Fighting Huge Tuna From A Kayak
By Bluewater Jon Schwartz
When I got back to the states, a friend of mine said, "The good news is that no one has ever done that. The bad news is that, from here on out, your whole life is downhill!" That sounded depressing, but to tell you the truth, I couldn't argue with him. What else could I do that would give me the same rush as that, fighting a fish of that size at such close quarters?
Weeks later, I was telling my marlin story to an experienced angler, and he said, "Yeah, well, you might have landed that marlin, but you'll never land a big tuna on a kayak!" After much research, I found out that what he was saying was possibly true. After all, the main reason I was able to land the marlin was that it took off horizontally; I merely locked down the drag and he tired himself out. It was more like water skiing. But tunas wouldn't do this- they'd circle beneath me, saving their energy, and to bring them up, I'd have to do a lot of backbreaking labor to raise the fish. Not only that, but I'd have to do it without a lot of the tools that anglers on a boat use. If I used a harness and the fish dove, he might take me with him and drown me, and there's no place for a fighting chair on a kayak!
Finally, there's the end of the fight details. The marlin only came up when he was spent, and I was able to simply grab his bill. Game over. In contrast, everyone I talked to told me that tunas don't do that- they come up with a lot of fight left in them. If you're in a boat, you gaff them, pull them out of the water, and you're done. But in a kayak, you gaff a big tuna, and you have attached yourself to a raging bull that's still in his element. How was I going to deal with a thrashing tuna at yak side?
Since this had never been done before, I had to get creative. Not only that, but I had to be careful who I shared my plans with. Most anglers scoffed at me, and told me I was crazy for trying it. Well, it so happens that I teach elementary school on a military base, and I am friendly with a lot of Marines. These guys are trained in combat, you know what I mean? So I took one of them aside and said, "Ok, imagine you're in a kayak and a huge tuna is two feet from you and you have to kill it, what do you do?" and instead of snickering, he broke out in a huge grin. These guys became my best source for information. In fact, one of the guys was a medieval times buff, the kind that reenacts battles. Next thing you know I'm pricing out double edged battle axes on the internet!
Weeks later, I was telling my marlin story to an experienced angler, and he said, "Yeah, well, you might have landed that marlin, but you'll never land a big tuna on a kayak!" After much research, I found out that what he was saying was possibly true. After all, the main reason I was able to land the marlin was that it took off horizontally; I merely locked down the drag and he tired himself out. It was more like water skiing. But tunas wouldn't do this- they'd circle beneath me, saving their energy, and to bring them up, I'd have to do a lot of backbreaking labor to raise the fish. Not only that, but I'd have to do it without a lot of the tools that anglers on a boat use. If I used a harness and the fish dove, he might take me with him and drown me, and there's no place for a fighting chair on a kayak!
Finally, there's the end of the fight details. The marlin only came up when he was spent, and I was able to simply grab his bill. Game over. In contrast, everyone I talked to told me that tunas don't do that- they come up with a lot of fight left in them. If you're in a boat, you gaff them, pull them out of the water, and you're done. But in a kayak, you gaff a big tuna, and you have attached yourself to a raging bull that's still in his element. How was I going to deal with a thrashing tuna at yak side?
Since this had never been done before, I had to get creative. Not only that, but I had to be careful who I shared my plans with. Most anglers scoffed at me, and told me I was crazy for trying it. Well, it so happens that I teach elementary school on a military base, and I am friendly with a lot of Marines. These guys are trained in combat, you know what I mean? So I took one of them aside and said, "Ok, imagine you're in a kayak and a huge tuna is two feet from you and you have to kill it, what do you do?" and instead of snickering, he broke out in a huge grin. These guys became my best source for information. In fact, one of the guys was a medieval times buff, the kind that reenacts battles. Next thing you know I'm pricing out double edged battle axes on the internet!
