<strong><em>By Jerry Labella</em></strong>

The line peeled from the wide--spool reel at an incredible pace. The angler struggled to lift the pole from the rod holder and to place it in his previously strapped on stand-up harness. His companion instantly took over control of the cockpit, wedging himself between the driver and the controls, and swiftly turned the boat 180 degrees in pursuit of the line heading off into the distance.

“Don’t stop reeling,” he instructed, “until you can get some line back on that spool.”

The line was replenishing fast, but for the time being, he could only recover less than half of the 550 yards the reel was originally spooled with. “Charlie,” the tuna that is, was not yet finished.

Two hours later, after wearing out 3 men and locking up a new and very repu- table reel, “Charlie” had to be hand lined in the rest of the way for the gaff.
Ol’“Charlie,” a 117 pound yellowfin tuna, had the odds of being lost in his favor, if it weren’t for quick thinking on the part of an experienced fisherman aboard that day. Obviously, catching yellowfin tuna can in no way be equated with catching any inshore species— no matter what size you have encountered.

When going after tuna, newcomers try their luck with much disappointment, but catch on quickly after finding out the basic how-to and following through.

It’s definitely not a battle with a redfish! Novices discover firsthand that hardly is there a fish, pound for pound that can peel off 500 yards of 50 pound test line from a reel in less than 60 seconds— something like snagging onto the back of a Mack truck speeding down the highway.

These football-shaped, guided missiles are designed by nature to move through the water with lightning speed. They are literally meat building factories, with a relatively small head and tail section. Everything in between is finely tuned, explosive muscle.

The yellowfin tuna is the most brilliantly colored of tunas, with a poorly defined stripe of golden-yellow on its upper sides and much bright yellow in most of its fins, hence the name “yellowfin.” It exhibits white spots and vertical stripes on its lower sides and has a dark bluish-black upper section.

Connecting with one of these proficient, elusive predators is perhaps more easily accomplished than successfully boating one. That’s because they have the ability to wear down and humiliate both the best of tackle and tacklers, seemingly effortlessly.

Yellowfin tuna can be caught basically like many other species: (1) trolling and (2) casting bait or lures. Trolling, however, seems to be the most popular and successful method for many anglers.

Compared to the offshore yacht owner, the small-boat owner will need to dress up a bit more for the encounter— much like a prize fighter preparing for a match.
The first thing one needs in order to catch Ol’“Charlie” is a stand-up harness. Of course if one has a fighting chair, this won’t be needed. The purpose of the stand- up harness is to attach the reel and rod to the body. It is basically a leveraging mechanism to take the long fight off of the arms and to disperse it onto the back and leg areas.

The section that attaches around the back has two hook latches for attaching to the reel housing ears. These straps should be adjusted so that the rod is in about the two-o-clock position when standing upright. The gimbal belt section should be adjusted to rest on the upper thighs of the legs.
Once this is all adjusted, the proper fighting stance will require you to face the fish with legs apart, bending only at the knees while pivoting forward and mov- ing your body to the upright position while reeling and pumping the rod. It will take some practice, but it is not hard to do and is generally caught on to after one long fight.

It is important to place the gimbal part of the rod butt into the cross bolt or piece in the gimbal belt pole holster so that the rod butt doesn’t twist, holding it firmly against the legs when fighting a fish.

The next thing you will need is a good rod, between 5 - 6 ft. in length and rated at least in the 50 lb. class. The shorter ones will be best and, if you are using it for stand-up fishing, make sure the rod eyelets are not roller type. Roller eyelets are for use in fighting chairs. It’s okay if there is one roller at the end and/or one ahead of the reel with the rest being circular type eyelets. Rods with all rollers may bend or twist when used for stand-up fishing.
A good one-piece reel frame with ball bearings throughout and a heavy-duty drag system is mandatory. Line capacity should be no less than 450 yards when using 30 1b. test and 350 yards when using 50 lb. test. Big game type line should