[jeff bandy]

Going tuna fishing this summer and looking for information on what kind of leaders / tippets to use.
Do I need shock tippet?
Any info appreciated.
Jeff

 

[Richard E]

Do a search for tuna and albacore, and you'll find plenty of info that has already been discuseed . . .

If you're using big, heavy flies, design/pick a leader accordingly that can turn over the flies. I like to use heavy tippet (20#, say), but that's a personal choice. Tuna can sometimes be leader shy; I use fluorocarbon. I don't know that it is any better than standard mono, but I like to think so . . .

 

[Miso Harney]

If you're using big, heavy flies, design/pick a leader accordingly that can turn over the flies. I like to use heavy tippet (20#, say), but that's a personal choice. Tuna can sometimes be leader shy; I use fluorocarbon. I don't know that it is any better than standard mono, but I like to think so . . .

What "Denny" said.........but it also greatly depends on where you are fishing and how fly-savvy your guide is. If you pull out anything over 25 pound fluoro with a fly guide in Kona, they'll tease you about your "anchor rope" leaders.....but in Panama, they laughed at my spools of 30, 40 etc and I ended up using straight 50 pound mono a lot of the time because those fish are not pounded near as much and there are one hell of a lot more fish down there so they are super competive feeders. You should be fine anywhere from 20 to 40. I like to err on the side of a bit heavier. Regular panga type dudes in Mexico (not fly guides, just garden variety panga captains) use shit from 80 to 9,000 pound test but that harkens back to many of their past lives as commercial handliners. So.....Hawaii = light, Central America = heavier, Mexico = somewhere in the middle but I'd sure as hell hate to stick a real friggin' cow yellowfin using 20 pound leader......

One compromise is to use Momoi diamond, it has the expected diameter in various strengths but it overtests by a significant degree, so 50 is really 80, 20 is about 35 lb test, etc......it's damn good line if you want a bit of insurance.

 

[jeff bandy]

Yea, Big Tuna's avatar name keeps popping up when I search " tuna".
I'll be fishing out of Westport on a charter boat. I don't want to have to worry about braking off fish so I'm to go on the heavy side for sure.

 

[Steve Saville]

I made a 20 lb. flourocarbon furled leader for tuna last year; started with 20 lb and twisted it. The end result was a 80 lb. butt, 40 lb. center and 20 lb. tippet. The thing worked great until the Capt. caught my line in the prop trying to "help" me out because the fish got under the boat. I lost my fish, fly, leader, 600 gr fat boy line and 30 feet of my running line. Luckily, I had a spare line and leader with me; wound up landing four more tune on the other rig. Lesson learned; don't let the capt. handle your rod.

 

[Porter]

Ask Anil @ Puget Sound Fly Fishing, I believe he does a couple of tuna runs every year...I know this topic has some history here.

 

[DiejehHehdudhhe8373737]

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[ibn]

I'll echo what alpine said. Last summer we caught many 80-150lb sailfish and large dorado on 25-30lb floro in Mexico (not even using biteguards). I usually use 20-25lb floro for Albacore off the coast of WA. Good knots and 20lb should do the trick. Check your leader/tippet for nicks after each fish though. I did manage to brake off a nice dorado because I was lazy and didn't swap out my leader.