Fishing the local Melbourne Blue Fin Tuna
There has been plenty of quality local Southern Blue Fin Tuna about in our local Melbourne waters throughout January – the trouble has been finding a weather window! This week the boys were finally able to get offshore, and found plenty to keep them busy.
With some great weather forecast over the weekend, make sure you stay close to the weekly reports on Salt Guide but more importantly watch the videos first so you learn how to locate a school and what to do from there!!
One of the main things we hear from less experienced fishos is that when they actually do find a school, they are just not taking the lures. When they are just laying there rippling the water you’re probably not going to catch them. They are sunning themselves and it’s time to move on. It’s also so important to watch the videos to understand how to approach the school and what to do when they do start feeding in front of you.
We had a great story from a new Salt Guide member, James, last week that is such a rippa we thought we might share it…
Hey fellas!
We’re in Ocean Grove and have a 4.2m tinny. Been whacking gumbos in the bay last year which was rad. Took it out for a reccy spin off Barwon Heads a few weeks back. Met some crew at the OG boat ramp who had a school tuna they’d landed just offshore. Got super excited with idea of fishing for them out of our tinny.
So I started my research and bought a Salt Guide membership a couple of weeks ago and did my homework on the video tutorials and reports re: bluefin. Read and watched everything I could find. Best quality info was mainly from you guys. Especially appreciated the tackle rigging tutes and advice on how to approach the fish schools etc.
Spent a few weeks getting tinny prepped for offshore fishing w safety kit and new hand made trolling mounts for the 2 x rods. Froth level 5000!
Took my two little brothers out just after Xmas on a light wind and small swell day. Left early. First boat out the river! Headed for an outside mark and dropped first skirts in the dark. No sounder so flying blind!
So my littlest bro is on the tiller and I’m spooling out the second skirt when my reel birdnested! Absolute mess. Then felt a real heavy dead weight through the rod and figured we must have run over a cray pot in the dark and snagged it or something. Was gonna cut the line but my little bro said he’d try hand hauling it to retrieve some line. So he started to pull it in, no gloves! And boat starts moving back towards the snag before the line straight under us. In my sleep deprived fogged brain as I’m stuffing around with the birdnest I’m thinking, ‘we mist have hooked the wreck or something!?’
Little brother gets tired (and cut) hands so I give up on the tangle and take over. Start to feel a bit of line coming into the boat which is weird. Figured that maybe snag has pulled loose? Or maybe we’ve just hooked a giant cuttlefish or something? Then after a few more hand hauls I feel the weight on line start to circle under the boat! And then I can see colour below. And then shape. And then I finally twig that we’ve hooked a bluefin!
Disbelief and hi fives all round and from there on its absolute tension and chaos as I’m hand hauling line as gently as I can with my heart stuck in my throat. One brother is on the tiller donutting the tinny to keep prop off the line, the other grabs the gaff (which he’s never used before) and somehow we caress the fish to surface, stick it on the 4th gaff shot(!) and land it into the boat. Couldn’t believe it. Sun came up. All felt like a dream.
So anyway, cheers for the website and guidance coz there’s no way we would have lucked in like we did without it. Can’t wait to get out again. Stoked!
Hooroo, James.
What is Salt Guide?
Let’s face it, it’s expensive and time consuming to go fishing and not catch fish. Whether you are fishing for sport or the table, when you get out there, you want to be able to find and catch the fish you are targeting.
Salt Guide is a membership based, on-line fishing guide giving you weekly reports telling you where to go (including marks) and what to do when you get there, heaps of tutorial videos and now, our you-beaut LIVE workshops and so much more. The Salt Guide crew find the fish and give you all the details each and every week on where to go and what to do when you get there – all for less than a cup of coffee a week…it’s the cheapest charter you will ever take – all online, all at your finger tips.
Anglers Aaron Habgood, Gawaine Blake and Chris Cassar teach you to fish like a pro by taking you through everything you need to know, step by step, to get the absolute most out of your fishing. Whether you are an experienced fisho honing your skills or you’re new to the game and just starting out, there’s something for everyone – so sign up and login to Salt Guide, learn from the experts and let’s go fishing.
Improve your fishing with Salt Guide
Our super informative tutorials that are a gold mine of tips and tricks, to supplement the weekly reports for those that can’t fish, but just remember, when all our members are out fishing again, our reports are covering more of the bay than ever before – and we haven’t even hit snapper season yet! Our newest recruit, Chris Cassar will be taking you from Altona all the way to the Mornington Peninsula on the snapper and other species.
We also continue to add new products and services to the CREW CARD which is already saving members hundreds of dollars. By taking advantage of the savings, members well and truly cover the few dollars a week it costs to be a Salt Guide member and help a lot of local, small businesses along the way. Get all the info at saltguide.com.au.
Try before you buy!
Be a part of our elite membership today with our try before you buy 3 day free trial with coupon code SG3. Sign up and enter you card details with coupon code SG3. If you like what you see (and you will!), continue on after the free trial for less than the cost of a coffee a week…otherwise cancel via the contact us link and pay nothing at all! If you don’t cancel (and you won’t!) recurring subscription payments commence automatically after the trial period. There’s plenty of competitions and members’ discounts on quality gear and services, 100’s of tutorial videos, weekly predictive reports on what to target for the week ahead and why, with the exact GPS marks! You’ll never waste time or money chasing the wrong species at the wrong time again…
