How to Cast for Bluefin Tuna

By Jack Gillespie

Casting lures such as stickbaits can make for some amazing bluewater sports fishing and a huge adrenaline rush. Bluefin tuna will hit a fast moving lure very aggressively and fight hard, multiple long runs are the normal when fighting these fish.

Finding the fish is generally the tricky part of catching tuna, trolling can be a good way to locate fish but also reading the bird sign and keeping an eye on the sounder for concentrated bait balls. Birds can sometimes be very subtle, seeing one or two birds bombing the water is often all the clues they will give you.

Longer rods around 8 foot are extremely useful when casting big baits, they will give you the ability to cast a lot further to cover more ground but also not have to get so close to schools on fish and risk spooking them. Matching the hatch is also important so blue and silver colored lures are typically what the tuna will want. Reels from 6000-8000 size spooled with 40-60lbs J Braid and 40-60lbs J-Thread leader is a great all round setup for casting to Tuna up to around 30kg.

Using the rod to work the lure in a sweeping type action will have you hooking into tuna. Point the rod at the lure and sweep the rod back 90 degrees to you side then take up the slack line and repeat until the lure is back at the lure.