It's that time of year again; you start dusting off your tuna gear and get ready to go after them. We all live for those epic tuna bites when you keep hooking fish till you arms are literally ready to fall off. But those bites are few and far between, and on a scratchy day, the difference between having a good trip or having a bad trip can be fishing the "slide". The "slide" is slang for the series of events that follow a troll strike. Someone yells "Hookup!!!!," and the boat begins to gradually slow. As it slows the skipper will usually turn the boat to face parallel to the swell. On a tough day, most of the fish will be caught on the "slide" or on the troll, and unless you like fighting 25# albacore on 80# line the "slide" is the way to go.

There are a few techniques that work for fishing slide, but the advent of one in recent years has really revolutionized "slide" fishing. It turns out that albacore and other pelagic fishes love soft plastics, the same ones designed mainly for fishing saltwater bass. In my experiences I have seen these baits out fish jigs, and live baits on the "slide" almost every time. The best part about it is it, really couldn't be an easier thing to do.

I would recommend, using a 7' -8' rod in the 25# - 30# line class. Something like a 15#-30#, 20# -40#, or a 30#-60# depending what line you want to fish. I personally use my jigstick with 30#, because I am not using a line that is heavy enough to really hurt me on the longer rods. Match a rod with a 99 size or 500 size reel loaded with 25# -30# string and you are set to go. If you want to use a heavier line go up to 40# on a 4/0. I would recommend 30# for this technique because it strong enough where you can control you fish, and you can still have a lot of fun.

Now that you got a rod and reel, all you need is the right lure. I like using 5" Big Hammers with 1.5 oz. or 2.5 oz. Hammer Heads™. The 5" in my experience seems to be the perfect size for the albacore and other tuna. The colors are fairly simple; you only really need two, a dark and a light. For a light color I use Silver 'Chovy (#44) and for a dark I use Deep Purple (#39). Similar colors to either one of these work fine, its mainly just personal preference. Use the dark bait in the morning or if it is heavily overcast all day, and use the lighter color when it is bright and the sun is shinning. For the jig heads I like to use the plain or natural color, mainly because tuna really seem to hone in on chrome. The 1.5 oz heads with 5/0 hooks work great for most days fishing; but sometimes the fish are boat shy or stay deep, in which case I would go to a 2.5 oz.

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