Where and when to catch Longtail Tuna in New South Wales: the NSW season, the spots in our guide that hold them, and where to find NSW's current size and bag limits.
NSW limits for Longtail Tuna are set by NSW DPIRD and change from time to time, so we link them rather than copy them.
Check NSW DPIRD's limits before you fish.
Western Australian limits don't apply in New South Wales.
Live hardyheads, live garfish, whole pilchards (less reliable than a moving lure)
Lures
Chrome metal slugs (40–80g), stickbaits, slim minnows, small soft plastics on heavy jig heads
Rigs
Spin outfit with 20–40lb braid and a 30–50lb fluorocarbon leader. A single inline hook on metals — trebles tend to pull or get destroyed. From the beach, long casts matter, so a 9–10ft rod and a 5000–8000-size reel. No wire — longtails don't have shearing teeth and wire kills the strike rate.
Best Time
Peak action runs April through October when the southerly trades push baitfish along the coast. Daylight is the window for surface bust-ups. Calm, glassy mornings are easier for spotting feeding schools.
Identification
Also known asLongtail, northern bluefin tuna (older Australian usage)
Slim for a tuna, with a small head, thick shoulders and a body that tapers to an unusually skinny tail wrist — hence the name. Dark blue back, silver flanks, and colourless oval spots low on the belly that show up clearly on a fresh fish. The pectoral fins are short and do not reach past the front of the second dorsal, which separates them from yellowfin and bigeye. Mackerel tuna carry dark wavy markings on the back above the lateral line and a few dark spots between the pectoral and pelvic fins. Juvenile yellowfin are the other common mix-up; their longer pectorals give them away.
Eating Quality
Good, with a caveat — this is dark red tuna flesh, and it is superb raw and mediocre cooked through. Bleed at the gills the second it is landed and put it straight into an ice slurry; nothing matters more with a tuna. Then either serve it as sashimi within a day or two, or sear thick loin pieces hard on the outside and leave the middle rare. Cook it past medium and it goes grey, dry and unpleasant, and no sauce rescues it. The strong-flavoured belly and tail sections are better suited to hot-smoking or a curry, both of which suit the oiliness. Longtail freezes poorly for sashimi purposes — the texture breaks down — but frozen portions are fine for smoking or cooking later. A bag limit of tuna is a lot of fish for one household; take what you will actually eat.