Out on the deep sea.... and TUNA, TUNA, TUNA...

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

Spent Tuesday tuna Fishing out of Oregon Inlet, NC. 14 fish,  30-50 lbs. each, lost 2 to sharks, which gets really bad in the Summer according to the mate.  Foggy as shit (50-100 yds visibility) on the ride out, and never really got that warm,  We were 40 miles out (2 hour run at about 22-24 knots) still inside the Gulf Stream.  Up at 3:30- back at the dock at 4:30.

Going out of the harbor is a really choppy run in to 6-8' swells as water running into Back Bay meets water running out. One of our guys had that worried, greenish caste about HIS face till we got out in open water, and it laid down a bit, 1-4' very spread out seas, and a nice slow breeze all day.

Vacuum sealed steaks, bites, and a few half loins. I got tuna for the year now.  That first batch below was fucking great Paul Prudhomme Seafood Magic on butter coated slabs  10-15 seconds per side, paired with a wasabi, soy, teriyaki, worcestershire sauce for dipping.  This week is bites, steaks, and tacos, and probably some tuna salad.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Onboard 2.0

[Johnny Sack 8,397]

Nice. 

 

I wished I look tuna cooked or seared.  I do not.  We always tend to catch a lot.  Just eat the shit out of it raw for 8-10 days and give most away.

It's why I love catching wahoo.  It is great cooked or raw.  I like every kind of fish cooked except tuna.  I still have swordfish from over a year ago.  Vacuum sealed and in deep freezer it lasts forever.  You will be glad you packaged it right.

[South Austin 53,158]

That's badass, Onboard.

[DoobieWah 1,528]

28 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Spent Tuesday tuna Fishing out of Oregon Inlet, NC

Username yada yada yada. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by DoobieWah

[Zepol87 9,308]

Looks awesome. 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

19 minutes ago, Johnny Sack said:

Nice. 

 

I wished I look tuna cooked or seared.  I do not.  We always tend to catch a lot.  Just eat the shit out of it raw for 8-10 days and give most away.

It's why I love catching wahoo.  It is great cooked or raw.  I like every kind of fish cooked except tuna.  I still have swordfish from over a year ago.  Vacuum sealed and in deep freezer it lasts forever.  You will be glad you packaged it right.

I love it raw, but I do like a piece with a good sear on the edges better than raw usually.

[Johnny Sack 8,397]

10 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

I love it raw, but I do like a piece with a good sear on the edges better than raw usually.

Wish I did.  I’m in the minority.  I love almost every type of fish and my freezer is stocked with all types of saltwater species.  

[Sam Lin 3,591]

Hell yes!

[justhookit 4,205]

@Onboard 2.0 I can’t figure out what is going on in that first picture. Y’all appear to be fishing. Just short riggers and long riggers? Good job on the catch. Hate fishing for tuna but love eating them.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

51 minutes ago, justhookit said:

@Onboard 2.0 I can’t figure out what is going on in that first picture. Y’all appear to be fishing. Just short riggers and long riggers? Good job on the catch. Hate fishing for tuna but love eating them.

That was still the ride out, just thought it was a nice image to capture.  We fished 10 or so lines: 2 outriggers, and the rest staggered in length at the stern, and along the gunwale. Then later in the day they put a planer on, and went deeper, below the thermocline with some decent success.

This captain has a really good rep in NC.  He doesn't chase other boats, he moves off by himself, and fishes his hunches. His mate has been with him 10 years, that always says a lot to me. Mates wanna fill boxes to maximize tips.  

We watched them come in on Monday, and he had a similar haul when other boats were 4-6 fish, and a couple Mahi mixed in.

Yeah, tuna aren't real exciting to catch They want to run deep, and fight like a bitch, with no jumping.  But damned if you don't pay yourself back on the haul.

Did bites rolled in light flour, salt, pepper, blackening season, flash fried, and then drizzled with a strong, creamy, horseradish sauce tonight.

[DCA_HORN 725]

I went for yellow fin off PV 2 years ago. Had a 300+ pounder literally break the hook. Landed a 205 pounder. It jumped a few times. No fighting chair or anything. These guys were serious. I watch all the tv shows and thought I was prepared. I couldn't have been more wrong. Those fish are all muscle. I've caught sailfish and smaller marlin. They didn't even compare.

[justhookit 4,205]

5 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

That was still the ride out, just thought it was a nice image to capture.  We fished 10 or so lines: 2 outriggers, and the rest staggered in length at the stern, and along the gunwale. Then later in the day they put a planer on, and went deeper, below the thermocline with some decent success.

This captain has a really good rep in NC.  He doesn't chase other boats, he moves off by himself, and fishes his hunches. His mate has been with him 10 years, that always says a lot to me. Mates wanna fill boxes to maximize tips.  

We watched them come in on Monday, and he had a similar haul when other boats were 4-6 fish, and a couple Mahi mixed in.

Yeah, tuna aren't real exciting to catch They want to run deep, and fight like a bitch, with no jumping.  But damned if you don't pay yourself back on the haul.

Did bites rolled in light flour, salt, pepper, blackening season, flash fried, and then drizzled with a strong, creamy, horseradish sauce tonight.

Ok that picture was at fish/troll speed and it threw me because I was wondering where all the other rods were. We generally fish 6 sometimes 7 lines but I know the tuna guys will do more. I’m jealous of your eating.

2 hours ago, DCA_HORN said:

I went for yellow fin off PV 2 years ago. Had a 300+ pounder literally break the hook. Landed a 205 pounder. It jumped a few times. No fighting chair or anything. These guys were serious. I watch all the tv shows and thought I was prepared. I couldn't have been more wrong. Those fish are all muscle. I've caught sailfish and smaller marlin. They didn't even compare.

They grow the tuna huge in PV. I’ve never seen a yellowfin tuna jump other than to catch a flying fish but I’ll take your word for it. Sailfish almost don’t fight but they make pretty jumps. Ask me how I know about fighting on standup with just a belt in a tournament  a 400 pound marlin on 30 pound tackle fighting for almost 4 hours. It sucked. Won us about 15,000 though. Probably also caught hundreds that fought 10 or 20 or 30 minutes, occasionally up to an hour. Then the asshole marlin  comes along on 80 pound tackle and he only weighs 458 (weighed her in a tournament) but we fight it for nearly 5  hours. Fish are funny it’s almost like they know whether they are going to be released or killed. Tuna almost always fight like they are going to die - they are - but on double hookups of 100 pounders we’ve had many times where we will catch one in 10 minutes and the other will take 2 hours. That’s why I don’t like fishing for them it wastes way too much time of your fishing day.

Edited May 29, 2020 by justhookit

[justhookit 4,205]

Quite sure these are out of order since I seem to suck at internet these days, but live fish to cleaned fish to plate in less than 12 hours - it doesn’t get better. Unless it’s wahoo.

[justhookit 4,205]

3 hours ago, DCA_HORN said:

I went for yellow fin off PV 2 years ago. Had a 300+ pounder literally break the hook. Landed a 205 pounder. It jumped a few times. No fighting chair or anything. These guys were serious. I watch all the tv shows and thought I was prepared. I couldn't have been more wrong. Those fish are all muscle. I've caught sailfish and smaller marlin. They didn't even compare.

Also, and it happens, but that was a hook failure by either manufacturing defect or a hook that was damaged before you hooked that tuna. You have x amount of drag on the reel, standup you likely had 15-30 pounds of pressure on that fish, in a chair you might get that up to 50. Your leader was probably 100 or up, line 50 or up. The hook broke at less than 50 pounds of pressure. The breaking point is always at your weak link. Unless someone was thumbing the spool I guarantee you didn’t exceed that amount of pressure on that fish. That’s why it’s no big deal to catch a 500 pound fish on 50 pound or less line. Reel drag is your friend.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

2 hours ago, justhookit said:

Ok that picture was at fish/troll speed and it threw me because I was wondering where all the other rods were. We generally fish 6 sometimes 7 lines but I know the tuna guys will do more. I’m jealous of your eating.

They grow the tuna huge in PV. I’ve never seen a yellowfin tuna jump other than to catch a flying fish but I’ll take your word for it. Sailfish almost don’t fight but they make pretty jumps. Ask me how I know about fighting on standup with just a belt in a tournament  a 400 pound marlin on 30 pound tackle fighting for almost 4 hours. It sucked. Won us about 15,000 though. Probably also caught hundreds that fought 10 or 20 or 30 minutes, occasionally up to an hour. Then the asshole marlin  comes along on 80 pound tackle and he only weighs 458 (weighed her in a tournament) but we fight it for nearly 5  hours. Fish are funny it’s almost like they know whether they are going to be released or killed. Tuna almost always fight like they are going to die - they are - but on double hookups of 100 pounders we’ve had many times where we will catch one in 10 minutes and the other will take 2 hours. That’s why I don’t like fishing for them it wastes way too much time of your fishing day.

Yeah we were just slowing down then, and the mate was starting to get the rods in the holders. He was damn good, and fast.

I had a client who had a sportfishing boat, and I went with him a couple times, his captain couldn't find fish in a barrel.  He entered the Hatteras Marlin club blue marlin  tourney in 1997, and I was invited to go.  First time I sit in the chair we hook into a large blue, and then see 2 smaller blues chasing it (mate said the big one was a female) .  We backed down on her pretty quickly, and had her up behind the stern, she was laying almost parallel to the back of the 65' boat. She looked to be the full width of the boat, and the mate's going crazy, he saying she's a grander, she's a grander !! and like that she dives deep before he can tag the leader, and runs off more than half the reel before I can get any line back.  A better fisherman, and crew would have probably had her before she could make that run.  She was probably a $200k fish with the prizes, and side Calcutta's.

I fought her for just about 2:45 hours. She felt like a dump truck on the line. I'd never fought a fish that large. We had her close 2 or 3 times, she jumped, and tail walked at least 3 times.  Finally she dove deep on one more run, and snapped the leader.  I was definitely inexperienced at fighting such a big fish (and I've fished my whole life) or it might have been a different finish.

I was wasted. They'd pour water on me as I was fighting her, and it'd just turn to steam when it hit my body. I felt like I was gonna puke a couple times. I can't say it was fun after about an hour.  I was in good shape, and this thing kicked my ass all over the place. The reel was destroyed, gears stripped, drag trashed. I had small scrapes, and bruises all over the inside of my legs, and my hands and arms ached. I kept the leader that was abraded white for about 15' of it's length where it ran along her body during the fight. They said it looked like it was a 900-1,100 lb. fish. The wild thing was the two smaller blues that kept following her most of the fight, and she dwarfed them.

[BabaYaga 15,533]

[Underdog 29,108]

Nice.  Deep Sea fishing is about the only type of fishing I like, love going out on the boat and usually do the Party boat but need to do a charter once. 

[smuggs 9,394]

Do this recipe from Barefoot Contessa. It is the fucking tits with fresh caught.

I like to refrigerate after making and then eat it somewhat ceviche style with tortilla chips. My wife puts it over spring mix:

 

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/tuna-salad-recipe-1944937

 

 

 

Spoiler

2 pounds very fresh tuna steak, cut 1-inch thick

4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for brushing

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus extra for sprinkling

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black, plus extra for sprinkling

2 limes, zest grated

1 teaspoon wasabi powder

6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (3 limes)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

10 dashes hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)

1 to 2 ripe Hass avocados, medium diced

1/4 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (2 scallions)

1/4 cup red onion, small diced

 

1. Brush the tuna steaks with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the tuna steaks in a very hot saute pan and cook for only 1 minute on each side. Set aside on a platter.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, lime zest, wasabi, lime juice, soy sauce and hot sauce. Add the avocados to the vinaigrette.
3. Cut the tuna in chunks and place it in a large bowl. Add the scallions and red onion and mix well. Pour the vinaigrette mixture over the tuna and carefully mix.

 

[HenryJames 67,129]

19 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

It's why I love catching wahoo. 

Wahoo is the best.

[DCA_HORN 725]

Also, and it happens, but that was a hook failure by either manufacturing defect or a hook that was damaged before you hooked that tuna. You have x amount of drag on the reel, standup you likely had 15-30 pounds of pressure on that fish, in a chair you might get that up to 50. Your leader was probably 100 or up, line 50 or up. The hook broke at less than 50 pounds of pressure. The breaking point is always at your weak link. Unless someone was thumbing the spool I guarantee you didn’t exceed that amount of pressure on that fish. That’s why it’s no big deal to catch a 500 pound fish on 50 pound or less line. Reel drag is your friend.

Yeah I think it was a defect in the hook but it was still a big fish. When the bullshit is all over I'm definitely coming down to cr to fish with you.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

12 hours ago, DCA_HORN said:

I went for yellow fin off PV 2 years ago. Had a 300+ pounder literally break the hook. Landed a 205 pounder. It jumped a few times. No fighting chair or anything. These guys were serious. I watch all the tv shows and thought I was prepared. I couldn't have been more wrong. Those fish are all muscle. I've caught sailfish and smaller marlin. They didn't even compare.

Yeah, the mate said Big eye tuna are the worst, a 150 lb fish can take 2 or more hours to boat.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

54 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Nice.  Deep Sea fishing is about the only type of fishing I like, love going out on the boat and usually do the Party boat but need to do a charter once. 

I like all kinds of fishing. The ride in and out can be a bore.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

12 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

Wahoo is the best.

Mean, and damn nasty fish.  

[Johnny Sack 8,397]

Pound for pound, I feel like Amberjacks might be up there with tuna as the strongest.  We usually do a little bottom fishing on the way back in.  We pretty much stopped doing it around rigs because the damn AJs will twist your shit around metal faster than any others.  Much easier to go to a rock pile and pull in grouper and snapper (which I like eating better than AJ any way).

 

[52-80 19,374]

 

[DCA_HORN 725]

They grow the tuna huge in PV. I’ve never seen a yellowfin tuna jump other than to catch a flying fish but I’ll take your word for it. Sailfish almost don’t fight but they make pretty jumps. Ask me how I know about fighting on standup with just a belt in a tournament  a 400 pound marlin on 30 pound tackle fighting for almost 4 hours. It sucked. Won us about 15,000 though. Probably also caught hundreds that fought 10 or 20 or 30 minutes, occasionally up to an hour. Then the asshole marlin  comes along on 80 pound tackle and he only weighs 458 (weighed her in a tournament) but we fight it for nearly 5  hours. Fish are funny it’s almost like they know whether they are going to be released or killed. Tuna almost always fight like they are going to die - they are - but on double hookups of 100 pounders we’ve had many times where we will catch one in 10 minutes and the other will take 2 hours. That’s why I don’t like fishing for them it wastes way too much time of your fishing day.

So when the fish hooked up it was in the middle of a huge bait ball. The whole school was jumping out of the water.

[smuggs 9,394]

^ Damn that just brought back some memories.

 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by smuggs
Tunak Tunak Tunak, Da Da Da!!!

[RPM 26,568]

I've always wanted to go deep sea fishing. That looks cool as hell. My uncle in California went a couple of years ago and caught one off Catalina. 

274 lbs

 

[DCA_HORN 725]

My first "tuna" trip we only caught blue fish. Also check out the sweet converse. Fuck off I was probably 8 and were most likely hand me downs from my brother.

[DCA_HORN 725]

I've always wanted to go deep sea fishing. That looks cool as hell. My uncle in California went a couple of years ago and caught one off Catalina. 

274 lbs
 

Yeah they've been running a lot farther north the past few years. Went out of long beach last year and the engine crapped out on the way to the fishing grounds. At least they refunded us our money. Got a few cups of coffee and a shitty night of sleep out of it at least.

[justhookit 4,205]

@Sbbruin they are catching those sized tuna off Catalina?

[Sbbruin 22,090]

6 hours ago, justhookit said:

@Sbbruin they are catching those sized tuna off Catalina?

Not right now, but the bluefin fishing the last few years has been historic.  Caught much smaller ones a couple years ago,  I’ll look for pics.  But the tuna fishing has been fantastic in recent years locally.

[Underdog 29,108]

6 hours ago, justhookit said:

@Sbbruin they are catching those sized tuna off Catalina?

 

Hollywood starlets also. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too soon?