The Italian fishery is wonderful right now and am really looking forward to getting back there in October, but when a shipment of the brand new Yamaga Blanks Blacky series of tuna rods arrived at my house at almost exactly the time my friend Dirk was taking his boat to Spain for a month - the offer on the table was far too good to refuse!

I had limited time available to me so it was to be a short and sharp trip, but right from the first day I knew I was in with a good chance at getting a proper bend in this rod. The model I had decided was to be the primary weapon was the Yamaga Blanks Blue Sniper Blacky 81/8, which is the medium model of the 3 in the range. My reasoning was it should have plenty of guts, but also be soft enough in the tip to flick the light lures as I'd heard the fish in the region were mostly targetting tiny anchovies.

Day 1 came around and there were plenty of serious fish bust ups, but the fish here were very different to Italy. The fish on my earlier trips in Ancona were in small groups, but feeding very aggressively and seemed quite keen to hit the lures. Here though, the schools of fish were huge, but it didn't seem to matter what we threw at them. We just couldn't get them to bite! Football field schools of fish were boiling the water to foam and you'd lob a cast right in the middle, all to no avail. A frustrating day for sure, but at least the conditions were lovely and we got into some small bonito to kill the time.

Day 2 was a bit different. Conditions a little rougher, and very few fish to be seen. We thought the schools had moved on, and I have to admit I got a little worried. All was not lost though - late in the afternoon, we found a school that was going absolutely mental. Surely we had to get something here! But cast after cast, nothing would grab. However, we persisted, and finally - result! A fish nailed my lure and started peeling line off at a rate of knots. Sadly for me, the fish decided to go back through the enormous boil of fish, and another fish touched the tight braid - shearing the line. To say I was devastated is such an understatement, as I had a mainline failure cost me a great fish on my last Italy trip also. But I had one day of fishing left to turn things around......

Day 3, the final day. It was make or break for both of us. So we shook off the dusty heads from the nights festivities, and hit the sea. Happily - we knew that the fish were back in numbers. Conditions were awesome again, and there were loads of birds around. Something had to be under them.

By mid morning we'd found some great schools, when all of a sudden we came across another of the massive bustups that just spanned forever. There had to be a thousand or more fish in that school. We stopped the boat but they were literally boiling all around us. This was going to be it! Surely! But after about 40 casts into a bustup that just kept going and going, I remarked to Dirk that I was very glad the girls were not here to witness this - because they would think we are the worst fishermen in the world! Almost every lure in the box had been tied and thrown, and I seriously was ready to throw the rod into the water. Luckily though, I didn't. I don't know what it was about that cast, or that lure, or that fish, but finally a fish decided that the little 29gr stickbait I was using looked just too good to resist. Fish on!

It pulled some drag, but to be honest it felt like a pretty small fish, so when Dirk asked if I needed a gimbal belt I just said 'no man all good, keep casting!' but then the fish woke up. I realised after the first huge run that I had a real fight on my hands, and quickly changed my mind about the gimbal!

A great battle ensued, running as much drag as I dared on my PE6 line. There were some very tense moments and more than a little yelling when I got the fish boatside as the leader I was using was only 100lb and I could see the fish had rubbed through it quite a bit. We had no chin gaff or anything, so we ended up having to land it by hand, and it took us both to haul it onto the deck. The pictures really dont do the thing justice, it was a very tall and thick fish and was bloody heavy. I was stoked to get this fish to say the least, as it was my PB bluefin and to nail it on a new rod on the last day of a trip in good company made it all the more rewarding. Dirk did manage to get some video also, which I'll post when I am back in London in a week and a bit.

Counting down until the next chance to get into one of these fish! If anyone is interested in any of the tackle used or is keen to book a trip to come chase their own tuna, drop me a message or head to www.adventureangler.net

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