Put in at wappoo Saturday around 5. Was running behind by about 30 minutes. Didn’t matter. Went out thru the zigzagging fleet and hit the ocean with the fog cleared enough to see from one set of buoys to another. Was able to make only 24 knots or so heading south like everybody else. Didn’t get wet or beat- just couldn’t get any more speed with that confused sea.
Got thru the lumber minefield in 130 and then lines in @ 200ft and 8AM. Found one little line of scattered grass in 300ft and got knockdowns each pass on one end of it. 71.5-72 degree water. Lots of peanuts and soybeans. Tagged some for Don Hammond right off the bat and then started high speed skiing and flopping the others off as soon as they got hooked to save them the trouble.
Stayed with that line rather than going out deeper, and around 11:30 we got a couple gaffers and a skipjack tuna to work on the other box.
12:30 or so went to do a few drops to the bottom, but there wasn’t any current. Thought the tide was shifting but it wasn’t… just wasn’t much current. Missed one grouper bite and caught two big endangeredillegalnearextinctpoliticizedgreenwashedgenuineARSamericansowredsnappers, a few pinks, jacks and of course the overfished B liners.
Threw back a couple 10 year old c bass also, and then got some live bait to give the grouper one more shot. However, the tide really was changing by then and we couldn’t do anything with them…
Saw a type of turtle we’d never seen before. This thing was 6ft long and probably 4ft wide. Had a school of fish under it. Tried to get a pic. You can barely see the
Nice day out there looks like! Maybe a Leatherback turtle? Hard to see good in pis, saw one out there few years ago that was the size of a VW bug dang near.
Russ B. Formerly known here as “Top2Bottom1” www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
This has been a back and forth question forever on this site. What you caught was a Skip Jack right?? Which is not to be confused with the bloody, enedible, Bonita, or the fat Albert. Or is that the same thing. Which of these fish are good for the table, and which are not??
Skipjack has the same light flavor but better cooked/med rare texture IMO than blackfin. Blackfin is better IMO for sushi. Skipjack is only a hair darker than blackfin when seared. It would be very hard to tell the difference until you shoveled some into your pie hole. Skipjack is less dry, for lack of a better explanation. It’s like it has a bit of sweetness to it also. Sashimi wise, however, I prefer the sort of firmer texture of the blackfin or yellowfin, etc. Bonita looks and tastes like beef when grilled on high heat or seared in a pan. It is actually very good when it is cooked right- has a stronger flavor when eaten raw for sure, but with some fried rice or noodles it tastes like you’re eating very tender beef.
So for sashimi/sushi- my order is blackfin, skip, bonito.
For seared- skip, blackfin, bonito.
ID wise, skipjack is the only one with the thick lines on the bottom. Bonito has squigly lines on top. Little tuny looks similar to a bonito but has some spots I believe. Blackfins are easy enough to ID.
Technically, if you are trolling (i.e. "fishing for) where you could catch a tuna, you are supposed to have an HMS permit for your boat. It is only 25 bucks and runs from Dec 31- Dec. 31. If you get caught without one it isn’t something you can just cut a check for and chalk it up as the price of fishing… Fines are hefty.
We have eaten them all, and I wouldn’t call any of them inedible unless they’ve been bled/cleaned/prepped/cooked wrong.
Absolutely key is bleeding them and getting ALL the bloodline out.
What I do is clean a fish to get the 4 strips of meat off it and finish it up in the house with a cutting board over the sink.
With a big tuna, you can rake your fingers back and forth as you separate a loin from the carcass and most of the bloodline will separate from the good stuff.
Thats some great info on the tuna, and I am glad to hear the trip was productive despite the lack of bottom monsters. I would only add that removing the vile ducts is just as important as bleeding your tunas.
From the anus make a three inch cut forward to the gills, and carefully insert two fingers, feel around until you feel the sack like organs and pull out. If available it is always good to run some fresh water back through the fish to wash out any fecal vile or related secretions from contaminating the meat.
Leaving in the vile ducts and only bleeding the fish, can lead to the meat in the rear of the fish becoming contaminated.
Then again some people swear that ocean fecal matter is what puts hair on your chest.
Oh one last thing…I don’t know how much literature you have been reading on the Red Snapper Rebuilding Plan (Amend 24) but that leatherback turtle and all the other ‘protected/endangered’ species is going to be the next thing the recreationals will have to be compliant, trained, informed, and potentially toting an extra $500 worth of ‘release’ gear for. Lets just hope certain groups of people will not try to use your pictures or report to justifiy their cause.
Kemp’s Ridley are the rarest turtles, and those who are concerned with their well being and all other turtles should be concerned more so with their nesting sites and plastic bags floating in the water, then interactions with fishermen and women.
