 130-pound tackle, but a few have been caught when the angler was standing up—particularly during the winter fishery at Hatteras, where the abundance of tuna and relatively shallow water create a perfect opportunity for such an achievement.

Stand-up tackle (see: stand-up fishing) suitable to handle all but the largest of tuna was developed aboard San Diego long-range party boats, where anglers often fight yellowfins well over 200 pounds at anchor. The long, parabolic trolling rods that were once pressed into service for stand-up fishing worked against the angler, creating lots of back strain without putting enough pressure on the fish. Those Californians created short rods (51/2 to 6 feet) with extended foregrips and tip action. This innovation brought the bend of the flexed rod almost back to the upper hand, putting leverage in the angler’s favor. These rods, combined with dual-gear-ratio reels and rod belts and harnesses that are worn low and transfer pressure to the thighs, have made it possible for stand-up anglers to battle tuna to well over 300 pounds with fair success and a good chance of staying out of the hospital.

Trolling tackle for large tuna other than giants usually involves 50- and 80-pound outfits. That gear may be too heavy for the average catch, but most anglers want to be ready for the occasional large yellowfin or bigeye. In areas closer to shore, it’s much sportier to troll with 20- and 30-pound outfits for smaller tuna such as school bluefins and yellowfins or blackfins, which may be mixed with such species as little tunny, skipjacks, bonito, dolphin, and king mackerel.

Light spinning and baitcasting tackle is perfect for chumming little tunny and skipjacks, and is still sufficient for handling most school tuna. Those fish are often leader shy, and it may be necessary to drop to 20-pound leaders to get strikes.

Tuna are difficult to catch on fly tackle due to their high-speed lifestyle. Even when it’s possible to cast to moving tuna, it’s hard to strip fast enough to interest them. The best bet for hooking up is in chum slicks, as the fish are then concentrated for each cast and they can occasionally be worked into such a competitive feeding frenzy with chunks that just about any fly flipped out to them will be inhaled immediately.

It is frequently necessary to run after large tuna to prevent reels from being stripped. Skippers fishing at anchor, particularly for giants, utilize an anchor ball that permits them to cast off their anchor within seconds in order to both follow the fish and avoid getting cut off or tangled in their own anchor line. Anglers who try to fight giants with their arms rarely last long. The technique from a chair uses the legs and lower back in a seat harness with a sliding motion across the chair to retrieve line.

The stand-up technique for large tuna works best with a short stroke, raising the rod only a few inches to gain line rather than lifting it overhead. The idea is to keep the tuna’s head up and coming steadily, whereas the long stroke allows the tuna to get his head down no matter how fast the angler thinks he’s reeling. Mastering the short-stroke technique can change excruciatingly long, painful battles with tuna into relatively short, pleasant ones.

Unless tuna are to be released, they are normally gaffed. As tuna don’t jump or do anything unusual except continue to forge ahead when wired alongside, straight gaffs work well on them. Some anglers do prefer flying gaffs for large tuna, and most giant tuna pros now use cockpit harpoons (which aren’t legal under IGFA standards) to ensure their capture.

Although the tuna remains a fish that is sought as much for its flesh as for sport, release fishing is increasing steadily in popularity even for this species. Tagging makes releasing fish even more worthwhile, and anglers are urged to participate in U.S. government programs that provide free tags. For Atlantic waters, contact Cooperative Tagging Center, NMFS/NOAA, Southeast Fisheries Center, 75 Virginia Beach Dr., Miami, FL 33149. For Pacific waters, contact Cooperative Marine Gamefish Tagging Program, NMFS/NOAA, Southwest Fisheries Center, P.O. Box 271, La Jolla, CA 92038.

Other Issues

Identifying tuna

There is often confusion about tuna species, especially those of small to intermediate size. Some external clues do exist that aid in making a quick identification, which may be necessary to enable the release of specific species and to comply with existing regulations. Most external clues involve fin length.

If the pectoral fin, when held flush to the side of the tuna’s body, ends well before the origin of the second dorsal fin, the fish is probably a bluefin tuna. If the pectoral fin extends to or past the origin of the second dorsal fin, it is likely either a bigeye or yellowfin. A tuna with extremely long pectoral fins, extending beyond the origin of the **** fin, is most likely an albacore. A tuna exceeding 40 pounds with extremely long **** and second dorsal fins is most likely a yellowfin.

Other clues are useful only after the species has been landed and is dead. This includes counting the gill rakers on the first gill arch and observing the liver for its shape and presence of striations. Headed and gutted yellowfin tuna have a distinct, white, fleshy round node (like a fleshy cord) that runs along the top of the body cavity from front to rear. This is absent in bigeye and bluefin.

Headed and gutted bluefin tuna have a distinct pocket that can be felt by running a hand along the inside of the body cavity underneath the insertion of the pectoral fin. Yellowfin and bigeye tuna do not have this indentation in their body cavity.

Measurements

For some regions where tuna are found (especially the western Atlantic), total curved fork length is the sole criterion for determining the size class of whole (head on) tuna for regulatory purposes. Curved fork length means a measurement of the length of a tuna taken in a line tracing the contour of the body from the tip of the upper jaw to the fork of the tail, which abuts the upper side of the pectoral fin and the upper side of the caudal keel. When determining this length, the measuring tape must pass over (and touch) the pectoral fin and the caudal keel.

Atlantic tuna permits

Bluefin, bigeye, yellowfin, skipjack, albacore, and blackfin tuna, as well as bonito, are all regulated in U.S. waters of the western Atlantic. All owners/operators of commercial, charter, head boat, and recreational vessels harvesting regulated Atlantic tuna must obtain an Atlantic Tunas Permit issued by NMFS. These permits are issued in six categories, five of which are assigned as “commercial” permits: General, Charter/Head Boat, Harpoon Boat, Purse Seine, and Incidental Catch. The remaining permit category, Angling, is for recreational catches.

Only one category is assigned to a vessel. Atlantic tuna may be sold only by those permitted in commercial categories and may be sold only to permitted dealers. Atlantic tuna taken by persons aboard Angling category vessels may not be sold. Thus, charter boats may fish in a “recreational manner” for tuna, but they are classified as commercial vessels if it is their intent (which it is for many) to sell their catch. The propriety of doing this, of course, is questionable, especially when it is the angling community that clamors most for management of the fisheries and restrictions that would help rebuild stocks.

See: Albacore; Big-Game Fishing; Offshore Fishing; Skipjack, Black; Tuna, Bigeye; Tuna, Blackfin; Tuna, Bluefin; Tuna, Dogtooth; Tuna, Longtail; Tuna, Skipjack; Tuna, Southern Bluefin; Tuna, Yellowfin; Tunny, Little.