Caught this in the Keys a month and a half ago or so. I know YFT are somewhat rare and 2 of the other captains at the Base caught 2 within 2 days of each other about 3 months ago. Well a few weeks later, a few of us find a handful of these small fellas with yellow fins over a period of a week or 2. Not sure if they’re juvenile bluefin, blackfin, yellowfin, chunk white albacore, etc. We’d be interested to find out what these guys are.
I was pretty stoked to think I caught a yellowfin but upon further investigation, I expect to find my giddiness was unwarranted.
the only way to tell for sure is count the gill rakers. Blackfin have 25 or less yellow fin have more. HMS website has a table of how to differentiate. If they are juvenile yellow fin i know people at SCDNR are interested in getting tissue samples for a project to determine if the lack of adults of the east coast is due to recruitment over fishing in africa.
I am sticking with juvie Bigeye, because of the eye to mouth size ratio and the coloration…I don’t see too much black…but it is like Skinnee said…could be anything
finlets on bigeye and yellowfins are bright yellow. not on this one. maybe it is too small, but all yellowfins and bigeyes i have seen have bright yellow finlets.
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2003 32 Albemarle with 440HP Diesels
Fast Cruise, Low Fuel Burn
$115,900
