If you’re a big fan of fishing for tuna and you want to try catch one with your drone, then keep reading!
Drones allow you to take your line far away from the shore and drop it offshore where the tuna would be. Tuna fish is a pelagic species of fish, which means they prefer the open water and are usually caught in deep waters offshore. Most people struggle to cast more than 100 ft, so drones will help you cast a lot further.
Keep reading to find out the best methods for fishing for tuna as well as where the best spots are!
Where to Use A Drone To Fish For Tuna?
Drones have brought a completely new perspective to the hobby of fishing. Some people love the addition of drones to fish, while some avid fishermen, who have spent many years fishing, do not feel the same way!
Tuna is known as a pelagic species of fish, which basically means that they prefer open water, and when caught, they are usually caught in deep waters offshore.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t find any near the beach at times! There have been many cases of people catching tuna close to the beach as the tuna will chase schools of baitfish close to the beach.
I have heard a lot of stories of people catching small bluefin tuna near the beach in the North East regions of the United States.
Drones, however, increase your chances of catching tuna from the beach as your casting distance is only limited by how many lines you have on your reel and what the range is on the drone you are using.
If you are using a Phantom drone, for example, the maximum range for the Phantom 4 Pro is 4.1 miles. Unless you are doing long line fishing, the chances of your line being that long are highly unlikely!
Most anglers, when specifically looking for tuna, will take a boat out and cast from a boat as tuna are found in deeper waters. However, it is still not guaranteed that they will be able to find tuna and sometimes they spend their time driving the boat around in circles and cast all day!
With a drone, these issues are done away with because you can use the drone from the boat and fly it out to either scout the area for tuna from an aerial perspective or you can cast just in that area alone.
You can also use the drone to carry your fishing line and bait to the tuna and drop it right above them. If you don’t even want to get a boat, you can do the same thing as two friends from Australia. Jaiden MacLean and Byron Leal could see tuna breaching offshore from their balcony!
They then attached a line to their phantom drone and took off from the beach, finally dropping their bait directly on the fish. They spent days trying different methods and finally after five days of trying they caught a 49-pound Bluefin Tuna.
How To Fish For Tuna With Your Drone: A Step-By-Step Guide
Step 01. When tuna fishing using a drone, all it requires is for someone to attach the fishing line to the drone. The drone will then lift-off and fly out to sea or away from your boat.
Wondering how you can attach a fishing line to your drone? Here’s an article where I discuss 4 methods you can use to attach fishing line to your drone.
Step 02. How far it goes will just depend on the drone you have and how much fishing line you have. You can then use the display screen on the remote or the device you are using to fly the drone to look for tuna!
Step 03. Once you have located a shoal or school of tuna fish, then you can detach the line from the drone and let it drop into the ocean.
Wondering how you detach the line? Here’s 4 methods you can use to drop fishing line from your drone.
Step 04. When a big tuna(not Jim) hooks itself to your line, all that’s left for you to do is to start reeling it in and bring it to you!
Some people take drone fishing to the next level and attach the line to the drone in a way that allows them to lower the drone when dropping the line in the water.
When a fish hooks itself in the water, they use the drone to lift the fish out of the water and bring it directly to them. This, however, probably wouldn’t be a practical use of a drone when fishing for tuna because of two reasons:
- Fish obviously fight back when being pulled in and tuna are pretty strong fish, so your drone will probably be pulled into the ocean and end sleeping with the fishes.
- Tuna is pretty big fish and therefore most drones won’t be able to lift something of that size, especially when it is fighting back.
So the size and carrying capacity of the drone will determine if the fish pulls the drone under the water or if it is able to lift the fish out and bring it to the pilot.
This is a big risk to take with a drone costing hundreds and even thousands of dollars. It’s just better to drop the line instead.
Tips And Tricks When Drone Fishing For Tuna
Practice
Practice makes perfect is extremely relevant when it comes to using your drone to fish for Tuna! All you need to do to get better is to keep practicing until it becomes second nature—think of it like driving a car.
The same goes with flying drones, you need to get it out of the box and start flying it. You need to get a feel for it and familiarize yourself with its range and battery life.
Use a Stronger Line
Using a drone to fish for tuna is a lot different from the normal fishing that you might do on a lake or from the shore.
Deeper waters mean bigger and stronger fish like tuna, people usually find that their lines snap much more often because of not expecting how big the tuna is!
Get The Right Drone
Most people try to go the low budget option and just look for a drone that will go a couple of feet from the shore or the boat and drop their bait.
Well, I don’t think this is the route you should go. You need a good drone that is able to travel at least a mile away from the controller in order to be able to find tuna wherever they may be.
You also need the drone to have a long flight time to help hover over the tuna without the battery running out too quickly.
Looking for a fishing drone? I reviewed 5 best drones with fish finders here, and if you’re on a budget, 6 fishing drones under $500 here.
Besides, you can always use a drone for other functions besides fishing so you don’t need to go the low budget route for something you will be able to use for other things besides fishing. Drone fishing is also very demanding and the lower quality drones will not be able to hold up.
Drone Fishing Methods to Use When Fishing For Tuna
Drone fishing comes in a few forms and there are many methods on how to do it. Here are some of the best methods to use for tuna fishing using a drone:
Drone Reconnaissance
This involves using the drone camera and the screen on the controller or the device you are using to navigate the drone where you want it to go.
While doing this you can conveniently hover the drone above the water to scout for tuna and decide where you are going to drop the line.
Drone Casting
Drone casting is the most commonly used form of drone fishing by drone and fishing enthusiasts worldwide, and this is probably due to the fact that it is so easy and convenient!
This method involves using your drone to carry your line further than you could have physically cast it on your own.
When you have reached the area you want to cast your bait you can simply release the line and start fishing.