Stick Baiting SBT

Challenging, explosive and rewarding Colby Lesko

Stick baiting Southern Bluefin Tuna is probably one of the best forms of sportfishing southern Australia has to offer. The action consists of a real visual chase with explosive takes and hard fighting fish. This makes for some of the most exciting and fun fishing I’ve had in the southern waters of Australia. After a few fish, the arms become sore and you’re left standing in the boat buggered but grinning ear to ear. Stick baiting tuna has taken off in Australia over the last 5 years and for good reason. Southern bluefin tuna show up in great numbers all along the coast of Southern Australia every year and are the perfect stick baiting target. Stick baiting SBT can be a real challenge at times while other days it’s the most effective technique you can use. This all depends on the conditions and the mood of the fish. But challenging fishing is rewarding fishing and it’s all worth it when you have that one great session!

Finding Fish

Tuna bust and break the surface when they are feeding most of the time, revealing their location. If the fish are feeding on whitebait or anchovy they will generally be jumping and splashing all over the surface as they move quickly smashing the small schools of baitfish. If feeding on bigger baitfish, such as yakka or redbait, the tuna will generally bail up a big bait ball of these fish and push them to the surface. They then follow this ball feeding off the edges of the school. The sea birds are also a dead giveaway and help you spot the tuna from greater distances. Look for sea birds diving into the water as they also feed on the baitfish the tuna, have pushed to the surface. In particular, the white Terns love to feed over tuna and by following these birds they will generally take you to the fish.

Sometimes when feeding on squid or krill the tuna will not break the surface as they feed but again generally the birds will find the fish. Large groups of sea birds sitting on the water or diving under the surface are a dead give-away. Sound over these areas and look for fish on the sounder if you mark solid arches under the birds stop and start casting. Seals, dolphins and even whales also all feed on the bait schools the tuna push up to the surface. Big groups of feeding sea-life generally signal bait ball action and if the tuna are in the area they will not be far away. The fact that tuna have so many visual signs makes them a great target for casting lures and means the number of casts you have to do are very minimal. Instead of blind casting into the vast ocean, you’re better off just spending your time looking for feeding fish to cast at.

Whenever you are looking for tuna always have your sounder on and keep an eye on it for fish. Tuna will mark up as big solid fish anywhere in the midwater column and often in big schools. If you drive over any marks you think maybe fish mark the spot and give the area a few casts before moving on. If the fish don’t respond to the lures straight away this may be a good spot to return to in a few hours when the fish begin to feed. If you are unable to find any signs of tuna at all but know they are in the area. As a last resort, you can troll a spread of lures until you get a hook up then cast stick baits in this area. This works well over the shelf in deep water where the tuna seem to do less surface feeding.

Once you find some feeding tuna it’s now all about getting your stick bait in the zone. Ideally, you want to cast and land the lure exactly in front of the busting tuna. Swim the stick bait out of the bait school right into the face of the feeding tuna. Some days this is easy, you will get eaten most casts. But some days the fish move extremely quickly and only bust on the bait for a few seconds at a time before moving on. When it’s like this just try your best to get upwind of the fish and be ready for them to appear at any moment before casting your lure into the zone. If you can keep casting your stick bait into the feeding fish it’s only a matter of time until one eats it. The only time the fish become extremely hard to catch on stick baits is when they are feeding on micro bait only 10 or 20mm long. If the fish are feeding on bigger bait around the 6 to 10cm range, you should be in for a great session. Try to land the stick bait right in the area where the most amount of action and fish are, once the fish get competitive over the lure you’re bound to get a bite. I always approach the school of fish from upwind this way you get the best cast distance and also the best accuracy. Some days the fish will be really boat shy and once they hear the sound of the motor they will go down and stop feeding. If they are like this turn your motor off up wind of the school and use the wind to drift your boat within range. Try and be as quiet as possible when approaching the fish and idle into the schools from a few hundred meters away. Do as big as possible casts to give the tuna plenty of time to hunt down the lure and eat it.

Most of the time SBT will feed all day long and at any time of the day. Generally, they don’t really get feeding hard until the sun is up and may have a few breaks throughout the day before feeding hard again the last hour or two of light. By sundown, the fish seem to stop feeding on the surface and go down for the night. In certain conditions and when there is lots of bait around the fish may become more bite time-specific and only feed for a few hours a day. The mid-day tide change is a great time to be looking for feeding tuna when it’s like this. Thankfully this usually only happens on the odd really tough day.

You can find feeding schools of fish just off the rocky headlands and capes in 20ms of water or you can find fish out over the shelf in 2000m of water. The tuna schools are constantly moving and feeding in different areas. It’s best to follow a recent report of where the fish are but always keep your eyes peeled when travelling you will never know where the fish might pop up on the day your out.

Lures and Retrieves

My favourite SBT casting lure would have to be small sinking in the 9 to 16cm range. These sinking stick baits are the perfect baitfish imitation and will work in all conditions. Other great options are floating stick baits and poppers. Floating stick baits are a little harder to work especially in windy conditions but in certain scenarios, the splash from a floating stick bait really revs the fish up. Poppers are generally less effective for fish feeding on bait than stick baits but small poppers 9cm to 16cm do seem to work well when the fish are shut down or sitting a little deeper in the water column. Small metal 30 gram to 60-gram slugs can also be worth a cast if the fish are feeding on small bait. It’s worth having a range of lures to suit whatever bait and fish you come across. Rig your lures with inline single hooks, these hooks are much better for the tuna and give you a much more solid hook-up point than trebles. Trebles seem to bend out a lot on tuna whereas the single hooks rarely fail. what the fish want on the day. When using poppers, small bloops and pauses work well while metal slugs just crank them fast. Speed kills with tuna and they are incredibly fast at times so don’t be afraid to get it really moving as fast as possible if the fish are just looking at the lures.

My favourite retrieve by far for stick baits is to do long fast sweeps of the rod so the lure darts around for a couple of metres before stopping for a split second then darting around again. This erratic retrieve seems to work wonders. However, some days a slow-paced constant wind with small twitches can be really good or a full paced constant wind. Mix it up a bit and see

Stick baiting tuna will require some specialist gear in the terms of long casting rods and spin reels spooled with braid. You only need one set up in the 10 to 15kg rated range with a 7 to 8ft casting rod matched a 10000-size spin reel to start. Spool the reel with 50lb braid and 100lb leader and you’ll be set to take on all sized school SBT. Cast distance and accuracy is important to go for a good quality casting braid. Casting at barrel SBT is going to require a heavier combo and specialist gear but this is more a task for very dedicated stick baiting anglers. Having the stick baiting gear rigged and ready for SBT is a must for me now when heading out on the Southern Ocean and I’ve always got the eyes peeled looking for tuna. Stopping off for a few casts at busting fish breaks up a day of bait fishing or trolling and is awesome fun. Most days if the fishing is good the trolling rods don’t even make an appearance now because catching them casting lures is just too much fun!