Tuna Chunk Fishing Techniques
Chunk fishing for tuna involves trolling hooks baited with large pieces of fish into a long chum line on blue water. The chum mix of fish guts and blood gets the schooling tuna in a frenzy so that when a big yellowfin or bluefin hits a baited chunk, you've got a fight on your hands. Follow these tips to set up for chunk fishing at sea to catch delicious tuna.
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Things You'll Need
- Charter boat or your own vessel for offshore fishing
- Heavy-duty saltwater baitcasting rods and reels spooled with a minimum 100-pound test line
- Heavy tackle, including 7/0-8/0 circle hooks
- Chum and buckets
- Fresh bait
Instructions
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Get a chum line started in deep water and sustain the chumming for at least 20 minutes.
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Determine whether the chum line is attracting tuna; do this by either using a fishfinder or checking with your own eyes (visibility may be 100 feet or more in blue water).
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Toss a few chunks of fish roughly 2 inches cubed into the chum line every five minutes.
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Bait a 7/0-8/0 circle hook with a chunk of chopped fish, making sure the barb of the hook sticks out of the chunk. Circle hooks are designed to hook tuna in the lip, so keeping the barb exposed is important; otherwise, the tuna are likely to kiss your chunk bait right off the hook.
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Cast the chunk into the chum line and release your reel spool so the chunk bait can descend like the other chunks that have been thrown overboard. The key to this technique is letting your baited hook fall just like the other fish chunks, so don't slow it down or restrict the movement by applying any pressure on the reel. After a half-hour or so of feasting on a chum and chunk buffet, tuna get careless and start lunging at any fresh-smelling hunk of fish that falls through the water.
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Use slight thumb pressure on baitcasting reels and keep an eye on those rod tips for any movement, for it will surely be a striking fish.
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Wait five to 10 seconds before setting the hook. Tuna may feed carelessly in a chum line, but they take their time about chewing food and will typically try to rotate a chunk in their mouths before biting down. After five seconds, pull up sharply on the rod, set the hook, and let the battle begin.
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Reel in after 20 minutes if you don't get a strike and replace your chunk with a fresh, bloody piece. Fish heads and chunks lose their effectiveness as bait after about 20 minutes in saltwater. You can chop up the old chunk and toss it in the chum bucket so nothing goes to waste.
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Tips & Warnings
Fresh bait is essential to successful chunking. Bait you cannot use today should be thrown overboard and replaced with fresh-cut fish chunks for tomorrow's angling adventure.
