# Wanna try this?



## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm_YJhSA6TA

Looks like fun to me, adds new meaning to handlining...

Fish like these are why some flyreels have anti-reverse.
And false casting into the wind from a moving boat,
that's a 9.4 degree of difficulty...


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

That was cool. I am assuming by the guy's shirt that this was in the Keys.


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

I almost hate to say it but I have done it.   60-70 miles offshore of Manasquan inlet in NJ. I was hosting a Mako Owners tournament, which would have been in the spring of 1997. The area we fished is locally referred to as the "canyons". Most of the boats that fish there leave from Montauk and nearby points of Long Island, NY, which isn't as long of ride off shore. The Jersey guys have no choice but to go east 60+ miles though. I didn't hook up on any tuna, but what you saw in the video is how its done. Troll around hoping to sight breaking fish and then get to them ASAP throwing the fly as you go. We saw whales out there too which was really cool. Most of the tuna's where yellowfin's not blue's, but blues are caught regularly out there.  Only did it that one time, but what a great experience. 

Tom, I would say that video was done from somewhere up in the NE or New England area.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

My favorite part was at 3:17 when the guy in the brown shirt realized what he'd done and screams "Holy Shit!". ;D


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

The closest I've come to a similar situation is with summertime bonito
by the Whistle Buoy off Key Largo. But never from a moving boat,
false casting into a stiff headwind, for school fish that can hit 40-50 lbs.
What a hoot...


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## aaronshore (Aug 24, 2007)

> That was cool. I am assuming by the guy's shirt that this was in the Keys.


Those guys live in South Florida and run the site fliesandfinssouth.com
They make cool videos for sure.


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

Speaking of anti-reverse etc, I should have added in my response above that this is where the high-dollar fly reels separate themselves from the modest entry level machinery. These blue water speedsters are where heat dissipation and smooth start-up drag systems and finely balanced spools are mandatory. No cutting corners here or supplementing a dysfunctional drag system by hand with the likes of these open water gamesters or you're just gonna loose a lot of hard to catch fish or break tackle in the process. Nothing inshore or in shallow water make runs like these tuna, which are more like warm blooded animals and can leverage additional power from warm muscle mass, with the bluefin's being the more capable of the species. Amazingly strong fish and hard enough to catch on conventional gear let alone a fly rod. That 1997 trip was my only shot at anything like that, probably not gonna see another chance.


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

deerfly, or anyone else, have you ever tried for blackfins
on fly, behind the shrimpboats when they're sorting?


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

> > That was cool. I am assuming by the guy's shirt that this was in the Keys.
> 
> 
> Those guys live in South Florida and run the site fliesandfinssouth.com
> They make cool videos for sure.


I don't know anything about these guys and they may live around here, but where do you suppose they were throwing flies at surface crashing bluefin tuna within site of inhabited land around here? 

Onliest place I know where that's even remotely possible is Bimini and Cat cay in early summer and I don't think those schools appear frequently enough anymore to up the odds of getting video footage. I guess its possible, but definitely a long shot as the say.  My money is they're shooting the video somewhere in the NE like Montauk, Rhode Island, etc. I'll have to watch the video again, but what I recall from this morning is it didn't look like the Alice Town skyline to me, of course I was usually modestly sedated with alcohol when over there too, so I could be a bit disadvantaged here.


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

> deerfly, or anyone else, have you ever tried for blackfins
> on fly, behind the shrimpboats when they're sorting?


Not behind the shrimp boats cleaning their nets or anything like that, but have tried on fly a few times by trolling to locate them and also chumming live pilchards and so forth around the 60'-120' reef line, but no hook-ups. I have caught mackerel on fly and lost what probably was a bonito or blackfin too while at it, but the fight didn't last long enough to ID anything. They hit so fast and dive so quickly that you can't easily id them on the strike. Even when live chummed they don't linger around the boat looking for something to strike like dolphin do, instead they blast up from nowhere, take the bait and go back to nowhere in a hurry. We were using 9wt tackle at the time too, which was marginal IMO for 15-20lb torpedoes. This would have been the early to mid 80's and we weren't really inspired to catch them on fly either, only casually interested after we had enough tuna steaks in the fishbox.  

But I have caught lots of blackfin, small yellowfin (< 30lbs) and countless bonito and skipjack tuna while trolling and/or on live bait either free lined or suspended by kite from Boca Inlet to American Shoals off Key West, although most of the time we targeted them we were fishing the 409 humps of Long Key. Otherwise they were incidental catch while pursuing sailfish and dolphin along the edge of the stream. I would love to get a  nice blackfin on fly though.


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## aaronshore (Aug 24, 2007)

> > > That was cool. I am assuming by the guy's shirt that this was in the Keys.
> >
> >
> > Those guys live in South Florida and run the site fliesandfinssouth.com
> ...


I agree with you on the NE filming. I was just saying where they are from so the Sloppy Joe's shirt would make sense.


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## beavis (Dec 11, 2006)

That is up in the northeast. I would have gotten to do that if I did not leave the job I was on up there. Couple of the NE fishing boards talk about it and I have talked to a couple of people up there about it. So far there have been a couple in the 100 to 150 board class landed this year.


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## Shadowcast (Feb 26, 2008)

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm_YJhSA6TA
> 
> Looks like fun to me, adds new meaning to handlining...
> 
> ...


By no means is it easy, but I'm willing to bet they are throwing 12-14 wt rods with lead core lines.....makes casting into wind like that a little easier.  I've seen video of guides in the Bahamas throwing 8 wts into the wind from a boat running 25+ mph......and throwing tight loops!

Football bluefins are on my to do list.  I hope they are around long enough for me to get to them as their numbers are decreasing yearly. :'(


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