It's Tuna Time in the Gulf

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It's Tuna Time in the Gulf By CAPT. MEL BERMAN, Florida Fishing Weekly


	**	If you’re a sushi lover, this is the time when you can get yourself some tuna on the hoof. Right after a full moon of May, Suncoast anglers head out to deeper Gulf waters in search of the powerful blackfins. The plan is to arrive at the fishing site by the break of dawn. That’s about when most shrimp boats anchor up following a night of trawling. There they cull the shrimp and dump their bycatch. It’s that bycatch that becomes a massive chum slick for all sorts of hungry critters, but mostly hoards of bonito and blackfin tuna.

On a trip last year with Capt Dave Zalewski we all met for what would be a sort of “busman’s tuna holiday.” In addition to this writer, crew members Capt. Andy Kotsaftis, Andy Parker and Steve Smith boarded one of Dave’s two charter vessels, the “Lucky Too II,” for a tuna fishing adventure.

Making our way out the winding channel into crystal clear Gulf waters, we headed for our first stop some 11 miles from shore at the South County Reef. The structure was percolating that day with all sorts of larger, perfect sized baits. Using Sabiki rigs, we hauled in a load of threadfins, then headed for our destination, to about 100-feet of water some 28 miles off the Pinellas coast.

On the way, the 33-foot Bertram veered off course for what Zalewski called a “balloon stop.” Folks have parties and other kinds of celebrations ashore where they release balloons into the atmosphere as a sort of celebration. Depending on wind direction, many of the balloon clusters are blown offshore and land on the water’s surface. There they can do great harm to marine life – especially the giant sea turtles who ingest them thinking that they’re jellyfish, ultimately resulting in the death of these great creatures.

Zalewski, who feels it’s one of his missions to remove these deadly devices from the Gulf says that “it is also not uncommon to see birds and other fish species tangled up in the streamers attached to the balloons.” Most who care about our precious sea life should work to outlaw the practice of releasing balloons as a means of celebration. “To me,” said Zalewski, these balloon pickups are the most productive stops of the whole trip.”

Resuming our course, it wasn’t long before we could see the first shrimp trawler sitting on the horizon. As we approached the vessel, the crew knew immediately that “the show was over.” The surrounding waters were devoid of any action. Zalewski explained that some of the shrimp boats clean their catch while they’re in transit – so when they anchor up for their daytime siesta, there is very little in the way of activity going on around them. So the skipper cranked up the “Lucky Too II” and headed for another moored shrimper he spotted on the horizon some four mile away.

Approaching the vessel, we could see immediately that it was a good move. The surrounding waters were turbulent with acres of hungry bonito and blackfin tuna. “Each species is easy to identify,” said Zalewski. “The smaller bonito are more silvery looking and tend to slash on the surface, while a blackfin tuna has a black back and will boil up the water.”

I said to Capt. Dave that I had heard that often times, tuna anglers might bring a six pack of beer for the shrimping crew so as to gain permission to troll on the discarded trawler bycatch. “No we usually bring a case,” said Zalewski. “And oftentimes when you give them that case of beer, they’ll shovel over some more of that bycatch. Occasionally, they will even allow you to tie off to the back of the vessel. But most of the time, we prefer anchoring and chumming or trolling for tuna.”

To get the bit going Capt. Dave grabbed a handful of chum, which not only attracts the bonito, but the larger tuna will also seek it out – pushing their way in front. Then it’s just a matter of fishing in the chummed area. For chum, Zalewski cuts up frozen sardines in chunks and points out that “they should be relatively small pieces, because you don’t want to feed the fish. You’re just trying to get them going.”

Zalewski said that trolling with “hardware” is not usually very productive. “Instead, we like to use the live stuff – especially large threadfins, Spanish sardines or any other good sized live baits. “

Once the already hungry fish began feasting on the cut-up sardines, it didn’t take long before we got some powerful tuna strikes. Dave’s mate Andy Parker said he had to admit that those fish were amazing pullers. “I’ve always busted people’s chops about what wimps they were when fighting at tuna. But now I could see for myself just how hard it is to subdue one of those critters.”

We all learned that ever the smaller blackfin tuna can be a very tenacious fighter. And Zalewski added that “you never should set the hook on a tuna -- it’ll usually hook itself. Them just let it run, occasionally giving short pumps with the rod. Then, once they tire out, tuna start a sort of “death dance” -- which is a series of circles around the boat. And that indicates the end of the fight -- but could last for at least 15 minutes before you’re able to gaff him in.” The skipper also added that “when the fish goes under the boat, you should shove the rod right into the water so as to avoid getting caught in the boat’s props, shafts and rudders.”

As for tuna tackle,, Zalewski recommends using a conventional reel on about a 6-foot rod, with a fast tip and strong backbone. If your preference is spinning gear, he advises a 7-foot heavy duty rod with a high capacity reel.

Capt. Dave Zalewski operates two Bertram flybridge sport fishermen out of Madeira Beach, “The Lucky Too” and “The Lucky Too II.” He has been one of the premier offshore Suncoast skippers for more than 25 years, specializing in a great variety of Gulf charters. To contact Capt. Dave Zalewski, call (727) 397-8815.