Newly adjusted bluefin regs for July 1 should get your motor running!
Bluefin tuna has been one of my passions since age 25, and my last birthday tagged me as a 75-year old, so I have been heading offshore (and inshore) for these tackle-busters for the past five decades. It’s been an amazing run and during these 50 years I have seen, done and learned a lot.
What I did ascertain early in my development as a tuna hunter was that the bluefin in the 27- to 72-inch range were right in my wheelhouse, and I have literally caught, boated and released a few thousands of these via every method that you can imagine. My best day was trolling up over 50 bluefin during a wild 6-hour melee with schoolie fish between 27 and 40 inches along the 20-fathom curve south of Moriches Inlet, where you couldn’t put more than three rods in the water before all of them came tight at the same time.
| TUNA SIZES AND CLASSES |
| Size class Curved fork length School 27 to less than 47 inches Large school 47 to less than 59 inches Small medium 59 to less than 73 inches Large medium 73 to less than 81 inches Giant 81 inches or greater |
There were also a few insane moments when trolling near 30-fathom draggers had every rod go off in the spread, with only three anglers on the boat! In retrospect that is a great problem to have, but can be uber hazardous on your equipment with many cutoffs and lost rigs.
Giant tuna hunting has never really appealed to me on my smaller seaworthy boats, since I had neither the gear to take them safely, nor the temperament to have my boat being towed around for hours on end with the ultimate outcome being either broken tackle, broken spirits and time that could have been better invested putting my charter customers onto smaller, more catchable and keepable fish.
But just because I have been spooled by one too many giants doesn’t mean that we won’t talk about the big boys in more detail in this article. I have reached out to a few experts to get their spin on it and they will share (most of) their secrets. So settle into a comfy chair and jump aboard as we take a deep dive into the madness that is described as bluefin tuna fishing.
Capt. Jack’s Attack
Rhode Island based Capt. Jack Sprengel who runs East Coast Charters with fellow co-captain Max Dispoto uses a fleet of boats that range in size from 21 to 39 feet in length. This dynamic duo work New England inshore and offshore waters for bluefin, in addition to trailering their operation up to the Cape Cod area to follow these gamesters as the season progresses.
Nicknamed the “Jesse James” of angling, Capt Jack Sprengel is known for his edgy style and unique approach to the sport. He is a USCG captain with a Master’s rating, is a certified rescue diver, in addition to being an EMT, so he is a good man to have on your boat, no matter what the challenge. Capt. Jack is also a key player in the fishing tackle industry and local tackle shops through his associations with Shimano, RonZ and others. If anyone can talk bluefin tuna, Capt. Jack Sprengel is the man, as is evidenced by his popularity on the seminar circuit.
I spoke with Capt. Jack earlier this season when he offered up a bit of sage advice on chasing bluefin of all size classes; for starters, he suggested making sure these 22 items to your offshore list.
- Proper HMS permit and safety equipment. Don’t get pinched after a great day over a misunderstanding, educate yourself.
- Good polarized optics for morning and mid-day. For example, Costa Sunrise for first and last light, Blue Mirror for daytime; the right lens will change your day.
- ISBs (internally stabilized binoculars). When you have to find the fish or the whale/bird life and the pond is big, binoculars have saved my butt.
- Split-ring pliers. I recommend multiple pairs on the boat; I can’t function without these when chasing tuna jig and pop.
- Solid rings. You’ll need these to securely attach your assist hooks.
- Assorted size and length assist hooks. Sometimes just changing our hooks size or length of assist cord goes from missing hits to getting tight every drop.
- Assorted trebles. Treble size and weight can greatly influence lure action and hook ups- play with these to suit your style.
- Assorted inline hooks. Same as with trebles, size and weight can greatly influence lure action and hook-ups; play with these to suit your style.
- Rod butt fighting cover. Unless you like a natural purple flesh inseam, these make the experience of wrenching on an angry tuna with jigging and casting gear much more pleasant and will reduce the number of strange looks you might get from your significant other.
- With larger conventional gear, this is the only way to do it, once you’ve fought a large fish from a well-adjusted harness you’ll never look back.
- Gaffs, two or three at minimum. Do not bring only one gaff. Make sure your gaff can handle lifting the weight of the fish into the boat.
- Harpoons (‘poons). As long as you know the size class of the fish in relation to regulations, the ability to reach out and touch someone can have a huge impact on you landing success. Also recommend more than one of these onboard and multiple shafts/darts ready to go.
- Release device. Very important with new regulations in 2025, you’ll need to be able to properly handle, swim and release fish that are outside of your retention sizes.
- In-water measuring devices. Another item of importance with the new bluefin regulations in order to measure fish properly without removing from the water. Specialized rulers or just precut poly rope mounted to a swivel that can slide down the leader can prove very useful.
- If you want to catch tuna, this is a no-brainer, make sure you have size options.
- PR tool. Use these to tie PR knots, FG knots and for inline, self-serve splices.
- Good swivels. Barrels (jigging and casting), snap (trolling), and wind-on style (bait/trolling).
- Split rings. Need these for hook adjustments and to combine with barrel swivels to attach and change out lures when jigging and casting.
- Swage tool and crimps. When working with fluoro or mono over 100-pound test it’s best to crimp for maximum strength. Make sure you’re matching your crimp sizes, swage settings and line diameter appropriately.
- Fish storage bags. Don’t forget to bring enough ice to chill out your catch.
- Endurance and focus. If you’re obsessed, channel that energy for success and don’t give in to the whack-a-mole mindset.
- Communication Equipment. Friends, VHF, cell phones, Garmin InReach or Starlink shrinks the pond for you.
Heading down the Jersey Shore, I also reached out to Capt. Robbie Radlof, who with co-captains Adam Sherer and Gerry Faccone run Waterman Charters. All are Conch fans, with Robbie and Adam running the famous 27 Conch CC, while Gerry runs the larger 33 center console. The business is based out of Barnegat, NJ, but Capt. Robbie keeps his boat in the Sandy Hook area to the north. Capt. Robbie has been making a habit of catching big bluefin relatively close to home port inshore of 20 fathoms, with a lot of it closer to shore and in sight of land.
A Waterman’s Perspective
| 2025 BLUEFIN REGS |
| Effective July 1, HMS-permitted Angling category vessels are allowed one bluefin tuna from 27 to less than 73 inches, while HMS-permitted Charter/Headboat vessels are allowed two bluefin from 27 to less than 73 inches (only one of which can be a large school/small medium bluefin tuna, 47 to less than 73 inches). Get your vessel permit at hmspermits.noaa.gov. |
As Capt. Robbie noted, number one is if you smell them, stop to fish and work the area hard. Look for marks on your sounder, birds and surface slicks. Even three to four white birds is all you need. And watch the bird movements; if they are huddling up, they likely have spotted the fish. When fishing less than 100-foot depths and marking tight to bottom, keep your jigs tight to bottom, work them up 20 to 30 feet and drop right back down. When using NLBN soft baits, keep them tight to bottom like fluke fishing and swim the bait. When marks come through on your screen, turn the handle slowly to get the lure moving up and drop it back to bottom.
Be prepared, have all rods rigged and ready to go with a jig rod, soft plastic rod, plus a topwater stickbait. If they come up busting, you can switch gears quickly and efficiently. Fish within the sight of land and don’t rely on yesterday’s intel. You have to commit to the process. Pick a line 60 to 80 feet, or 80 to 100 feet, and run the lumps and contour lines. Be patient and don’t ignore the signs; stay confident! “I’ll run a specific line for 60 to 70 miles and loop either deeper or shallower for the ride back,” Capt. Robbie told me, adding “If you see birds flying in a certain direction over and over, that’s the way you need to move.”
Capt. Robbie noted that these inshore bluefin move daily, zig-zagging the coastal contour lines to feed, and he described the feeding windows as typically smaller in summer months, though as the water cools in the fall, they become longer and more aggressive. Timing is everything, being able to run multiple days and dial in opportunities is important. Drop waypoints on areas you caught or see fish and save these with dates, i.e. “waypoint 7-14-18”. That way you can revisit these in future weeks or years and keep a historical log to look back on as a reference.
Adding my own two-cents to the bluefin equation, whenever I’m taking folks out for a day of tuna tangling, I am ready to approach this challenge five different ways. Simply put, these are jigging/popping; trolling; live bait fishing; chunking; and dragger hopping. The challenge for a small boat operator like me running a 228 EdgeWater CC is how to be ready to employ any of these five tuna-catching techniques on a moment’s notice, especially when there are only so many rods you can bring aboard and keep stowed out of harm’s way. The short answer is that most of these have to be adept at multi-tasking, a topic we’ve discussed in the recent past.
Jigging/popping has been expertly explained by captains Jack and Robbie. However, I typically swap out the trebles on my surfacing popping lures and stickbaits to more user and fish friendly single inline hooks like those manufactured by BKK, VMC, Gamakatsu, OTI and others. These are definitely easier to remove from the tuna if you are in release mode and also seem to get hung up less when casting downrange to schools of surface fish.
For trolling, when it’s part of the five-method tuna hunting and not a specific standalone technique for the trip’s activities, I’ll make sure that I have a pair of 36-inch Sterling Wide Trackers aboard, in addition to a pair of their 18-inch straight runner squid bars, all of which are easy to stow in the console of my 22-footer. For the near offshore 20- to 30-fathom areas that I fish south of Long Island’s east end, the 6-inch bars seem to replicate local forage best. I’ll also bring along a few large teaser birds, Joe Shute’s, inline squid or Green Machine daisy chains and some deep-diving Nomad DTX minnows. The entire trolling package doesn’t take up a lot of space and typically fits in a small milk crate under my forward seating benches.
When live bait fishing, we’ll usually snag a few bunker from schools that pop up on the way from the inlet to the fishing grounds, or buy a few spots the day before if we’re pressed for a pre-light departure. I find the best bluefin bites south is typically early morning from pre-dawn to 8:30 a.m. and then from 5 p.m. through sunset and into dusk, so timing is everything. I’ll also bring a frozen flat of butterfish along for the ride. If I need it, I have it and if not, it goes back into the freezer for the next trip.
We also frequently snag baitfish like ling (red hake) and whiting when working the bottom with jigs when out on the fishing grounds. I might put one of these at mid-depths on a float when we’re jigging/popping just to cover my bases, along with any squid that we encounter during these trips. The calamari typically stay alive for hours in a recirculating baitwell and are a great live bait when they are in the area and the tuna have zoned in on them.
