Longtails and Lazers: Spinning for Longtail Tuna
High speed spinning to breaking longtails: the lure, the colours and the approach.
Weights in this guide
35g50g
Sight fishing to any species is favoured by a great majority of sportfishermen right around Australia. From trout to marlin, seeing the fish before the cast adds something extra to the thrill of the chase. In near offshore waters and the countless large bays around the coastline, the tuna clan and the small mackerels make up the bulk of the sightfishing opportunities.
Of the tuna species available, none enjoys the same status among sportfishermen as the enigmatic longtail. Previously known as the northern bluefin tuna, the longtail is a relatively common fish, most often seen from 6 to 20 kilos but growing in excess of 35kg.
The lure: a 50g Lazer
High speed spinning to schools of breaking longtails is sheer bliss for many die hard sportfishermen. It consists basically of casting metal baitfish profiles on big threadline outfits, and there is no better lure for it than the superb 50 gram Lazer.
The longtail’s diet is cosmopolitan and ranges from tiny transparent “eyes” to garfish, anchovies, pilchards and flying fish. Changing lure colour lets you match the mood of the fish, which behave differently depending on what they are feeding on that day.
Colours that work
| Queensland | Chrome with silver tape, blue with silver tape, blue with red tape (50g). |
|---|---|
| WA and the NT | The same colours, plus all white Lazers in 50g and 35g. |
All those colours in the 50 gram Lazer produce fish when other brands fail to score, especially when the tuna are flighty and feeding on the run, as they so often are. Different locations favour different colour combinations, so carry a range, especially when travelling or fishing new waters.
Finding and approaching the school
To find longtails, use your eyes: watch for birds feeding and for the splashes made by the feeding tuna themselves. In hard fished waters it is tactically challenging too. The accepted approach is from upwind, ideally with the fish feeding towards the boat. When wind and tide are in opposition and the tide is stronger, the fish may feed with the wind; then idle to within casting range.
Either way, knock the boat into neutral once the school is within casting range, which is a long way when throwing 50 gram Lazers. Don’t turn the motor off: the sudden absence of motor noise at close range will often spook the fish.
The cast and retrieve
- 1Have rods ready with bail arms open before the fish are in range. Longtails often sound within seconds.
- 2Cast to run along the front edge of the feeding school, allowing for the four or five seconds the lure is in the air. In that time the fish can move twenty or thirty metres.
- 3Close the bail arm just before the lure splashes down to take the belly out of the line.
- 4Start winding like crazy the moment it lands. You cannot wind too quickly for tuna.
If all goes well you will soon be hooked to one of the hardest fighting inshore sportfish in the country. A ten kilo longtail on six kilo tackle can take 30 minutes to an hour to land on spin tackle. Next time you see birds wheeling and feeding on the horizon, race over and toss a 50 gram Lazer into them.
