Southern Bluefin Tuna
Southern bluefin tuna are one of the most powerful and prized pelagic fish in Australian waters, targeted by trolling lures and rigged baits or chunking live and dead baits along the continental shelf edge of southern Australia from SA through Victoria and Tasmania. These fish can grow to over 200 kg and are capable of sustained high-speed runs that test tackle to the limit.
Target Species
Fishing Tips
- 1
SBT in southern Australian waters are most reliably found on the 200 m drop-off and over deep seamounts — troll feathers and skirted lures at 7–9 knots until you locate the school, then stop and chunk.
- 2
Once the boat is stopped and fish are responding to a frozen berley slick of chunked tuna and pilchards, switch to live slimy mackerel or yellowtail free-lined back in the current for the best bite.
- 3
SBT are extremely drag-setting sensitive — pre-set your drags at exactly 25–30% of breaking strain before the bite and do NOT touch the lever during the fight. Burned-out clutches end trips.
- 4
Wear a harness for fish over 30 kg; pumping a 60 kg+ SBT by hand without one will exhaust you in 10 minutes. Use the boat to back down on large fish and recover line efficiently.
- 5
In cold water (Bass Strait, SA), SBT hold deep — slow trolling a skirted lure on a downrigger to 40–60 m often outproduces surface trolling when the fish are sounding on sounder marks.
Gear Setup
Southern Bluefin Tuna
- Rod
- PE4–8, 5.5–7ft trolling or spinning (30–80lb class)
- Reel
- Trolling: 20–30 class overhead (Penn International 20T, Shimano Tiagra 20); Jigging: 10000–14000 heavy spinning (Stella SW14000)
- Main Line
- PE4–8 (50–80lb braid)
- Leader
- 80–130lb fluorocarbon
- Lures / Terminal
- Trolled minnows 18–25cm, skirted lures, metal jigs 150–300g
- Drag Setting
- 10–20kg
Cold-water blues; Portland (VIC) and St Helens (TAS) hot spots