Tuna fishing out Miami

p007

what is the closest place to go and fish for YFT out of Miami and how far is it. Thanks

conchydong

NW corner of the Bahamas

catchemup

...to be specific ...the NW Passage...especially around Freeport if your coming from Dade or Broward

lemaymiami

For those reading threads about "tuna in Miami"... blackfins can be found regularly if you hunt them right at dawn or just at the end of the day... You can really get into them if you add live chum and you're over one of the seamounts  (the Humps...) down in the Keys...  Yellowfins - years ago we called them Allison tuna, were always a rare event (even years and years ago) mostly in spring and when the wind was howling out of the east (and I suspect pushing an occasional one across the Stream from the Bahamas..).  Giant bluefins are in the same category - but even more rare in our waters... 

Way back in 1973 I stood by as mate on the Bandit as one of our charter captains (who will remain nameless...) almost sunk his first charterboat, backing down on a giant Bluefin right in front of Haulover.  They were hot on the fish for an hour before his mate noticed that something about their exhaust didn't sound right and lifted a hatch to find two feet of water in their bilge... All of that backing down in rough seas meant lots of water over the transom on a fifty foot Carolina hull - and most of it didn't go back out the scuppers...  They'd declared an emergency, the Coast Guard choppered them out a pump, and by the time we came to assist in case his passengers needed to be off loaded - one of his diesels had shut down... We weren't needed a and the captain was able to limp on back inside (and weeks later with all their wiring replaced and motors re-habbed...) they were back on the water....   There's a reason that years ago you wanted a small, fast sportfisherman if you planned on going after those giants over in the Bahamas...

Don't believe I've ever tangled with a yellowfin (although maybe one fish that we had to jump up on plane to keep up with...) might have been one back in the eighties when I held a commercial hook and line ticket and fished out of a baby SeaCraft... Some years ago after my SeaCraft was gone I retreated back inshore and haven't fished blue water since... My personal bucket list would definitely include a yellowfin but doubt I'll ever leave the 'glades long enough to go hunt one down.  I figure a 50 to 80lb yellowfin on 30lb gear would mean a one to two hour brutal fight...

plastered

Back in 2005 we were fishing out of Walkers Cay when
we pulled into slip guys were ribbing us because we only
had TLD 25 S .Said you guys must be fishing for Dolphin
well it turned out we caught the biggest Yellowfin 60 lbs 
thought that reel was going to explode .

The Cat's Eye

I caught two yeloowfins in Cabo after realeasing two marlin. The tuna were 50 and 60 lbs and the fight was not very long on a 6/0 Penn Senator with 50 lb mono. I would say they only took 20 to 30 minutes before they were gaffed. One of the marlins took two hours. I was fighting fish almost non stop for four 1/2 hours and told the Captain "No Mas" at around 1:00 pm. (i have photo's of the big marlin and both tuna).
The spot we hit was south of Cabo and we were the only boat there.  On previous day i did a split charter and the boat went NE from Cabo to a seamount and there must have been twenty boats in a square mile all hooked up to marlin. The young women on this charter hooked a big blue and fought it for a couple of hours until she could not reel anymore but her husband refused to take over and we eventually lost it. By the time it was my turn in the chair the action was over. That was a wake up call for me not to do another split charter. 

Jack Hexter

Many years ago, probably 20 or so, I was running the "Committee Boat" for the Capt Bob Lewis Billfish Challenge out of the Miami Beach Marina tower.Capt Marty Locke was fishing a Contender for the Boat Center and was either in the lead or close to it when he hooked a quad of Yellowfin.  20# was the max line test allowed in that tournament and when I talked to Marty that evening at the awards banquet, he told me it broke his heart to break these fish off so he could get back to sailfish and keep himself in the tournament.  It would have broken my heart too.

conchydong

Yellowfin and Bluefin do come through the western side of the Gulfstream but to specifically target them would be almost impossible. Locally I’ve  only seen Bluefin breach twice and I only caught 1/2 of a yellow fin that got sharked. 
I used to make trips to the East Cape (Los Barilles Mexico) and have been on a couple 10 day long range trips out of San Diego and have caught many Yellowfin in the Pacific.

xenia

In June, 2005 I was out with a group of friends looking for birds off Fowey.  We found several feeding flocks in 800' which consisted of several bird species, but most were Great Shearwaters which are not common off Florida in those numbers.  Each flock had 40-50 Great Shearwaters diving on baitfish being pushed up, but what was even more unexpected was what was pushing the baitfish up: schools of Yellowfin Tuna!  These were school size fish averaging 20-40 lbs but I did see a couple that were probably 80 lbs or better.  In all my years of fishing before or since I've never seen anything like that.  Only seen YF on two other occasions, a 23# that hit a live pilchard out of the blue, and a 37# that was part of a small school that came up in our live chum off Key Largo.  On this particular day in 2005 all I had were light spinners and no live bait.  We tried trolling a couple artificials but no bites, not that it would have done any good if a big one took the bite.  As for the Great Shearwaters, since that day I've only seen 4.

John McKroid

In the Early 90's I did a long-range trip on the Royal Star out of San Diego.  The vessel fished the Revillagigedo islands about 240+nmi SSW of Cabo San Lucas.  It is probably the best location to consistently catch Yellowfin Tuna over 50lbs on a sportfisher based out of the US.   Although the trip was 16 days from San Diego, better than half the trip was travel time.  We took YFT trolling, with live baits and chunks.  A 2-speed reel is essential for that style of stand-up fishing.  On the better trips, there will be a dozen fish taken over 200lbs.  Our trip had two, and I was lucky to get one of them.  

lemaymiami

When I'm asked where a guy should go for yellowfins.. I usually point them towards Venice Louisiana where the oil rigs hold them.... Don't have a clue about the right seasons etc.  but for an angler wanting to tangle with a yellowfin on a day trip - that's where I'd be heading (if I was a lot younger..).  The vids I've seen of that fishery have been outstanding... 

CaptJ

The big tunas are the mystery fish that we couldn't stop when we were kingfishing in +-100' off water chumming heavy with pilchards. They're there, but few and far between.

bowhunter4life

CaptJ said:

The big tunas are the mystery fish that we couldn't stop when we were kingfishing in +-100' off water chumming heavy with pilchards. They're there, but few and far between.

I lost a mystery fish last year while targeting blackfin in may that I believe was a yellowfin. It dumped my Penn 950 filled with 65lb braid before my brother could get the lines in and the boat going towards him… ate a goggle eye in 350ft off Boca. In the 80’s me and a buddy were catching speedoes at the whistle bouy out of PE and I saw a couple of them break the surface just outside of us. They come through in late spring and early summer.

CaptJ

bowhunter4life said:

CaptJ said:

The big tunas are the mystery fish that we couldn't stop when we were kingfishing in +-100' off water chumming heavy with pilchards. They're there, but few and far between.

I lost a mystery fish last year while targeting blackfin in may that I believe was a yellowfin. It dumped my Penn 950 filled with 65lb braid before my brother could get the lines in and the boat going towards him… ate a goggle eye in 350ft off Boca. In the 80’s me and a buddy were catching speedoes at the whistle bouy out of PE and I saw a couple of them break the surface just outside of us. They come through in late spring and early summer.

A buddy caught an 80# Yellowfin drifting a speedo outside of the whistle buoy a few years ago. 

bowhunter4life

I’d love to catch one out front here!..👌

lemaymiami

Bring your A game, some stout tackle. And lots of line- you’re going to need it…. Years ago I built a stand-up rod on a Sabre Grafast 30-80 blank for a 30lb setup but never really used it… Count me as just another wanna  be yellowfin angler but I’ll  ever find one I the backcountry… Still a really hot big tarpon or shark is a pretty fair substitute..

bowhunter4life

I have a couple swordfish rods that would handle them. I just need to target them specifically when they are around. I saw pictures of a couple caught last year locally. One was bit up by sharks by the time he got it to the boat.

ProfessorO

lemaymiami said:

When I'm asked where a guy should go for yellowfins.. I usually point them towards Venice Louisiana where the oil rigs hold them.... Don't have a clue about the right seasons etc.  but for an angler wanting to tangle with a yellowfin on a day trip - that's where I'd be heading (if I was a lot younger..).  The vids I've seen of that fishery have been outstanding... 

Good advice.  I did this trip last year for a friend's 70th.  120+lb, 80+lb, and 6 50+lb YFT in one day.   We could have caught more, but that was enough for our group.  90 miles to rig from port. Fished  shallower rigs for snapper and grouper the next day. Limited out on red snappers, mangroves between 7 and 9.5 lbs, a nice cobia and a few grouper that were ~18 lbs.  Lots of good eating.