Maine Tuna Fishing: Giant Bluefins
Bluefin tuna fishing in Maine has traditionally been for big tuna, with giants of 800 pounds and up commonly taken. When it's been hot in previous years, boats from all over the eastern seaboard have been off the Maine coast. Until recently, fish under 200 pounds were unheard of in Maine waters, although last season Captain John Pappas took bluefin as small as 20 pounds.
The season runs from August to October, and prior years have been great, as well as big money years: a big bluefin can sometimes be worth $10,000 or more. If on a charter, the captain always gets the fish, and there is typically a Japanese buyer waiting at the dock for you. The fish immediately flies to Japan!
Popular spots for tuna fishing are the same as for shark fishing: Jeffries Ledge, Platts Bank, Tantas Ledge and The Rose Garden, which are clearly marked on nautical charts.
Tuna are caught via trolling and chunking. Trolling is at around 4 knots, and most popular are rigged (real) mackerel daisy chains or plastic squid. Chunking involves throwing chunks of whatever fish is handy overboard, often herring, mackerel, or pogies. Traditionally you'd throw a handful of chunks overboard along with live bait fish, and when the chunks disappeared from sight you'd repeat, sometimes for literally days on end, 24x7. These days, due to the proliferation of pesky dogfish, chumming is done more slowly and the live fish are often skipped. Fish rigged chunks in your chunk slick, one in the middle of the slick and another drifting out with the other chunks. When it drifts too far, retrieve and repeat.
2007 and 2008 were horrible years for bluefin in Maine, although previous years were very good. Interestingly, the tuna fishing was pretty good to the south and north of Maine. Many people believe that the midwater trawlers, which have decimated the local herring stocks, are to blame as the regulations are more permissive in Maine than in neighboring waters. There has been far less bait in the water the last ten years.
Last
season, despite horrible tuna fishing in Maine, Captain John Pappas caught three tuna out of five trips, an enviable record.
They weren't giants, but fish from 20 to 50 pounds, which puts them firmly
within the range of flyrodders. I can assure you a 20 pound tuna on any
gear, especially a flyrod, will give you quite a workout!
It's also very interesting that tuna have been caught fairly close to shore recently in Maine, putting them within reach of smaller boats. For example several tuna were caught just a few miles outside the Saco River.
I have caught tuna on fly, although I've never landed a bluefin. Years back I placed a 6" mackerel deceiver in from of two busting 300 pound class bluefin tuna. It was the cast of a lifetime - right on target at about 110'. Unfortunately I was rigged for sharks, and tuna are leader shy. In particular, my wire shark leader greatly diminished my chances of a hookup. I have hooked similar sized yellowfin off Key West - suddenly you realize you have a hookup, the fish has already run hundreds of yards and escaped, and your heart doesn't slow down for a long time! Smaller tuna, say 20-50 pounds, are great flyrod targets, and it doesn't take a miracle to land them.
It'll be interesting to see how the tuna fishing is in Maine this year. If it's great, and the giants are around, it almost resembles a mini goldrush with guys buying gear with wild abandon and skipping work chasing very valuable bluefin. If the smaller bluefin are in Maine waters again, especially if inshore, then tuna fishing will be within reach of smaller craft, flyrodders, and far more people.
Click below to continue:
Part I: Maine Offshore Fishing
Maine Ground Fishing
Maine Shark
Fishing