How do you identify a school of Longtail?

[sunny]

I've just got back from the Northern end of the Bay which was busting with surface action everywhere. Seems to have been all mack tuna. Every school I cast at produced a mack of between 2-4Kg which made great fun until my arms got too tired to carry on.

Every time I get into a school like that and hook up, I hope I'm onto a longtail, but every time I get to see that dreaded mackeral pattern. I'm really tired of catching mack tuna and would love to bag just one longie over the next few months.

[Leighton]

LT Tuna often break the water, its not un common to see big LT's well over 3 foot in length more than 1 m out of the water busting the bait

[BrewGuru]

We had the same conditions about 8 months ago, took the oldies over to Moreton , we had glassy seas, no wind or current and LT jumoing in every direction, no matter what we did , we never even came close to hooking one,

[Hamish73]

I'd be happy to catch a Mack!
Do you guys cast into the school, or cast over the top and pull the lure through the school?
Using 20-35 size slugs
Maybe tomorrow will be the day

[ffejsmada]

Cast to the edge of the school and in front of them in the direction they are swimming.

[tunaticer]

This time of the year they are most likely feeding on small glassy whitebait or similar so your lure size will need to be quite small. Fly fishers have an advantage when the baitfish they are feeding on are so small.

Jack.

[mattooty]

To identify a pod of longtails, you will find that when they're actively feeding they spend as much time out of the water as they do in it.
Mac tuna will usually slash along the surface like a spotty or spaniard does whereas the longtails are a little less subtle with obvious splashes and jumps

[sunny]

Hamish, hang in there.

Like the guys are saying, cast to the front of the school using small slugs. I also find it pays to watch which way the school is moving and then position yourself so that they move into your casting range. If you do this right, you end up with the school busting up water all around your boat.

For slugs, I prefer smaller sizes of the Halco Streamers that have a hole in the middle which leaves a bubble trail. Mack tuna really seem to love these.

[Leighton]

Cast to the edge of the school and in front of them in the direction they are swimming.

Lt's generally feed into the wind

[ON-THE-CHEW]

Long Tails will feed into the wind or the current which ever is stronger. When looking for longtails you will always need tidal flow they use this to help them ball the bait up.

When chasing the school always try and come from behing or the side and cast over the school or near the leading edges. Even if you get in front of the school in the direction they are heading and cut the motor totally and wait for them to come to you, if they are swiming strait at you the shadow of the boat can spook them. Even when you are in casting distance of the the school do not adjust your revs on your boat too much, just leave it idling as big variations in revs will also spook the fish.

You want to put what ever lure you are using in front of them so it is just instinct to hit it. Retrieve varies for LT depending on how they are feeding on the day. We have most success on soft plastics and generally a medium paced retrieve moving the rod tip in a circular action gets the most amount of attention, or if you get your cast into the middle of school twitching the lure through the school.

When looking for a school birds will be the biggest help to you of all, they can see the fish when they are under water and will tell you what direction they are heading and when they are going to pop up next.

Mackeral tend to slash at the water surface, Mack Tuna's tend to porpoise not usually leaving the water, Longtails you will see them actually totally clear the water, generally the schools are a lot smaller than mack tuna and are alot harder to get closer to.

Hope any of this was of some help.

Andrew

[honda900]

Hamish,

having the same luck as you, chased a school around for 2 hours yesterday,

gillies 20gm,
Halco Streamers 30gm
laser pro 15gm.

not a touch on any of them,

Then we trolled for a another hour or so, not a touch, had the school busting up right next to the boat, should have stuck the net over the side..

Regards
Honda

[honda900]

Found this page with photos of some tuna jumping, man if this thing hit your boat....

http://www.bigmarinefish.com/photos_..._tuna_pg1.html

Regards
HOnda

[sunny]

Long Tails will feed into the wind or the current which ever is stronger.

You just explained something that puzzled me yesterday. The tuna were feeding with the wind and I couldn't figure out why they were doing that. It made casting against the wind a pain. They were obviously chasing against the tide which would have been stronger than the wind. All makes sense now.

[Hamish73]

thanks guys, I think I will have to target them specifically, instead of just stopping when I see them on the way too/from tanga

[Peter4]

Hamish,

having the same luck as you, chased a school around for 2 hours yesterday,

We did the same. Tried drifting into the schools from the front, motoring up from behind and easing in from the side.

Generally got one or two casts away before they spooked and went deep.

Had one school of reasonable sized ones go right under the boat but they did not hit any of our lures. Still I learnt a bit and soon hope to get onto my first longtail......

Regs

Pete