Sunday, October 25, 2009

This column is dedicated to the recreational fisherperson who wants to have a good time, get the boat wet, spend time with friends and family, and maybe catch a couple fish.

Everybody knows that I think life should be fun. There's enough arguing about politics and religion that there is no need for controversy when it comes to fishing. However, I am not totally resolved about two methods of tuna-fishing: Trolling and deep-jigging.

I have trolled for blackfin tuna in the Florida Keys most of my adult life. I've developed my own technique, and it serves me very well. I troll directly under flocks of birds on the Marathon Hump. I run ¬½-ounce black and red T&M Jig's Tuna Feathers tied directly to 30-pound monofilament line with 5/0 hooks. All of this equipment is readily available at any of our terrific local tackle shops. The trick is: I run the feathers 300 feet behind the boat at relatively high trolling speeds -- 8 to 10 knots. I have learned that the long distance is actually more important than the speed.

This system is so effective and efficient that I will not run more lines than I have anglers onboard. It is no problem for me to double-, triple-, or quadruple-hookup when I pass over a school of blackfins. It takes awhile to get used to the lures being so far back, and even when you see fish breaking the surface all around the boat, it takes a while for the feathers to reach that area. When you start getting hit, log that position on your GPS, then just keep going over the same spot at the same speed. This is great fun, but trolling with lines that far back does create its own problems. In crowded situations, other boaters may not know how far back your lines are. They tend to cut across your wake and cut your lines. I slow the boat down to an idle and wait for boaters in front of me to go wherever they are going. Then I troll right through the same area and aggravate the heck out of them when my drags all start screeching with multiple tunas tugging away. I never get tired of that.

But, in the past year or two, deep-jigging or vertical-jigging/butterfly-jigging has become very popular. This system was actually developed in Japan in the early '90s for deep jigging bluefin tuna. The way it works is specially-designed heavy jigs are dropped deep into the water at the Marathon Hump or anywhere tuna congregate. These jigs, weighing from 4 to 14 ounces, are dropped right down to the bottom, if possible, and frantically reeled up several yards, allowed to drop half the distance back down and then reeled up again until reaching surface. The deep depths and water resistance make braided line almost a necessity. The jigs have special hooks attached with special split rings and fabric loops, then fished with special reels attached to special rods. Special, meaning expensive. Of course, fisherpeople are very OK with new and innovative equipment and most of the anglers I know have purchased some of this equipment or plan to.

Now the controversy. Which system is better or, which system catches more and bigger fish? I decided to argue the whole thing out with Bill Thomas of Marathon. Bill took me on my most successful tuna jigging trip ever. We caught a box full of tuna, all between 15 and 22 pounds -- very big for blackfins, and fished exclusively with butterfly-jigs. This trip earned Bill the title of Tuna Guru. I have not been able to repeat this performance and after several attempts have reverted back to trolling. Bill's mantra with jigging is, "The bigger fish are deeper; trolling will not catch the big boys." I am still not convinced. When the jiggers are catching bigger fish, I troll up bigger fish. In fact, one day while trolling 10-pound average tunas, I "stopped and dropped", and caught 8-pounders.

Bill and his lovely wife spend half the year up north and half the year in Marathon. They just returned and I immediately cornered him to start this discussion. Hey, they've got six months to unpack, right? We've got fishing to talk about. Here's what Bill has to say. "Deep jigging paid off for me the first time I tried it, and then again the second time. I was trolling for tuna and while the other guys onboard were reeling fish in, I tried deep dropping. All of my fish were much bigger than the other guys. So, I am convinced the bigger fish are deeper in the water column," he goes on. "In fact, a friend of mine dropped a live pinfish 250 feet down and caught a 49-pound blackfin tuna. Deep jigging is also better than trolling because you have a chance at catching grouper, amberjack, snapper and a host of other fish that are on, or near, the bottom."

"But, what about all the work it takes to jig a metal lure 500 feet through the water?" I ask. "It's good exercise," Bill snidely replies, then continues, "I don't have to go the gym the day after deep jigging so that saves me money. Another thing I'm trying now is to drop all the way to the bottom, then put the boat in gear and troll the jigs almost to the surface." He admitted this was not something he has tried enough to guarantee it works. He says that most of the time, he cannot even get the jig all the way to the bottom without getting hooked up.

I will admit, the trip I took with him, he had us on a spot that gave up fish with every drift. He had them marked on the chart-plotter and executed his drifts perfectly, hence the name Tuna Guru.

After our friendly verbal slugfest, we decided that we needed to get out to the Hump and do more research. Bill's wife, Rosemary, was pleased that there was fresh tuna in her near future -- and that she could finally stop taking pictures of us posing in boxing gloves -- and get back to reading her book. So, everyone was a winner in round one. Bill and I have another Hump adventure planned, Rosemary got to leave the room, my wife avoided the whole thing, and as always, life is good in the fabulous Florida Keys.

C.J. Geotis is a life-long fisherman who followed his dream to live in the Florida Keys over eight years ago. He lives in Marathon with his wife, Loretta. His e-mail is fishstories@bellsouth.net