The Tuna Game, Freeport Bahamas
By George PoveromoIf you're looking for yellowfin tuna in the Bahamas, you don't have to travel any farther than Freeport on Grand Bahama Island.
I ran my MARC VI from the Hillsboro Inlet in Pompano Beach, Fla., to the Grand Bahama Yacht Club in Freeport to chase yellowfins with Pete Rose. This life-long Bahamas resident has been catching tuna off Freeport for decades; He understands the migration routes and habits of these fish better than most fishermen on Grand Bahama.
Where the tuna play
There are two main areas where most anglers search for tuna — Tuna Canyon — a deep trench that lies some 12- to 15-miles due south of Freeport, and Tuna City — a slightly flatter and shallower bottom contour that exists several miles west of Settlement Point on Grand Bahama Island.
These deep-cut bottom contours and the currents washing over them create upwellings, which produce nutrient blooms that host a wide variety of marine organisms and small fishes.
And where you have small fishes, the larger predator fish — such as marlin, dolphin, wahoo and tuna — will ultimately arrive to feed. It's the food chain, plain and simple.
Even though Tuna Canyon and Tuna City are fished heavily, yellowfin tuna can pop up just about anywhere within the expansive channel. That's where local knowledge comes in.
For example, if the better currents and bait concentrations are 20 miles farther west in the channel, it makes good sense to head there and fish. Anglers who are on the water daily, like Pete Rose, have a strong working knowledge of what the currents and fish are doing. Therefore, they'll run right to the zone that is most likely to produce fish.
The bird know …
The sooty terns and frigates know where the bait is likely to be. And where there's bait, there should be yellowfins. However, the strongest bird activity is often around sunrise and just prior to sunset.
During the middle of the day, when the bait and tuna retreat deep into the water column, the birds seem to disappear. That's why searching for tuna once the sun is high overhead is a very difficult proposition at best.
Most tuna action here occurs very early and very late in the day.
About the yellowfin
The yellowfin tuna is one of the most sought after game fish in the Bahamas.
Satellite tagging studies indicate that these highly migratory fish spend nearly 80-percent of daylight hours swimming between 180 and 330 feet deep, and move much closer to the surface at night.
The baits that make them bite
A variety of baits work when chunking for yellowfins, so we took plenty of ballyhoo, Spanish sardines, squid and pilchards.
Yellowfins have incredibly keen eyesight and if there was ever a fish that fluorocarbon leader was invented for, this is it.
We used four feet of 40- and 50-pound test Sufix InvisiLine fluorocarbon for leader and size 4/0 to 6/0 Gamakatsu Live Bait hooks. A SPRO 80-pound test Power Swivel joined the leader to the main line.
The drill was to run ahead of the tuna, shut down, and begin chunking and freelining baits.
Pete and I made sure our baits drifted back at the same rate as the chunks, by stripping line off the reel and letting it coil up in the water.
When a fish inhaled a bait, the line would come tight, prompting us to advance the drag and set the hook.
Guess who's coming to dinner
Then, late in the afternoon, we hooked up with a yellowfin! The fight was exciting, as the yellowfin ran off a lot of line and then headed into the depths. However, something strange was going on.
Once the fish settled deep, the rod tip started dipping rather violently. Pete and I knew exactly what was happening: A shark had eaten our tuna! Minutes later, we reeled in just the head! Fortunately, we hooked another yellowfin minutes later and landed that one in-tact!
The next afternoon found us in a very active zone. Birds were diving and fish were devouring bait at the surface. Most of the activity was from skipjacks, but we did see some yellowfins in the mix.
We soon had a triple header, but lost all three due to bad luck: a hook turned back into one bait, a hook pulled from a fish during its initial run, and we broke a line on a fish. Soon after, we had more action and caught fish — but they were skipjacks.
The bass of all bases
Grand Bahama Yacht Club is a beautiful facility that can accommodate boats up to 150 feet.
The facility features a deep water marina, private residences, tennis and, of course, access to great diving and fishing. The Club is within walking distance of duty free shops, golf courses, nearly 30 restaurants, a casino and white sand beaches.
Pete and I were searching for tuna within 20 miles of the Club, making it a perfect base to fish from. However, on this visit, the yellowfins were widely scattered, so Pete and I had to do a lot of running and a lot of hard fishing to put together our catches.
At the very least, we proved once again that local knowledge and perseverance usually pays off when it comes to catching fish — and our Grand Bahama adventure was no exception!
