Tuna fishing tips: Preparing for that big boat trip

Catching tuna is never guaranteed. However, with the right preparation, any trailer boat skipper can ensure they have the best chance of hauling a tuna onboard.

Sure, you may not have all the luxury-laden comforts of a big boat, the toilet is a bucket rather than a head, and you’re eating sandwiches out of the icebox rather than grilled steak, but a trailer boat has the versatility of travelling overland to the shortest point between the shore and the fish, as well as a much smaller fuel bill.

So how do you prepare your boat for chasing tuna? Here are our top tips on getting the boat right before you hit the water.

A well-maintained boat means more time on the water, particularly if you can focus on the fishing rather than waste time nursing the boat along worrying about what’s going to fall short at a critical moment.

If you’re running up a lot of hours on your engine, get it serviced more than you would normally if you were sticking to the manufacturer’s recommendations – shorten the service interval to 80 hours instead of 100 so that you’re not running wide on an engine that clocks up its service interval while 140 nautical miles from home.

Check all your gear, too, including bilge pumps, live bait tanks and any through-hull fittings to ensure the lines that run to them are in good working order and not perishing, splitting or coming loose.

Top up the batteries and leave them for 24 hours before checking how well they’ve held charge. Batteries hate the cold, so a cool day on the water – tuna tend to be more active in or after a southerly blow – will challenge a battery that is not in peak condition. 

The other key point with a well-maintained boat is that it is always ready to go at a moment’s notice. If the weather shows tomorrow morning will be perfect out on the water, it’s not a problem as you’re always ready to roll for a quick pre-work session.

Weather is key to tuna fishing. As we’ve noted earlier, they tend to be more active during and in the aftermath of a southerly blow, so you’re going to have to get out in the big stuff to chase them.

Having a good-sized trailer boat with a sufficient deep-vee hull suited to offshore running will be key to getting out to the tuna.

But the weather is more than just looking up at the sky. Current, waves and swell will affect where you go and how you will get there, as well as where the fish you’re targeting will move.

A smart move to always keep in mind is to run up the sea or wind in the morning when the breeze is calmest, meaning that you’re coming home in a following sea rather than bashing through waves once the wind picks up later in the day.

A key to running wide is knowing how much fuel your boat will use in a mix of weather and planning the fuel load accordingly.

That means you will have already had a number of smaller trips out in your boat that will give you a rough 

Generally, the rule of thumb is a third of the fuel for the trip out, a third for the trip in, and a third in reserve to account for any changes in running conditions that are likely to result in higher-than-anticipated fuel use.

Ensure fuel is fresh, and that all fuel lines are free of perishing and pinches. If you can, use a jiggler to extract any fuel that has been sitting in the tank for longer than a couple of weeks and keep it for the lawnmower.

If in doubt, throw in a jerry can of fuel. An extra 20 litres can make a hell of a difference to your trip.

Having the right safety gear onboard will be vital to ensuring if anything does go wrong, you will be able to survive it.

If you’re running wide offshore, prepare for the worst. If the boat has level flotation, the worst will be that the cockpit will be swamped, but you can still stay safely inside it. If it has basic flotation, prepare to get very wet.

At a minimum, you will legally be required to have an EPIRB, parachute flares, and orange smoke and red incandescent flares. Also consider having plenty of drinking water in reserve, maybe a bright orange V sheet and even personal locator beacons – all are compact, affordable solutions that may save a life out on the water.

If a boat goes down, it’s likely to be quick. This story about a trip out to Browns Mountain demonstrates just how quick it can be. If conditions look a bit ropey, wear lifejackets.

In theory, it takes a team of four to catch tuna – the person holding the rod, the one driving the boat, someone to handle the wire once the fish is alongside, and someone to work the gaff.

However, if you’re short-crewed, the responsibilities of landing a fish that can average around 60kg will need to be shared.

Arguably, the most important job on the boat, even above that of the person cranking the reel, is the driver. It’s their role to ensure that constant pressure is kept on and that the person on the rod is winning rather than losing line, even if it means turning the boat to run backwards.

You can use your smaller trailer boat to help you tire the tuna by fishing out of one corner of the transom – try and make it the side the steering wheel is on – and forcing the tuna to drag you along. The extra weight of dragging the boat will help to tire out the fish, potentially cutting hours off the fight.

Make sure everyone on board knows their role when things start to get exciting, and more so if there are multiple hook-ups from the surface poppers you’re running in shallow water or the lures you’re running deeper.

On hookup, the two important things are to keep the boat moving forward so that there is no chance of fouling the line in the prop and clearing any other lure or teaser lines that are in the water.