Tuna

Saltwater Offshore Discussion
1

Forgive the ignorance, but I’ve never caught a tuna in my boat. I was wondering how exactly to go about bleeding one to preserve the meat. I am hoping to make first trip in new boat pretty soon and would love to target some tuna. (Cedar Plugs?) I just want to ensure I do not ruin the catch.

“Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”

2

Bleed the tuna by making a cut in its sides with a short-bladed knife, five to ten centimetres behind the base of the pectoral fins. The cut, two centimetres deep at most, should be made perpendicular to and across the pectoral fin recess, on both sides of the fish
Blood should flow freely from these cuts

Russ B.
www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy

3

I like to keep a cooler with ice with a little bit of saltwater mixed in. I do the same thing Russ has suggested but I’ll also pop the gill membrane under their chin. Similar to opening up the jugular. After they start bleeding dunk them in the ice bath to cool them down as quickly as possible. Makes a huge difference in the taste of the meat.

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31’ Contender
Twin 250 HPDIs

4

Thanks guys.

“Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”

5

remember- not inches but centimeters

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6

Voter the knife just reach your hand in the base where the throat joins the mouth and pull down and back towards his belly when you get there keep pushing with 2 fingers you will feel his heart and you can pull it out if you like
The while process takes about 10 seconds and blood will be all over the place so you might want to do it inside the cooler
Good luck

7
quote:
Originally posted by dandaman

Vforget the knife just reach your hand in the base where the throat joins the mouth and pull down and back towards his belly when you get there keep pushing with 2 fingers you will feel his heart and you can pull it out if you like
The while process takes about 10 seconds and blood will be all over the place so you might want to do it inside the cooler
Good luck

8

In my opinion, any of the small yellowfin or blackfin you may catch here don’t need to be bled. Put them in a LOT of ice with some saltwater and you will have some tasty table fare. Others may disagree, but blackfin doesn’t freeze well for me, but yellowfin does very well. In fact, I had some yellowfin that we caught last March in Venice and it tasted as good as fresh (not fishy at all). That captain did not bleed any of the 30+ yellowfin we caught down there.

Oh I almost forgot. Cedar plugs and cedar plug daisy chains from the riggers and way back work well for tuna here. The GT Hole has historically produced good numbers of blackfin in April for me mostly caught very early in the morning.

33’ Hydra-Sport

9

Thanks for the help.

“Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”