Yellowfin are a canyon fish, and trolling is how most canyon days begin. A spread run along the temperature break and the edge covers the big water where yellowfin roam, imitates the bait they are chasing, and raises fish, often mixed with bigeye, and, in warm years, the odd wahoo or billfish.
Finding the fish
Offshore, the water is the fish finder. Do your homework before the run: study sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll charts to locate the warm blue water pushing against the edge and the breaks where bait and predators stack up. Then troll that structure, the break, the edge, the bird life and the bait marks.
The spread
- Spreader bars and daisy chains as teasers to create the look of a bait school.
- Rigged ballyhoo, naked or skirted, a canyon staple for yellowfin.
- Skirted trolling lures in the classic canyon colors run at varied distances.
- Stagger short and long, and run some baits deeper with weights or planers to cover the column.
Tip Yellowfin will often eat a slightly smaller, faster-looking spread than bluefin. If you are raising fish but not hooking up, try downsizing the ballyhoo and lures and adjusting speed before you change your whole pattern.
Once you find them
Trolling locates the school; when you raise fish or hook up, consider stopping to jig or pop the body of fish, or set up a chunk slick. For the general trolling breakdown, see tuna trolling.
Gear
Conventional trolling outfits with high capacity and strong drags, matched to quality bars, ballyhoo and lures, and reliable Daiwa reels with the guts for a canyon fish.