Tuna Fly Stick?

[cliftoma]

Heading down to the East Cape in a couple of weeks. With all these great reports of tuna in the area, I am wondering if I need to upgrade my rod situation. Currently, I have a TFO TiCrx 10 wt. with Nautilus CCF reel. Worked great for roosters and dorado up to 35 lbs last time out.

My buddy is letting me borrow his 12 wt. Loomis and reel for the trip. As long as I am willing to pay for the repair should it break, he has no problem lending it to me. Don't know exactly what model it is, but it is probably high end as my friend is a guide and sells alot of these rods. Is this enough stick for smaller tuna?

I am wondering if I should look into one of these Bluewater rods from TFO. Since I don't have access to a larger reel than a 12 wt., I was thinking of ordering a LD Bluewater rod. Do you think that rod will get the job done for smaller tuna?

Temple Fork Outfitters Bluewater Series Fly Rods

Thanks.

[Mingo]

The LD will be fine for smaller tuna. I went big and got a Cam Sigler 16/17 to add to my own 10 wt Ticrx and 12 wt rods....for everything else I might encounter...........but with your 10 wt Ticrx, your borrowed 12 and a LD you'll be fine.

If it was me, I'd get the Medium Duty as that gives you an extra margin of "beef" when you need it. You never know what might grab eh? Screw it, buy them both!

[watfly]

I was fishing Isla Cerralvo just north of the East Cape last week. You will be much happier with a 12 wt on the tuna. We were into them up to 30 lbs. You will be even happier with the TFO Bluewater LD which is a little stouter in my opinion then a 12.

I caught my first fish of the trip on a 10 wt, a 15 lb skipjack, which caused the 10 wt to creak and make other unnerving sounds. I never used the 10 wt again when the tuna were around.

[cliftoma]

Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and ordered the LD. Should be here soon.

A couple more questions if you don't mind. What size are the bait fish when you were there? I have heard that they are on the smaller side, but wanted to make sure of an approximate size before I spend the next week tying. Also, what colors/patterns worked best on tuna, dorado or otherwise?

Appreciate the advice.

[watfly]

The only colors I used were black/white or olive/white flies. Either in a Tuna Tux or Larry Minnow's minnow's pattern (see garybulla.com). We used very little to no flash on the fly. I trimmed the flies down to about 3", usually on a 2/0 hook. So yes the sardina were small 2" to 4" max. The dorado seemed to like a small crease fly, I don't know that color on the crease mattered all that much.

I was amazed at what would take a small bait. The planets aligned and somehow I managed to land a marlin estimated at 130 lbs on a 3" Larry Minnow's on straight 30 lb leader...no bite tippet.

[cliftoma]

Ordered Bulla's Baja Box for my last trip down there. Still have a good amount of his flies left over including the flies you mentioned.

Man, that is sick that you were able to land that marlin on 30 lb test. Were you using flouro at least? 2/0 hook? Regardless, that is quite feat.

Hopefully, I can have such luck when I am down there. It is my goal to land a billfish on the fly.

[watfly]

Yep, Seaguar flouro and 2/0 hook. Gary Bulla actually took the photos. If you ever get a chance take one of his Cerralvo trips. It was my first trip with him and he has everything dialed in from the pangueros to the food. Our group caught dorado to 45#, yellowfin to 30#, black skipjack over 15# (better than IGFA fly record).

[hatidua]

If you are tying your own flies, use strong hooks. I like to fish a fair amount of drag on tuna and the hooks that commercial flies are tied on (often a 34007 Mustad) will straighten out too easily. Heavy gauge Owner/Gamakatsu/Etc. seem to fair far better.

Your borrowed 12wt reel will work for most any rod above that weight as the sinking lines don't really gain much in terms of girth like a floating line does. Put a 400gr line on there and a very short leader and tell your arms to get ready to pull!