Tuna tubes

cdwood

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Being an inshore guy don't know about these things. Still curious as to how they are used and why?
 

NIGHTIDES

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To keep your bait alive.. like bait you would use for Marlin fishing..
 

jekyl

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They are usually, two tubes, standing vertically made of anything really, from stainless to plastic and connected to a source of pressurized raw sea water.The bait is placed headfirst live in the tube and manages to stay alive quite well. We are usually talking about baits that it is impossible to keep in a live bait tank because of their size.
The diameter of the tube is determined by the size of bait you expect to keep.
 

cdwood

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Interesting, not what I was originally thinking at all. 2 to 4 baits does'nt seem like a lot. Is that usually sufficient?
 

fishingFINattic

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Two to four live skip jacks would tip the odds of me returning from a shark trip with a keeper fish.
Tim
 

Grog

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cdwood said:
Interesting, not what I was originally thinking at all. 2 to 4 baits does'nt seem like a lot. Is that usually sufficient?

Having 4 baits stored sure beats 1. Catch the bait, bridle it and toss it in the tube so you're ready for the big ones.
 

gradyfish22

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Many of the boats I design are now being built with custom tuna tubes. They are basically a livewell with round tubes to put live albies and skipjacks into. The tubes are just big enough for the fish to slide into, and water fills the tubes inside and outside. The water is pumped in at a high rate and will fill the gills of the fish and keep them alive. These baits are already prerigged and attached to rods, tease up a bill fish and then throw one in. Would also be good for sharking but most guys who buy them fish marlin. These tubes are often put in a box similar to a transom kill box. I agree 2 is better then none, I'm just used to designing boats with 10-20 of them. If someone modded your boat to have them, make sure you have a very high speed pump, and I would recommend a back up as well to keep the fish alive. Also, each inlet to each tube should have a valve to turn the flow on and off, that way you only provide flow to the ones with bait in them. More flow is better, no need to hve flow going through unused tubes, they will just fill with the water being pumped in before it is drained from the whole box.