Yellowfin Tuna

Yellowfin tuna are dark metallic blue above with a bright gold stripe along the side, silver below and bright yellow second dorsal and anal fins and finlets. In big adults the second dorsal and anal fins grow into long, sickle-shaped lobes that distinguish them from bigeye and bluefin. The pectoral fin reaches to about the second dorsal, longer than a bluefin's but shorter than an albacore's. Small yellowfin, called footballs, are easy to confuse with bigeye and blackfin; the liver (unstriated, unlike bigeye) and the longer sickle fins are the sure tells.

Yellowfin live in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide, generally in water above 64 F (18 C) and preferring 72 to 82 F (22 to 28 C). US anglers reach them in three main fisheries: the Gulf of Mexico, where fish of 50 to 200 lb hold year-round around the deepwater oil platforms and rips off Venice, Louisiana; Southern California and Baja, where summer and fall warm water brings schools within range of San Diego day boats and long-range trips to the Hurricane Bank and Revillagigedo Islands produce 200 to 400 lb "cows"; and the Northeast canyons from Virginia to Massachusetts, where fish of 40 to 120 lb run the edge of the continental shelf from July through October. Hatteras and the Carolinas fish them in spring and fall as the Gulf Stream swings in.

Yellowfin are schooling pelagic predators that eat flying fish, squid, sardines, mackerel and small tunas, often feeding under porpoise schools, floating debris and birds. They travel fast and feed in bursts, most reliably at first light and in the last hours of day, and they are drawn to structure in open water: temperature breaks, weed lines, platform legs and current rips. Hooked yellowfin dive deep and circle in long, grinding fights that test both tackle and angler.

Yellowfin are the most accessible big tuna for US anglers and the most valuable at the table, so the fishery is enormous: overnight trips out of Venice and Port Fourchon, San Diego's long-range fleet, canyon runs from Ocean City and Montauk, and kite fishing off the Carolinas. Federal highly migratory species permits and size limits apply, and the Atlantic stock is managed internationally.