Tuna Jigging

Hi! My name is Mike Jung. Let me briefly introduce myself before going into tips about catching tuna. I have been fishing and catching tuna over for twenty years, and I care about having more fun than catching bigger tuna. I and my crew are anglers not fishermen, so having fun fishing tuna is the most important element of fishing for us. It is much more fun to catch tuna jigging by bait fishing. Over the last twenty years, I caught roughly 1400 tuna all by jigging.

The Tunas I caught are about one dozen big eye tuna between 180~250 pounds, over 300 blue fin tuna (Many of them weighed over 200 pounds). Most of the tunas were caught fishing on party boats (head boats). I fish in the northeast region and some of boats I’ve been boarding are Helen H in Cape Cod, Super Hawk in Point Lookout Long Island, Big Jamaica in Brielle NJ, and Miss Barnegat Light in Barnegat Light NJ. When I go tuna fishing on one of boats I mentioned, I catch over ten tuna and sometimes over twenty tunas per trip. (Before the regulation went into effect. 3 yellow fin tuna per person.)

Few Things You Should Know For Tuna Jigging

• Tuna jigging is about three to four times more effective than bait fishing.
• Tuna jigging is a lot more fun than bait fishing, because the tuna jigging rod and reel are lighter than standard tuna equipment.
• With the jigging tackle, when a fish is hooked that is less than 100 pounds. It is much easier to handle and quickly bring to gaff.
• Some people may question why use light tackle for tuna. When a tuna hits a jig, I respond as quickly as possible to hook it, and then the tuna cannot escape since it cannot change its direction to elsewhere. After it is hooked, light tackle helps to make it very easy to feel how it is acting.
• Another reason to use light tackle is when a tuna is hooked in its mouth, it is powerless than when hooked into its throat or deeper inside.
• This is I feel why tuna jigging is much more effective and fun!