August 12 2014

Trolling For Tuna South Of The Vineyard

11  comments

Ryan Collins

In this ten minute long video, we'll explore and fish the waters south of Martha's Vineyard for school bluefin tuna.

Throughout the video you'll see the gear, spreader bars and other equipment used. Also included are some general help with locations and other advice for trolling south of MV.

Below the video I have included some extra resources for anyone who would like to learn more about tuna fishing in this area. Special thanks to My Fishing Cape Cod member Ari Goldschneider for inviting me onboard his boat for this trip!

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Click play below to watch!

Timestamps:

  • 00:01 - cruising to Gordon's Gully from Green Pond, Falmouth
  • 00:40 - setting the spread
  • 02:36 - hooked up!
  • 05:41 - pulling school tuna into the boat
  • 06:15 - bleeding tuna
  • 07:58 - pulling out sand eels from the tuna's stomach
  • 08:48 - dolphins

Equipment used in this video:

Additional resources for tuna fishing south of Martha's Vineyard:

  • Look for temp breaks, birds and bait when fishing south of MV
  • Good spots south of MV include Gordon's Gully, The Star, Coxes Ledge, The Claw, The Fingers and The Dump.
  • For tuna updates during the season, please visit our members-only tuna fishing forum
  • In addition, during the 2018 season our members in the forum teamed up to create a text message group so they could communicate while on the water

What do you think?

Let me know by commenting below.

  • “Just being out there is enough-catching fish is just a bonus!” Well said. I enjoy your videos. Please keep me “in the loop”!
    I used to have my boat at Green Pond. Such an easy trip south of MV. Now, I’m up in Wareham. I still want to try a few trips down past Noman’s, out to the Claw, etc., or maybe out to Cape Cod Bay, and off P’town. Looking forward to June, and your videos keep me yearning!
    Thanks,
    Jeff

  • Good stuff. A suggestion when trolling for the smaller BFT… and perhaps Ari did this. I throw a waypoint whenever I hook up. I don’t troll much now, but doing this allowed me to circle back and limit out on the class of fish. I remember a few years back… finding the fish, taking 2-3 trips through them, limiting on schoolie BFT and heading back to the dock by 6:30 AM.

    Tight Lines
    TR Schilb / Hot Pursuit

  • Awesome video! My guess is I will watch 10 more times before getting back to the Cape. I so want to catch stripers and schooly tuna this summer. Love the “how to” nature of this video.

    Couple of questions:
    1. You mentioned it was undersized, but you kept it….what are the rules on the schooly tuna?

    2. How many miles south do you need to go to get into schooly tuna?

    Thanks!!
    Rick

    • There are two slots. Under 47.5 inches and over 47.5 inches. The regulations change from year to year and in 2014 you could take 1 under and 1 over

      We were ~15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

      • That makes sense! Thanks for the response Ari! So excited to learn about this stuff and really appreciate the willingness of the folks on this site to share their knowledge!

  • Awesome video you put together there and I am so happy you got the strike on camera. I got chills listening to that drag scream and it put a smile on my face.

    Ryan – How did you end up cooking the fish?

  • Ryan,Ari,
    Great recap of your day fishing for school tuna. The video puts a real perspective of what goes on once you get to the fishing grounds. Discussing and watching the way Ari gets the spreader bar in the water and the trolling method makes the video very informative – catching one right away was a bonus. No where else can you watch a video like this and come away with what goes on trying to hook up with school tuna. It also shows you can catch these fish without tons of costly fishing equipment. The back and forth discussions between both of you highlighted the knowledge and information right to the MFCC members computer screen so that they can get a feel of what is involved going for school tuna. Great teamwork on this !!!
    Don B

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