Tuna Fishing for Schoolies is a “run and gun” style of fishing.    Dogbar uses St. Croix rods and Penn 9500 spinning reels to cast to breaking fish.  We will also throw out some Macs on short rods with Shimano Tiagra 50s reels.

Once we find breaking fish, usually by watching for birds, we get to them quickly and cast up into the melee with either top water plugs or my favorite a 12” white sluggo.  If we can get a bite on the 9500s hang on because we are going to busy for a while.  These are heavy spinning rods but even with the drag set high these fish can strip all the line off in seconds.  Typically we work as a team to chase the fish with the boat and put line back on the reel.  After 15 or 20 runs we hope to tire the fish out enough to get it to the boat.  Sometimes its longer!

If we get tight on the Shimano 50’s we have the benefit of using a fighting belt to help control the fish.  Using a belt transfers the work to your legs and lower back, not your arms, but its still a challenge to bring a fish to the boat.  If you look in the picture below you will see “Billy” using a belt on one of the short rods.  He was a 25 year old strong young man and we had to hold onto his back to make sure the fish didn’t pull him overboard.  He was sore for a couple of days!