Our bluefins get pretty decent around mid-June, and yellowfin tuna begin settling in early to mid-July.” But you can catch them on the jig-and-pop with some hard searching. ![]() The challenge then is that they’re scattered and not committed to their honey holes. “We usually hear reports of tuna around mid-May. “As long as they’re here, you can do this,” DeGraw says. I opted for an honorary membership in this semi-fictitious club, preferring to remain offshore to catch and release more fish. The dig refers to the fact that they can return to land in time to join other successful tuna anglers and friends for pancakes at a local breakfast joint. Anglers limiting out as early as we did boast about the “Pancake House” via VHF and satphone texts. (school fish from 27 to less than 47 inches). Catching Your Tuna Limit Early in the MorningĪs anticipated, Crochetiere and I boated our allotted two bluefins per vessel per day by 5:30 a.m. The same holds true for pitching chuggers. For joining line to leader, he prefers a 20-turn FG knot, with a second FG knot of 12 to 15 turns on top of that one. For him, a “heavy” setup will carry the same types of lines in 80- to 100-pound-test, matched with 80- to 100-pound leader. By comparison, our yellowfin bite doesn’t get consistent until mid- to late July, and it usually spans through September.”Ĭrochetiere defines “light tackle” as a reel capable of holding 300 yards of 50- to 65-pound hollow-core or braided line and a 50- to 60-pound fluorocarbon leader. “Our bluefin bite starts to heat up during the first half of June and really gets going in July,” Crochetiere says. We fished together in late July for 30- to 40-pound bluefins, running as close as 25 miles off Watch Hill. He explained that, if things went as planned, I’d become a card-carrying member of the coveted “Pancake House.” More on this later.Ī renowned jig-and-pop expert guiding out of Westport, Connecticut, Crochetiere trailers his 23-foot SeaCraft to Long Island, eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island, and even Cape Cod in pursuit of tuna. I had MARC VI up there to film a TV show episode on jig-and-pop bluefin tuna, and Crochetiere would be leading the way. ![]() departure, my initial thought was, Why bother sleeping? Our goal was to be at a 25-fathom hole along a 15- to 20-fathom contour line prior to first light, well before the fleets of tuna seekers. Cory Crochetiere said to meet at Rhode Island’s Avondale Boat Yard at 2:30 a.m. is extremely aggressive, whereas off the Northeast, you’d be arriving late to the party-and likely leaving without so much as a parting gift. For example, clearing a dark South Florida inlet at 5 a.m. Courtesy Denes SzakacsĮarly starts are relative, based on geography. In Northeast waters offers ample opportunity for topwater action.
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