For some time now, I’ve been becoming pretty obsessed with the European Bluefin tuna. You only need to look back a few years and this fishery was all but annihilated, but over the last few years some improvements in fisheries management have seen a return to Mediterranean waters of this iconic species.
The Bluefin is a species I’ve chased far and wide recently, but Gibraltar is one place I have always wanted to visit. Partly because they have a great fishery there that I’d heard so much about, but also because I’d started chatting with the main man in the area Jamie Triay, who assured me of good fishing and good times – how could refuse?!

My good friends Dave Huckle and Stephan Kerger joined me in what was my first (but what will certainly not be my last) jaunt to Gibraltan shores. We were an Australian, an Englishman and a Dutchman with a range of fishing experience, but we had one thing in common – we all wanted to get our hands on an awesome BFT, especially with the Rock of Gibraltar in the background!

We arrived on a Friday night to fairly stiff winds and colder temperatures than we expected, but Jamie assured us this was nothing to worry about – the tuna would still be around.

Early Saturday morning we set out to sea. We had brought quite a range of kit, but the rods used were mostly to be the Yamaga Blanks Blacky series (specifically the 81/6 and the 81/8) and a range of lures including Temple Reef Ballista Tuna, Lamble Bait CD Pencil, some prototype Amegaris and BFP Swimbaits Mafia One.

On the first morning we almost couldn’t believe it. Almost as soon as we left the harbour we started seeing the fish bust up. There were tuna everywhere! But perhaps they were not that hungry or perhaps our casts were not on point, but after an hour or so of still no hook-ups, we noticed the fish activity dwindle and disappear. We had had some opportunities with fish swiping at lures, but they just were not committing with gusto.

Just as darkness was beginning to fall and hope was all but lost of a successful first day Steef, who was working his Amegari stickbait, had a fish have two swipes and then a hit, BANG, his lure was engulfed. A fast and spirited fight ensued, and we had our first tuna of the trip on the deck and Steef’s first Bluefin to date – after many high 5s, the fish was released to fight another day. The releases were helped by the fact that we were using only single hooks on the lures. The favoured combination was a Shout Ringed Kudako of around the 5/0 or 6/0 size on the tail connected with Owner size 10 split ring, and then an assist hook off the front (for which we were using more Kudakos as well as the ever-reliable Owner SJ41 in 11/0).

So we certainly hadn’t cleaned up, but there had been fish on the deck, and at least Steef went to bed that night with a little less pressure on his shoulders (with the help of a few well earned lagers).

On our second day, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. On and off throughout the day we had rain that varied between drizzling and pouring, which made conditions a bit less pleasant to be out on the water. There were however breaks in the rain, and whilst the rain might have made things so so for the anglers, it certainly seemed to change the behaviour of the fish!

We were outside the harbour in pitch darkness, waiting for the sun to rise, and no sooner had the sun cracked the horizon, than we saw dolphins and tuna appear around us. Things were looking up already! Sure enough, we hadn’t been casting long, when I heard line peeling off a Stella. The bloody Dutchman again! Who brought this guy! Steef was onto another great Bluefin and it wasn’t long until the fish was boatside, pics taken, and fish released to stretch someone else’s arms in the future.

Shortly afterwards we came across what was probably the largest bustup we saw on the trip. Predatorial fish, birds and dolphins were smashing bait all around us, and justifiably nervous flying fish were scattering everywhere. We all lobbed in a cast, and straight away Dave and I both got tight! The fight was very different to Steef’s tunas and before too long we saw why – these were tunny rather than BFT. Whilst hard fighters these guys fought quite differently with a lot of fast runs along the surface rather than the deep back busting circles we’d come to expect from the tuna. The tunny were not so fortunate as the Bluefin and were instead released into the cooler box, and the fishing resumed.

As predicted by Jamie – the first fish were the hardest, and now the floodgates opened. The bite heated right up, and I took two great Bluefin in quick succession on sinking stickbaits. The first fish fought hard, but the second fish (which was no bigger) fought like a demon. Kilo for kilo I think that fish hurt me more than any other I’ve had. I think drag strategy came into it a lot. For this second fish (as you can see in these pics below) I was running some pretty silly drag figures, so the fish came to the boat pretty quickly. But when he got there, he was still very green, and we had a series of tug of wars with me regaining 50-70m, then him taking them straight back out under the boat. And so it repeated, until we landed him for a few quick shots.
I was running a BFP Mafia One stickbait in 85gr size. This proved just perfect for the tuna here. It casts a mile and has a great action which is very easy to get the best out of it. You can work it with a continual retrieve or with a sweeping style action, or even a more typical walk the dog technique with lots of quick stabs of the rod tip. The Yamaga Blanks Blacky really helped to belt out long casts with these relatively light weights often into stiff head winds, and brought the lures to life on the retrieve. I think I’d done no more than 2 or 3 casts after the second tuna, and BANG! Third fish was on! This was a lovely looking fish and perhaps a bit better size than the others, so was very happy to see him on the deck.

What was even better, was that Dave managed to also subdue his first Bluefin after this great specimen came up on another sinking stickbait and again on the Yamaga Blanks rods. I think for the size of fish we were catching, the 81/6 is probably the pick of the bunch but there were some MUCH bigger fish in amongst them. We saw one fish totally airborne that Jamie and I both called for a 100kg+ fish, and I think if you hooked one of them, you’d want at the very least the 81/8 – preferably something heavier! When that fish came out we were almost nervous to cast at it (almost) 

We went back in for lunch and to check out of our hotel, but managed to get back out for an afternoon session before our flight home. By this stage the weather had worsened and we’d had our fair share of lunchtime celebratory beers, but there were still fish around and I managed to bag one last Bluefin before we turned for home.

As a general observation the fishery in Gib is very different to what I’ve encountered in Italy and Spain. The fish are very often travelling with dolphins are often feeding on flying fish. Neither of these factors is present in those other destinations, and I think it changes the feeding characteristics of the fish a lot. Large bait in the water means you can use larger lures, and the fish when feeding seem very aggressive, often having 2 or 3 swipes at a lure if they miss on first pass. There also seemed to be a lot less focus on spotting the tuna than there is in Italy – more often than not you were just casting at pods of dolphins in the knowledge that they often worked together with the tuna and where one was feeding, the other wouldn’t be far away.
All in all we had an awesome time, popped two Bluefin cherries, and put some new lures and other kit to the test. We will be back!
Dan
Tackle used
Yamaga Blanks Blacky 81/6 and 81/8
Shimano Stella and Daiwa Saltiga reels
Sunline Monster Battle PE6 line
130lb YGK Leader
Temple Reef Ballista Tuna 80gr
BFP Mafia One 85gr
Amegari prototypes
FCL Labo CSP
Lamble Bait pencil
Shout Ringed Kudako hooks 5/0
Owner SJ41 Hooks 11/0
Sasame 1/0 swivels
Owner Ultra Wire Sz 10 split rings
Jigging Master 2 way gimbal belt
Most kit used is available at www.adventureangler.net and if you want to follow further trip reports and updates, follow https://www.facebook.com/AdventureAnglerUK

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