| Yummy Flyer making its mark in tuna waters 
MIKE TUMBIERO’S rigging method with double hooks and 5/0 stinger treble is a typical setup on the Yummy Flyer. There’s a lot of ways to fish tuna on the bank, and while hav ing live bait nearly guarantees a bite of some kind, the hottest lure and method for targeting the cow tuna is the Yummy Flyer (also called a “yummy bird”). Jim and Floyd worked the bank with a skipping Yummy Flyer, a rubbery version of a flying bait. They likely gained favor on the long range boats, started I’ve been told by Justin Fleck on the long ranger Excel as a skipping bait, then used with a kite as tales of its success rate roared. Dropping them down deep with lead weights on the banks also works. We have been told the use of Yummy Flyers is still a secret in Cabo by those “in the know,” but that’s laughable. The world of chat rooms has rendered all fishing tackle and methods public knowledge. Minerva’s in Cabo can hardly keep them stocked. While they are relatively new and diverse rigging methods are emerging, the bigger development by those who skip lures and live baits with the use of kites are the small parafoils that need less wind and thus can stay up on the downwind troll without the use of helium balloons. Best of all the 3 and 4-foot foot parafoils, without long sticks, pack smaller than kites, into a 13-inch bag and their main calling card is they stay up in less wind, making it possible to fish on the downwind troll without the use of helium balloons. Kite shops sell them in retail and online. Floyds and Jim used them on the bank as tuna boiled in the area, and they had 100- and 150-pound fish slam them. Not as big as the 210-240 that Jim had on the chiluill, but solid fish. Where the Yummy Flyers work best is on the porpoise schools where there is a mix of small and large tuna, with the bigger yellowfin more aggressive on the topwater attack of the skipping bait. Cabo-based charter Capt. Mike Tumbeiro on the Renegade Mike posted rigging photos on the web recently saying, “We are now using the Yummys on kites, trolling them through porpoise schools, and it is very effective when done right, getting the bigger tuna when hooking only the 20 to 30 pounders on the troll.” Mike added that using a 5/0 treble as a stinger has been increasing his catch ratio. Our tuna season has come and gone with a whimper, but Floyd is already eyeing more Cabo trips in January before winter arrives and the big tuna move on. He also plans on using the Yummys for local tuna on his 26 footer when the season rolls around, particularly for the picky bluefin as a way of targeting the bigger fish in the school. Kites and parafoils are not for everyone. It’s hard work. But, the vision of a cow tuna going airborne to crush a Yummy or a live bait skipped on the surface is among the rewards for all the work of fishing them, tweaking the gear and trying new techniques. Pat McDonell is editor of WON and director of WON’s saltwater tournaments.
FLOYD SPARKS with his biggest tuna, 150 pounds caught on a Yummy Flyer and a parafoil at the Gordo. RENEGADE MIKE TUMBIERO, a charterboat captain in Cabo, is a fan of the Yummy Flyers and kite fishing. The reward is a better quality tuna in a mixed school on the bank or with porpoise. From FishCrack.ComTrolling For Yellowfin Tuna With Yummee Flying Fish Birds From Carolina Lures Photo: Excel Sportfishing The Yummee Flying Fish Bird by Carolina Lures is one of the best innovations for yellowfin tuna fishing on the troll in the past decade. Hardcore tuna fishing boats such as the Excel in San Diego utilize these lures to catch the biggest yellowfin tuna on the planet. These ultra-realistic lures look like real flying fish skimming the top of the water as they are trolled way back behind the boat. Many yellowfin tuna fishing experts have even started fishing with the Yummee Flying Fish Bird Lures underneath a kite, which further enhances their realistic skipping/flying pattern on the surface of the water. Not only are they excellent lures fished by themselves, but they also are very effective as a bird teaser in front of a daisy chain of octopus skirts.
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