“With the warm currents pushing up north, we got some reliable intel about Yellowfin tuna around Port Stephens on Friday afternoon. Over the course of the evening constant reports of yellowfin tuna captures were filtering in, with fish up to 60kg being caught. That was the green light we needed. Got our equipment ready and started the tow up to Swansea where we were planning to launch and run NE. We started our 60 km run around 3.30am and around first light we deployed our dredge and 4 lures. We worked between 900-1400 fathoms and around 3pm the kraken dredge we run from the outrigger got hit by a small yellowfin which subsequently nailed one of the lures.

One of the guys immediately started cubing while the divers were getting the equipment sorted. After about 40 Minogue cubing we started marking fish so the divers jump in. I was the second in the water and I immediately noticed a few 20-30kg Yellowfin in the cube trail. We could see some bigger ones riding up from the depths to have their share of the cubes. Couple were swimming so close that we could touch them. I lined up a fish which I estimated was 50kg plus by its sickles and fired the fish took off.

After about a 10 minute fight second spear was deployed and the fish dived this is when one of our spotters indicated a shark had appeared from the depths. The mako was moving in for an easy feed of the shot tuna. While our spotters took the duty of distracting the shark I started retrieving the fish with the mako hot on its tail. The spotters did enough to deter the shark and we hauled in the tuna on to the boat. We started our run back to port around 5.30 pm with mission accomplished 900-1400fathoms and around 3 pm the kraken dredge we run from the outrigger got hit by a small yellowfin which subsequently nailed one of the lures.“ - Wingnut Team Member

Check out the video on the teams Facebook & Instagram pages!

Spear Fishing Yellow-Fin Tuna With The ‘Wingnut’ Team