Well, this one was a fair bit different. There’s a run of pelagic fish steaming down the New South Wales coast with the EAC (East Australian Current) at the moment, and I figured there was no better way to chase some seriously fast fish than from a seriously fast machine. So, I packed up the Sea-Doo Fish Pro, pointed it at Hawks Nest and went out to see if I could troll up my first longtail tuna off a PWC (personal watercraft).
Now if you follow this series, you know our plans don’t always come off… but they certainly did this time. First proper fish off a Sea-Doo, first longtail off a Sea-Doo, and a feed of tuna three different ways back at camp. Here’s how it all came together, and what I learnt along the way.
Quick Links
Where I was fishing
Home base for this adventure was Hawks Nest on the New South Wales mid-north coast, staying at Reflections Holiday Park right on the water. I was fishing inshore reefs only about 250 metres off the beach.
That’s the bit I really want you to take in: you don’t need to run 30km out to find longtails on the East Coast right now. When the EAC is pushing south, it pushes these fish right into the shallows. If you’re anywhere from Coffs down to Sydney over the next month or two, keep an eye on the conditions, get a livey rig sorted, and have a crack.
The gear I had with me
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt fishing off a PWC is how selective you have to be with what you bring. There’s no room for a full tackle station, so everything has to earn its place.
Here’s what was on the ski with me:
Sea-Doo Fish Pro (the very fast machine)
Life jacket and booties
Wet weather jacket for the run out
Action cam to capture the fight
Soft cooler to keep the live baits alive
Shimano Sling Bag with all my terminal tackle
Two rods — one overhead, one spin backup
Dometic Pico Swag for the overnighter back at camp
The combo that got me out of trouble was a Shimano Hydra 6-10kg overhead game rod with a glass tip, matched to a Shimano Speedmaster 10-2 lever drag reel. For my money, that right there is the ultimate inshore game setup. It’ll catch everything from longtails to mack tuna, cobia, mackerel, and even a little black marlin if you’re lucky enough to bump into one.
The glass tip is the bit I really want to call out. It’s soft enough to cushion my mistakes when I’m pulling back too hard mid-fight, and it absolutely saved me on this trip. If you’re new to game fishing, don’t underestimate how much a forgiving rod can do for you.
I was running 30lb (15kg) mono mainline with a 60lb fluorocarbon leader. Hooks ranged from 7/0 up to 10/0 depending on the size of the bait I was deploying, and I had spare leader material in 60lb and 80lb in the sling bag. That’s it. No tackle box, no overflowing trays — the whole kit fits in the front compartment of the Sea-Doo.
If overhead reels aren’t your cuppa tea, don’t stress. A 5,000-size spinning reel matched to a 6-8kg spin rod will do exactly the same job. You can grab either setup in store at BCF and you’re good to go.
The technique: slow trolling and drifting live baits
The plan was simple. Buzz out to the bait ground, jig up some slimy mackerel, then slow troll or drift them around the inshore reefs and wait for a screaming reel.
A quick one on bait that I cannot stress enough: do not touch slimy mackerel with your hands. Touching them strips the slime layer off and they’ll die within minutes of being deployed. The trick is to lift them in by the hook, flick them straight off into the cooler, and let them sort themselves out. Treat them right and they’ll stay lively for hours, which is exactly what you want when you’re chasing fish like tuna and marlin.
On the morning I went out there was a bit of a south-westerly blowing, so I cut the engine and drifted along the inshore reefs rather than actively trolling. Either method works. The key is keeping a lively bait out the back and letting it do the work for you. Trust the rod tip — when you see it ticking away, you know your bait is still alive and swimming hard. When the tip goes dead, swap it out.
I had five slimeys and a yakka to start with, which sounds like a lot but disappears fast when you’re changing baits across a session. Be selective. Don’t pull in a perfectly good bait just because nothing’s happened in twenty minutes. And time your deployments around tide changes if you can — that’s when the bite came for me.
The fight: first proper fish off a PWC
The first run of the day was a thumping mack tuna. Big fish, great fight, but not what I was chasing. Quick photo, hook out, back in the water.
About an hour later the Speedmaster went off properly. Big head shakes, long fast runs, line dumping at a rate I had no answer for. I genuinely thought it was a shark. About 75 metres of line gone on the first run alone, and there was no insignificant drag on that reel.
Fighting a serious fish off a PWC is a completely new game. You’re sitting right down on the water, you’ve got no gunwales to brace against, no rod holders behind you. I had to figure out on the fly how to use my feet and my seat to get any leverage at all. I was learning as I went — and that’s what this series is all about.
When colour finally came up, it wasn’t a shark. It was a longtail. The exact fish I’d come out to chase. I backed the drag off, took my time on the leader, and eventually got hands on a beautiful longtail tuna over the side of the ski. First proper fish off a PWC, first longtail off a PWC, all in one go. Hard to beat that.
The other thing I noticed: you’re so much more intimate with the fish on a PWC than you are on a boat. You’re right down on the water, you can hear and feel everything, and that first five to ten seconds of chaos when a fish takes off is something I won’t forget for a long time. That’s why we do it.
Key learnings and takeaways
A few things I’d pass on if you’re thinking about giving this one a crack yourself:
Pack light. One rod, one backup, a small tackle bag, your safety gear and your bait. The discipline of a PWC forces you to commit to one mission, and that’s a good thing.
Use a glass tip rod if you can. When you’re fighting a hot fish off a moving platform with no proper bracing, a soft tip will save you. It cushions the mistakes that a fast-action graphite rod won’t.
Look after your bait. Don’t touch slimeys with your hands. It’s the easiest thing to get wrong and the easiest thing to fix.
Listen for the ratchet. A lever drag with the ratchet on is the best bite alarm money can buy. It means you can sit back, relax, and still know the second something’s on.
Respect the catch. If you’re going to keep a fish, bleed it the second it’s in, kill it quickly, and get it onto ice. Don’t leave it sitting in the sun. It’s the right thing to do and it’s the difference between average and amazing tuna on the plate later.
Longtails aren’t as hard as you think. I cannot stress this enough. I was 250 metres from the beach, on a basic rig, fishing midweek by myself, and I caught one. If you’ve been telling yourself this kind of fishing is out of reach, it isn’t. Get a livey out the back and go for it.
Cooking it up back at camp: tuna three ways
I’ll keep this short because the video covers it properly, but the rule I live by is this… if you put the effort in to catch a beautiful fish, celebrate it. Don’t just default to fish and chips.
Back at Reflections I cooked the loin three ways: fresh sashimi with a drizzle of soy sauce, sesame-crusted tuna steaks (kept raw in the middle), and tuna tostadas. The tostadas were a new one for me — fresh diced tuna with lime, soy, sesame seeds and a bit of pickled ginger, piled onto a fried tortilla base with avocado, cucumber, onion and a drizzle of kewpie mayo over the top.
The tostadas absolutely took it to a new level. I could have had fifteen of them. If you’ve only ever done fish and chips with your catch, give this a go next time. Two things to cook, fifteen minutes total, and it does proper justice to the fish.
Keen to give this one a go?
If you want to have a crack at this trip yourself, you can stock up on all the gear I used in store at BCF or online at bcf.com.au. Get out there, give it a go — that’s what The Everyday Angler is all about.