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Well fish man you touched another subject which is a great topic jigging for tuna. This time of year the fish start gearing up for there migration. As the temps drop the fish will start to take hook baits more and more. The Tuna with the warmer water tend to favor a trolled lure on a jig. This is why when they first migrate up north they are chasing bait and want the moving bait mostly. This goes on till the water regulates and the settle up. Usually bait and water temps hold the fish in an area and they will move with the water and the bait. As the fall comes and the water drops the fish sense this and there migration begins. In turn this causes them to switch over to a day bite which is rare on chunks when the temps are high. So the fall is when the chunking starts. In July and August you will find some good night bites which is triggered from the temp of the water being colder in the evening being the sun raises the water temps more in the day. I bet many people did not realize this and that is why the summer months when there is fish will be mostly an evening bite. So now in the fall the fish need to build of there fat content for there migration. They will swim quite a distance and need energy for the trip. That is why the fall tuna fishing can become a all out blitz and is the best time of year to book your tuna trips. Sept. is a touch and go month but comes Oct. and Nov. this is prime time as, long as the fish are still there. Hey you know I remember now I was with The Betty W in the late 80?s the new one and we were in the canyon on Dec.4 and we had 287 tuna. I jigged 18 tuna alone and my friend Chris at the time was maybe 14 or 15 yrs. old had 22 tunas on the jig. Plus we had more on the bait. It was some of the best tuna fishing I have ever seen and it was Dec. If you look back into the archives of the saltwater sportsmen they actually wrote up a whole article on the fishing that trip! But getting back to jigging. When the fish are stacked under the boat the jig is the best way to go. You will hook up much more fish but also lose much more. The jigging technique is to find the depth the fish are feeding then jig with a quick upward pull and drop the tip fast. This will cause a flutter and the tuna usually will hit on the drop. I have also seen the fish so thick you let the jig drop and you think you hit bottom and hold on because next thing you know you in! This happens many times you actually drop the jig into a school of tuna and it hits the fish or they suck it in so fast you never no what hit you. Well I?ll be out there next week the bite is getting better. So I?ll go tuna up my Viking jigs with the right hooks and get them ready for the start of the 2002 tuna season. I actually may not be able to reel in fish this year due to medical reasons but if the doctor gives me the ok I?ll be there bet on it! Hope this helps
