In Detail
The Tommy Botha Tuna Board is moulded with a thickness of 9.5cm High Density closed cell UV Stable Polyethalene foam, with approx dimensions of 43" x 20" x 5" for ultimate stability and resistance.
- One-way cleat system ensures slack line is tied off so progress on large pelagics is not lost, enabling constant pressure on fish and slack line safe out of harm's way.
- Shock cord is 10mm thickness extra stretchy for optimal fish fatigue.
- Heavy duty stainless steel clips included
- Travel Friendly
- No animals were harmed in the testing of this product, except for Marlin and Tuna.
Testimonial from Miles Somday, Cape Town, South Africa.
Hiya
I'm not a fan of the multiple float system. They KILL you when you're hunting 200lb+ YF's.
When we started out, we tried the multiple float system, as shown in your picture. Sure, they worked, but we also lost many fish that simply towed everything away!! Then, landing fish also took forever. A 100lb YF took almost an hour to land, after being shot.
Being unhappy with the float system, Tommy Botha designed and developed his boogie board float.
Problem 1: when fighting a YF, should the diver become tired and let go of the bungee/rig line, the fish simply sinks to the bottom and the fight starts all over again.
Problem 2: Norprene bungees are very expensive and have a relatively short lifespan. Then, when stretched out, like when a large tuna is attached to it, it become very thin, causing your hands to cramp up.
Problem 3: fish tended to swim away with all our floats!!
The boogie board system adresses all of these problems. Its a HUGE float, with a cleat system on it. The cleat is the type that is used on yachts. It stops the fish from taking back the shock-cord you've already retreived. We use 10mm or 12mm shock cord, thats the normal type of shock cord that you can buy from any automotive store. (Since the review was written, the Shock cord was sourced from Germany and now uses a floating, rather than sinking shock cord). Pretty simple set-up, 20-30m (100' max) shock cord, big boogie board float and off you go!!
When hunting, I normally wind the shock-cord on the board. When i get into the water, i unroll 10-15m, just enough for my dive. When a fish is shot, the board will start to cart-wheel on the surface, as the rest of the shock-cord unwinds.
To date, Tommy's and my own two boogie board floats have taken over 150 yellowfin tuna from 100-200lb's during the last 2 years. We've pretty much got the system sorted!! 200lb YF, now landed in under 15minutes, with 100lb YF's taking less than 8 minutes to boat. (Written in 2006).
