Sunday, September 20, 2009

Mention tuna and it doesn't take very long before one of your fishing buddies starts telling an epic tale about battling one of these powerful fish. To this day, I still remember hooking up the biggest yellowfin tuna I have ever seen in the waters south of Gitmo Bay. On that fateful, hot, sunny day my crew had, of course, nodded off, leaving me to man the wheel and find the fish.

After awhile I noticed a bunch of birds circling above the water on the horizon. As I headed over and got closer, I could see a giant whale shark swimming lazily along surrounded by an entourage of fish. I left the helm and went back to stand next to the downrigger rod just as our baits went under the birds cruising near the huge whale shark. As anticipated, the rod predictably popped up and the reel started going crazy. The screaming noise from the clicker awoke my crew from their dream state and they jumped out of their seats. Unfortunately, I already had the rod in my hands and a smile on my face as I started battling the fish of a lifetime.

I wish I could say I landed this monster yellowfin tuna, but the truth is that all I could do was get him up close enough to the surface where I could see his massive body and look directly into his big eye. To this day, I swear he winked as he turned and made a powerful dive down deep leaving me standing there with nothing but slack line as he swam away with my terminal tackle.

Tuna are extremely fast and even the smaller species can put up an incredible fight. I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy battling these mighty brutes. In the Keys, we are most likely to encounter bonita, skipjack tuna, and blackfin tuna. Occasionally there will be a few bigger Yellowfin Tuna mixed in just to keep life interesting.

Fishermen will debate just about anything, so it doesn't take long for someone to exclaim which tuna they prefer to eat. Almost everyone I know agrees that bonito are much better bait than table fair. When it comes to eating skipjack tuna, I've heard comments ranging from awful to outstanding. Setting personal tastes aside, I realized that there had to be a reason why there was such a large range of disagreement.

If you ask a few questions, or fish with guys who don't like skipjack tuna, you will quickly realize that most of them have no idea how to properly care for the fish once it is on-board. Most of them will just throw a fresh tuna in the fish box, and then calmly return to fishing, as their dinner rhythmically beats the heck out of everything in the fish box -- including himself. More likely than not, there is only a small 10-pound bag of ice laying in the bottom of a fish box, which was originally designed to hold five times that amount.

I find it incredible that guys will spend thousands of dollars on tackle, line, rods and reels and then skimp on buying enough ice to properly cool their catch. This, unfortunately, results in their fish ending up not as "fresh" as they think it is, especially if they spent a long day on the water.

When removed from the water most fish, but especially tuna, exhibit a stress reaction that is caused by a release of adrenalin. In tuna, this results in a rapid seizure-like flapping as the fish attempts to keep from slipping off into eternity. This sudden release of endogenous chemicals causes the fish's body temperature to rapidly elevate which can seriously degrade the quality of the fish filets.

In Japan, where tuna is a cultural icon, a properly processed sushi-grade fish can literally be worth a small fortune. For this reason, commercial tuna fishermen exporting overseas go through an elaborate and lengthy handling sequence to ensure that the valuable meat maintains its freshness. While I doubt that the average Keys fisherman would ever go through all of these steps, there are a few simple guidelines that can help ensure your tuna filets are in prime condition when you get back to the dock.

First, gaff the fish in the head, not the body. If the fish is really big, and a second gaff is required, place it in the mouth and then gently bring the fish on board. Quickly dispatch (stun/kill) the fish with a rap on the head (find the soft spot) between the eyes with a fish club. This will keep the fish from flapping around wildly which reduces the stress hormone release. Now, carefully bleed the fish. This can be performed in a number of ways. You can use a special drop blood knife (which limits the depth of the cut to roughly ¾ of an inch) to cut behind the pectoral fin on both sides of the fish. An alternate and somewhat easier method (at least from my perspective) is to simply "cut the throat" just in front of the heart. These openings should then be flushed with copious amounts of fresh seawater until the bleeding stops. At this point, most people recommend that you eviscerate the fish to remove the internal organs (which contain corrosive digestive contents) that may over time taint the quality of the meat. This must be done carefully to prevent the worst case scenario, which is lacerating some of the internal organs and spilling digestive contents all over the fish. Obviously this technique requires a little skill and practice, especially when being performed in rough seas on a slick and pitching deck.

From my perspective, the most important thing you can do for all fish is to quickly chill down the entire fish as soon as possible. This does NOT mean simply throwing him in the box on top of a small bag of ice. It means totally immersing the fish into a slurry of ice and sea water.

Of course, how the fish is cleaned once you get back to the dock will also have a big impact on the final quality of the meat. I have seen a wide variety of fish cleaning "skills" at the docks. Unfortunately, most of them seem to be directly influenced by a combination of the fisherman's experience, the amount of beer consumed, whether the sun is setting and the number of mosquitoes buzzing about. When cleaning the filet, I prefer to remove the entire lateral line, especially on tuna. If there are any contaminants in the fish, they are usually concentrated in the lateral line (which is mostly composed of fat).

After a successful day on the water, there is nothing better than sitting down to a nice dinner of "fresh" fish. So take the time to handle your catch properly and you will find that you will really enjoy eating your fish ... even if they actually cost you way over $20 a pound once you start to consider the cost of fuel, bait, etc... But then, no one really wants to add that all up as it would certainly take a lot of the fun out of fishing.

Capt. Pete Peterson welcomes comments and suggestions sent to petersonventures@aol.com.