When to fish for Yellowfin Tuna: Tide is irrelevant offshore — current and temperature gradient matter. Where the offshore current pushes against the EAC or another current, the convergence line concentrates bait and tuna.
Also known as YFT, Allison Tuna, Ahi (Hawaii). Bait, technique, tide windows, and where the bite is on right now.
Yellowfin Tuna — The blue-water freight train — Australia's premier offshore game fish. Also called YFT, Allison Tuna, Ahi (Hawaii).
A yellowfin tuna can dive to 980 m chasing bait and is one of the few warm-blooded fish — they regulate body temperature 5–15°C above the surrounding water through a counter-current heat exchanger in the bloodstream. That metabolism is why they fight so hard for so long; a 100 kg fish can run for two hours on a 50 W harness.
Yellowfin Tuna is also known as: YFT, Allison Tuna, Ahi (Hawaii). The blue-water freight train — Australia's premier offshore game fish.
Regional names can confuse anglers and cause misidentification. The table of common names below covers the most-used alternatives across Australia, New Zealand and the US:
Key to correct identification: check the regulations-authority species sheet for your state or territory before keeping any fish — minimum legal sizes, bag limits and identification guides are published by each fisheries department and are the authoritative source.
Hero spots in our coverage where Yellowfin Tuna is in season for August. Click through for the live forecast.
Deeper reading on the species, the tides, the safety, and the timing windows behind the forecast.
Australia: troll the continental shelf line and current edges at 6–8 knots from October to June. Look for bird workups, surface boils, and temperature breaks (the SST gradient layer on the live map). For trophy fish, anchor up on a known shelf-line FAD or current line and cube-berley with chopped pilchard. Smaller "school" fish in the 8–20 kg class can be caught casting metals into surface boils. Florida / Hawaii: trolling chuggers and skirts behind teasers is the method — naked ballyhoo skipped on the surface is deadly.
Field-proven Yellowfin Tuna methods compiled from published tackle guides — AU East offshore temperature breaks, currents, eddies and shelf water. Every method links its source.
1trolling lures
Bait / lure: skirted, hardbody or high-speed tuna/billfish lures
Rig: 24kg-class game outfit with braid backing/mono topshot and heavy nylon leader; troll about 6-8 knots when searching
When & where: temperature breaks, current edges and offshore grounds where yellowfin are scattered or mixed with billfish bycatch
2cubing
Bait / lure: pilchard, slimy mackerel or yellowtail scad cubes, with a hooked cube hidden in the trail
Rig: game outfit in the 24kg class; free-spool the baited cube naturally down the berley trail before setting pressure
When & where: temperature breaks and 80-600m offshore water where a steady cube trail can bring fish to the boat
3skirted lure spread over ocean features
Bait / lure: 6-15in skirted lures staggered in short corner, long corner, riggers and shotgun positions
Rig: 50-80lb braid backing with mono topshot; heavy trace and game hooks matched to lure size
When & where: currents, temperature breaks, eddies and upwellings identified before the trip, then worked by trolling passes
Tide is irrelevant offshore — current and temperature gradient matter. Where the offshore current pushes against the EAC or another current, the convergence line concentrates bait and tuna. Fish the windward edge of any temperature break.
Yellowfin are weakly moon-dependent but trophy 80 kg+ fish are statistically over-represented in the few days either side of the full moon (likely due to plankton / squid behaviour rather than the moon itself). Dawn is universally the best feeding window.
Figures come from each jurisdiction's own fisheries authority, with the source linked on every page above. Rules change — closures in particular are reset annually — so confirm with the authority before you keep a fish.
AU (federal HMS): no minimum size in most states, bag of 3 per person. US Atlantic: 27" curved fork length, 3 per day. US Pacific: 27" CFL, no daily limit but federal HMS rules apply. Always verify NOAA HMS / AFMA regulations.
NSW size & bag limits for Yellowfin Tuna — current DPIRD limits, verified →
Other Australian states — size & bag limits for Yellowfin Tuna: QLD · WA · NT
The IGFA all-tackle world record for Yellowfin Tuna is 200.94 kg, caught by Earl Gill IV at Lower Banks, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 2024.
| Record | Weight | Angler | Location | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World record (IGFA all-tackle)Thunnus albacares | 200.94 kg | Earl Gill IV | Lower Banks, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico | 2024-11-11 | IGFA → |
Records as published by the IGFA and the Game Fishing Association of Australia — verify against the linked source before citing.
Olli-Mikael Vaittinen has fished his whole life. Fifteen years of fly fishing, guiding seasons on Norway's Lakselva — his favourite Atlantic salmon river — and a blue marlin landed in Vava'u, Tonga. Founder of Fishare — the app that puts the data behind the decisions every angler makes on the water.
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