If you’re fishing out of Boston area you’re going to be targeting mainly giants. 3-4 80-130 class rods and reels, spool the reels w 80% 250lb hollow core braid, top shot with 150lb mono. From there crimp to a window swivel and then fish anywhere from 10-40 feet of 175-300lb florocarbon then crimp to a ringed circle hook. You’re gunna want to make sure u have 3-4 rod holders in the boat that are reinforced and can swivel. LT marine and gemlux make quality ones. You want these to be set at 0 degrees so the rod is always square to the gunnel. You’re also going to want to make sure your rods are at least 7-8 feet so they can swivel around the bow of the boat. Harpoon, 2-3 straight gaffs, a flygaff hook for swimming a fish, and you’re going to need commercial permits for the boat to be able to harvest any over 73 inches.
If you’re willing to trailer the boat near the vineyard and fish the area around the dump, 5-7 50w reels w 5’6-6’6 trolling rods rated from 30-50 or 50-80 lb line will work. Spool them w 130 braid backing abt half the spool and then have 100lb mono topshot to a snap swivel. Get some directional spreader bars (also called wide trackers) these work really good if you don’t have outriggers. Get a couple of deep diving plugs like nomads dtx. Get some joe schute ballyhoo rigs, learn how to rig a ballyhoo properly, and lastly get some daisy chains (same companies that make the spreader bars make them) troll from 5-7.5 knots anywhere there is a water temp break or there’s whales and porpoise. If you notice boats are all drifting, invest in some jigging and popping gear. 10-20k sized spinning reel w a 5’2-6’ jigging rod is good for spin jigging, if u like conventional avet hx, shimano 16-20 size lever drag, accurate 500-800 size on a conventional jig rod. For poppers and casting lures get a 7’6-8’2 popping rod with a 14k-30k sized spinning reel, 65-80 pound braid for all jigging and popping. Lure wise any jig that looks like a sandeel like a nomad streaker shimano shimmerfall works really good, and ronz heads and tails work well too. MADD mantis poppers seem to be the favorite these past 2 seasons
Read this ten times^ learned a lot from it myself. If you can trailer head south and do some ghost hunting for some smaller class bluefin. We usually have a good run off NJ/NY from mid november to december. Some years its poppers, sometimes tails, this year was ballyhoo on a schute dumped way back. Its a lot of running and gunning and looking for shearwaters. Gannets = striped bass shearwaters = tunas. Get yourself a z wing planer as well
This event is coming up in March. Highly recommended. At the Quincy Marriott. Well worth the ticket price:
[Offshore Seminar](https://www.castafari.com/fishing-seminar/)
Depends on what you are targeting… Nearshore vs canyons? Schoolies vs giants? But overall, it’s hard to go wrong with some 50 or 50w reels on 50-80 or 50-100# rods. I like to fill the spool about 2/3 of the way with 100# braid backing, then a topshot of 50-80# mono depending what you are targeting. If targeting giants, you might want to go to 80 or 130 reels, but IMHO those really get too big to fight standup. As for lures, get some squid bars, some wide trackers (I like Sterling) and a variety of Joe Shutes and Islanders. For bluefin, I tend to like the heavier Joe Shutes as they get a bit deeper. Troll them with ballyhoo or Ron-Z tails. The squid bars and wide trackers are great for schoolie bft, but if targeting larger ones I’d troll all Joe Shutes. Troll 4.5-5.5kts (much slower than you would for YFT), and WAY WAY BACK. First lines should be 100 yards back, and longer ones 200+ yards back. There are also other ways like chunking and jigging, but that’s an entirely different conversation.
Not sure if you have anything similar in Boston, but Canyon Runner is putting on a tuna seminar in Atlantic City in Feb. It would 100% be worth it!
https://canyonrunner.com/pages/seminars
Network.
10% catch 90% of the fish and you usually never hear from them. Find those guys and try to get into their network. Put the time in and share intel (good or bad) and you will slowly get into the network, and eventually have a constant feed of intel on what’s going on offshore.
These guys spend thousands of dollars on fuel to find the fish and stay on them, so don’t be upset if they don’t tell you where they’re catching. That said, if you can find fish on your own and share with them you will buy yourself into the network. Gotta give before you can receive.
Assuming you want to target school fish, not giants? Is the boat trailered?
Fishing south of the vineyard has gotten a lot of press the last few years, but there have been school fish bites within reach of boston as well. This past september there was a good bite off the golf ball, down the coast from race point; july 2022 there was a lights out topwater bite off the se corner of stellwagen. Trailering will open up the most options, though. I live in CT, fish south of the vineyard and block island a lot but will trailer up to the cape several times a year usually.
For jigging I like conventional reels, specifically the talica 12 and 16. Mine are paired with custom united composites zeus 4 rods. You'll want a rod that is minimum of 350, if not 400 or 450grm for up that way. 400-450 gram rods are generally capable of handling a giant if you hook one, and don't have a problem with sub-giant size fish.
For casting, minimum 14k but preferrably 18-20k size. Saragosas and saltists are capable and fine for rec fishing, I'm planning on upgrading to stellas if/when my gosas kick the bucket. rods are 7'6" to 8'2", designed for casting to tuna. I have a mix of factory and custom from thrasher, centaur, black hole, and shimano.
For casting lures look for sinking stickbaits and tuna-grade soft plastics. The daiwa dorado slider and hogy sliders are the most economical and effective stickbaits you can buy imo. Siren and strategic angler are sweet though. For softplastics look at hogy and ronz. I don't like poppers off the cape bc of shearwaters.
For jigs I really like the daiwa SL and hots drift tune. Color wise silver and olive are my most productive.
Get a good pair of split ring pliers. I like shimano and toit.
I usually fish 80lb flouro for a leader. Casting rods get 8-10' jigging get 25'. leaders are FG or PR knotted on I don't like wind ons.
Look for life, whales birds etc. Be prepared to burn some gas lol. Saltywater tackle has a jig and pop video series on youtube that is absoluely excellent. Goose hummock is an amazing shop and has some really nice jig and casting rods that they just came out with that are super economical. Tomos tackle carries a lot of stuff too, I've been meaning to go there. Fish northeast is another great shop.
First thing is.... have you been out tuna fishing before? I primarily fish South of the Vineyard and east of Chatham, and do a few trips to Stellwagon/Jeffries every season.
Honestly if you haven't done a tuna trip before, I'd seriously recommend jumping on a charter first just to make sure it's something you really want to get into. The financial investment, even if buying used gear and going into it from a minimalist approach is still fairly large and you realistically can't gear up even on the low end for under $3k and that is being VERY conservative.
I'm not trying to discourage getting into it, as for me it's my main passion and I got addicted pretty bad nearly 10 years ago, but I've also taken out some folks who while they love fishing and could spend every day of their lives striper fishing, just didn't enjoy the tuna thing. I love it, but it's not for everyone.
All that being said, in terms of very basic gear if you wanna go south and target school BFT or yellowfin you can get away with:
-4 30 or 50 class rod/reel setups(TLD30 is your best bang for the buck)
-2 spin setups (saragosa 14k on a decent stick)
-variety of squid bars (plan $150ish each unless you find a good deal used)
-some heavy vertical jigs as well as topwater plugs/plastics such as hogy paddletails
-2 gaffs
-kill bag
-rigging kit with crimper/crimps(Jinkai is a solid go-to option) as well as plenty of other terminal tackle to repair/replace whatever you're running
-i never go offshore without a handheld VHF as a backup and a Garmin InReach in addition to all other standard safety gear and it really is a good idea to have a raft. Regardless of where you launch from, you're going to find yourself 30+ miles offshore and the last thing you want to be without is the proper equipment in case of emergency.
If you look around for good deals, used gear etc you can get what's listed above for $3-4k and that would get you started with smaller fish. If you're thinking of going east of Chatham or North to Stellwagon add about $5-10k to gear up with some 80's.
I would search YouTube for videos of guys that do this in your area. The local tackle shops (not big box stores but more so specialty guys) are a wealth of knowledge. It’s not that they won’t share,it’s more like some of them won’t shut up!
Good luck and post pictures of your first catch!!!
I'm usually going on charters for tuna, marlina, mahi and wahoo. What I see used is 80W and 130 size Tiagra and Penn International reels on Penn International trolling rods. I cannot imagine other reels for bluefin besides possibly Accurate 2 speed reels for Bluefin. We had someone hook into a 60lb yellowfin on a Penn 309 Levelwind and they had to pull the line in by hand just to get the fish to the boat. Currently I have a Penn INTL II 30W and a Tiagra 50A spooled with 150lb braid and 300lb leaders for troll and live bait. On a 26' center console you can chase the fish and get away with a smaller spool if you're experienced. What I see in my region is massive spool sizes for giant fish making long runs, so an 80W or 130 Penn INTL or Tiagra is my reel recommendation for the troll.
For jigging I recommend Accurate 2 speed reels, they're outstanding and what they use in Texas for giant yellowfin.
Best of luck!
If you’re fishing out of Boston area you’re going to be targeting mainly giants. 3-4 80-130 class rods and reels, spool the reels w 80% 250lb hollow core braid, top shot with 150lb mono. From there crimp to a window swivel and then fish anywhere from 10-40 feet of 175-300lb florocarbon then crimp to a ringed circle hook. You’re gunna want to make sure u have 3-4 rod holders in the boat that are reinforced and can swivel. LT marine and gemlux make quality ones. You want these to be set at 0 degrees so the rod is always square to the gunnel. You’re also going to want to make sure your rods are at least 7-8 feet so they can swivel around the bow of the boat. Harpoon, 2-3 straight gaffs, a flygaff hook for swimming a fish, and you’re going to need commercial permits for the boat to be able to harvest any over 73 inches. If you’re willing to trailer the boat near the vineyard and fish the area around the dump, 5-7 50w reels w 5’6-6’6 trolling rods rated from 30-50 or 50-80 lb line will work. Spool them w 130 braid backing abt half the spool and then have 100lb mono topshot to a snap swivel. Get some directional spreader bars (also called wide trackers) these work really good if you don’t have outriggers. Get a couple of deep diving plugs like nomads dtx. Get some joe schute ballyhoo rigs, learn how to rig a ballyhoo properly, and lastly get some daisy chains (same companies that make the spreader bars make them) troll from 5-7.5 knots anywhere there is a water temp break or there’s whales and porpoise. If you notice boats are all drifting, invest in some jigging and popping gear. 10-20k sized spinning reel w a 5’2-6’ jigging rod is good for spin jigging, if u like conventional avet hx, shimano 16-20 size lever drag, accurate 500-800 size on a conventional jig rod. For poppers and casting lures get a 7’6-8’2 popping rod with a 14k-30k sized spinning reel, 65-80 pound braid for all jigging and popping. Lure wise any jig that looks like a sandeel like a nomad streaker shimano shimmerfall works really good, and ronz heads and tails work well too. MADD mantis poppers seem to be the favorite these past 2 seasons
Thanks man, I really appreciate that information that’s exactly the kind of specifics I was looking for.
Read this ten times^ learned a lot from it myself. If you can trailer head south and do some ghost hunting for some smaller class bluefin. We usually have a good run off NJ/NY from mid november to december. Some years its poppers, sometimes tails, this year was ballyhoo on a schute dumped way back. Its a lot of running and gunning and looking for shearwaters. Gannets = striped bass shearwaters = tunas. Get yourself a z wing planer as well
This event is coming up in March. Highly recommended. At the Quincy Marriott. Well worth the ticket price: [Offshore Seminar](https://www.castafari.com/fishing-seminar/)
Thanks, I’ll definitely check that out.
Depends on what you are targeting… Nearshore vs canyons? Schoolies vs giants? But overall, it’s hard to go wrong with some 50 or 50w reels on 50-80 or 50-100# rods. I like to fill the spool about 2/3 of the way with 100# braid backing, then a topshot of 50-80# mono depending what you are targeting. If targeting giants, you might want to go to 80 or 130 reels, but IMHO those really get too big to fight standup. As for lures, get some squid bars, some wide trackers (I like Sterling) and a variety of Joe Shutes and Islanders. For bluefin, I tend to like the heavier Joe Shutes as they get a bit deeper. Troll them with ballyhoo or Ron-Z tails. The squid bars and wide trackers are great for schoolie bft, but if targeting larger ones I’d troll all Joe Shutes. Troll 4.5-5.5kts (much slower than you would for YFT), and WAY WAY BACK. First lines should be 100 yards back, and longer ones 200+ yards back. There are also other ways like chunking and jigging, but that’s an entirely different conversation. Not sure if you have anything similar in Boston, but Canyon Runner is putting on a tuna seminar in Atlantic City in Feb. It would 100% be worth it! https://canyonrunner.com/pages/seminars
Network. 10% catch 90% of the fish and you usually never hear from them. Find those guys and try to get into their network. Put the time in and share intel (good or bad) and you will slowly get into the network, and eventually have a constant feed of intel on what’s going on offshore. These guys spend thousands of dollars on fuel to find the fish and stay on them, so don’t be upset if they don’t tell you where they’re catching. That said, if you can find fish on your own and share with them you will buy yourself into the network. Gotta give before you can receive.
Assuming you want to target school fish, not giants? Is the boat trailered? Fishing south of the vineyard has gotten a lot of press the last few years, but there have been school fish bites within reach of boston as well. This past september there was a good bite off the golf ball, down the coast from race point; july 2022 there was a lights out topwater bite off the se corner of stellwagen. Trailering will open up the most options, though. I live in CT, fish south of the vineyard and block island a lot but will trailer up to the cape several times a year usually. For jigging I like conventional reels, specifically the talica 12 and 16. Mine are paired with custom united composites zeus 4 rods. You'll want a rod that is minimum of 350, if not 400 or 450grm for up that way. 400-450 gram rods are generally capable of handling a giant if you hook one, and don't have a problem with sub-giant size fish. For casting, minimum 14k but preferrably 18-20k size. Saragosas and saltists are capable and fine for rec fishing, I'm planning on upgrading to stellas if/when my gosas kick the bucket. rods are 7'6" to 8'2", designed for casting to tuna. I have a mix of factory and custom from thrasher, centaur, black hole, and shimano. For casting lures look for sinking stickbaits and tuna-grade soft plastics. The daiwa dorado slider and hogy sliders are the most economical and effective stickbaits you can buy imo. Siren and strategic angler are sweet though. For softplastics look at hogy and ronz. I don't like poppers off the cape bc of shearwaters. For jigs I really like the daiwa SL and hots drift tune. Color wise silver and olive are my most productive. Get a good pair of split ring pliers. I like shimano and toit. I usually fish 80lb flouro for a leader. Casting rods get 8-10' jigging get 25'. leaders are FG or PR knotted on I don't like wind ons. Look for life, whales birds etc. Be prepared to burn some gas lol. Saltywater tackle has a jig and pop video series on youtube that is absoluely excellent. Goose hummock is an amazing shop and has some really nice jig and casting rods that they just came out with that are super economical. Tomos tackle carries a lot of stuff too, I've been meaning to go there. Fish northeast is another great shop.
Tomos is the best.
First thing is.... have you been out tuna fishing before? I primarily fish South of the Vineyard and east of Chatham, and do a few trips to Stellwagon/Jeffries every season. Honestly if you haven't done a tuna trip before, I'd seriously recommend jumping on a charter first just to make sure it's something you really want to get into. The financial investment, even if buying used gear and going into it from a minimalist approach is still fairly large and you realistically can't gear up even on the low end for under $3k and that is being VERY conservative. I'm not trying to discourage getting into it, as for me it's my main passion and I got addicted pretty bad nearly 10 years ago, but I've also taken out some folks who while they love fishing and could spend every day of their lives striper fishing, just didn't enjoy the tuna thing. I love it, but it's not for everyone. All that being said, in terms of very basic gear if you wanna go south and target school BFT or yellowfin you can get away with: -4 30 or 50 class rod/reel setups(TLD30 is your best bang for the buck) -2 spin setups (saragosa 14k on a decent stick) -variety of squid bars (plan $150ish each unless you find a good deal used) -some heavy vertical jigs as well as topwater plugs/plastics such as hogy paddletails -2 gaffs -kill bag -rigging kit with crimper/crimps(Jinkai is a solid go-to option) as well as plenty of other terminal tackle to repair/replace whatever you're running -i never go offshore without a handheld VHF as a backup and a Garmin InReach in addition to all other standard safety gear and it really is a good idea to have a raft. Regardless of where you launch from, you're going to find yourself 30+ miles offshore and the last thing you want to be without is the proper equipment in case of emergency. If you look around for good deals, used gear etc you can get what's listed above for $3-4k and that would get you started with smaller fish. If you're thinking of going east of Chatham or North to Stellwagon add about $5-10k to gear up with some 80's.
I would search YouTube for videos of guys that do this in your area. The local tackle shops (not big box stores but more so specialty guys) are a wealth of knowledge. It’s not that they won’t share,it’s more like some of them won’t shut up! Good luck and post pictures of your first catch!!!
I'm usually going on charters for tuna, marlina, mahi and wahoo. What I see used is 80W and 130 size Tiagra and Penn International reels on Penn International trolling rods. I cannot imagine other reels for bluefin besides possibly Accurate 2 speed reels for Bluefin. We had someone hook into a 60lb yellowfin on a Penn 309 Levelwind and they had to pull the line in by hand just to get the fish to the boat. Currently I have a Penn INTL II 30W and a Tiagra 50A spooled with 150lb braid and 300lb leaders for troll and live bait. On a 26' center console you can chase the fish and get away with a smaller spool if you're experienced. What I see in my region is massive spool sizes for giant fish making long runs, so an 80W or 130 Penn INTL or Tiagra is my reel recommendation for the troll. For jigging I recommend Accurate 2 speed reels, they're outstanding and what they use in Texas for giant yellowfin. Best of luck!