TUNA, SKIPJACK

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TUNA, SKIPJACK

Scientific Name: 
Katsuwonus pelamis
Fish Group: 
Tuna
Salt/Fresh: 
Salt
Also Known As: 
Skipjack Tuna; Striped Tuna; Skipjack; Stripey; Ocean Bonito; Arctic Bonito; Watermelon Tuna; TUNA, SKIPJACK; Aku; Victor Fish
Rating: 
Countries: 
Australia
New Zealand
Other Countries
Description: 

Small to Medium member of the Tuna family, sound more for bait than to eat

How To Identify: 

Colour is a brilliant deep steely blue to almost purple on the top of its back to silver below the lateral line. It is characterised by long stripes along the lower section of its body, stripes curve upward towards the back of the body.

How To Catch: 

It is an important commercial and game fish, usually caught using purse seine nets. They are very good fighters, and when hooked they will give any angler a battle when reeling them in.

Anglers either fish for Skipjack Tuna by either trolling from a boat or by casting for them, and you can use both methods when using bait and lures. When fishing for Skipjack Tuna using live bait, some great choices for them are; squid, small eels, shrimp and all sorts of small baitfish like mackerels, sardines, and herrings.

You can use dead baitfish that is cut into chunks or strips, but the dead fishbait is not as good for enticing the Skipjack Tuna as the live baits are. When fishing for Skipjack Tuna using lures, the top selections seem to be lures that resemble the baits used to catch them, such as; rubber minnows and larger imitation fish.

Where Found: 

Found throughout the coastal regions of Australia from inshore bays and reefs, larger estuary mouths, right out to the continental shelf.

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