Tuna Countdown

77 days

TxG3D'11 countdown, less than 48 hours. Sorry Bryan, but its good to rub it in. :-)

LOL No problem. I hope you guys have a great trip.

I have a 10 year old who has been on the boat ride fishing trips (4 hours) and is liking it, so it wont be long we will be looking for these trips. I cant wait.

Yeah, but at 13, he has lost the interest in the boat ride part. Hoping we have a great trip this time or I might lose him on future trips. We used to do day trips pretty often, but it's boring to him to go on a 4-5 hour ride, catch two snapper, and ride 4-5 hours back. Matter of fact, its boring for me too. I haven't done one day trip this year.

Hey Jig,

I bet he has a good time on this trip. We will all make sure of it. I bet we all will.

Joe

Margarita Mojo, just make sure he stays out of your slush machine!

Under 70 and at that ero...err umm well 69 days!


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Question for you seasoned tuna fishermen? What is the limit on tunas? What do you do with all the meat I assume you can bring in, say 200-300 lbs or more? Is there any market for the excess that you don't need or want here again I'm assuming it can be sold.

Yellowfin have a 3 fish limit per trip - Blackfin do not have
a limit - To my knowledge it is NOT legal - to sell Tuna off
these trips - I do not know about commerical fishermen and their legal rights - if, they where fishing with recreational
fishermen -

I don't keep blackfin if we catch YFT. If you get 3 YFT, its a lot of meat, but not 200-300 lbs. A lot of the tuna's weight is in head and bones. If I had to guess, I would say you get less than half the weight in good edible meat.

If I do have a bunch, I have a sashimi party with some neighbors over the first few days. Then I grill some. Whatever I think is above what I will eat in first week I vacuum pack and deep freeze. YFT keeps very well when vacuum packed. If I really have a lot, I do give some away to co-workers.

Jig, Is the blackfin that much poorer quaility and why?

I would say the blackfin is almost as good as the yellowfin. The blackfin are usually alot smaller so you don't get the nice size loins for fillets on the grill. If I were to choose, I would take 3 nice size YFT over a bunch of BFT, but I have kept plenty of blackfin and have eaten alot of it. If I have both, I give the BFT to friends and they are happy to have it.

Joe

X 2

Blackfin's 10#'s and under are an excellent Marlin bait, especially if rigged live. Your yeild of net meat on blackfin is low because it is a small fish. Figure about 30% meat from the total live weight.

Yellowfins will yeild anywhere from 50 to 60% of live weight.

When yellow fin tuna are small they have pink meat and when they get older their meat turns a deep red. Raw yellow fin tuna meat undergoes oxidation when exposed to air which changes its color from pink to brown.

I've found that the blackfin meat is darker red in color then yellowfins. It's a little stronger in taste but I like to smoke it into tuna salad. I don't keep or box a blackfin unless it's 15#'s or bigger. I consider any fish under 10#'s to be bait.

Some tuna suppliers use carbon monoxide (CO) to fix a frozen tuna�s red color. However, with CO the color can also be enhanced, allowing processors to make a lower grade of tuna appear higher than it is.

Yellowfin have a high growth rate and develop to maturity early. But they also have a high natural mortality and relatively short life span. The nice thing about yellowfin tuna is they fight well, and they are great table fare. With proper tackle and help, you should box everyone you hook.

Remember, that three per person is the limit for an overnight trip. I've caught as many as a dozen in one day. If you gently place the gaff in the lower jaw through the mouth, you can release them for another day. The outdoor experience is greater than the kill. However, it's nice to take some home for the dinner table.

Expect an group email to all on this charter today or first thing Tuesday depending on how our gathering and sorting of information goes.

DL, most folks keep Blackies if they are big enough. 3 YFT are plenty for most folks to bring back, and the taste of the blackies is very good. Not as pink as YFT, but taste the same.
On one TFF Tuna charter on a DSH boat, I told Bazz my first tuna was going in the ice box, blackie or YFT, didn't mattter. We needed chunks for chunking, I didn't care. Luckily the first TOO tuna caught was a 60-70 lb YFT.
I'll willingly keep Blackies that are big enough. Excellent on the grill.