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BajaBruno
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Baja Fishing Primer 2--Let's Talk Tuna
I think everyone knows that tuna are associated with dolphins, but I have a few questions on the whole topic:
Is it ALL dolphin, or just some special "tuna dolphin?"
The tuna supposedly travel under the dolphin--the question is, how do you get them to come up? Or do you go down with heavy lures?
Are you beside the dolphin, behind them, in front, where?
What birds, if any, are associated with tuna?
Any special water temperatures or locations?
Lures, leaders, techniques?
If the tuna are down low, is a downrigger effective to reach them? Say, trolling a big mackeral Rapala? Anybody using downriggers at all in
Baja?
Thanks again for all the contributions to the knowledge base.
Christopher Bruno, Elk Grove, CA.
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Alan
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I have caught tuna associated with several species of dolphin but I don't know if one species is more likely to hold tuna than another. The one thing
I have noticed is that schools of dolphin that come over to play in the boat wake don't usually hold tuna. I know, never say never, but one never for
me is never troll through the dolphin school. (I compare it to driving through a paddy) It will put the tuna deep. Instead troll parallel about
50-75 yds to the side and try to get in front of the school then shut down and chum - Live bait if you have a good supply or chunks if you don't. Get
some fly-lined baits into the water and wait while watching your meter to see if there is tuna under the dolphin.
When the tuna are deep you have to do whatever you can to get them and your presentation in the same zone. You can try chumming - live bait or chunks
to bring them up and if that doesn't work you need to send your bait or a jig down to them.
For lures I prefer the 5-6" Zuker feathers rigged with 80# changing out colors until I find what is preferred. I like them because they troll nice
and straight so you can run and gun when you find breaking fish. I do have a Yozuri plastic skirted blue-white-silver jet head that is usually deadly
and alway in the spread. Many times I will also run a plain unpainted cedar plug long down the middle.
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Minnow
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You need to start with the three main species of tuna. Bluefin, Yellowfin, and Albacore. Don't for get the big eye's though.
Each one favors different water temp.
Lets face it, you can catch tuna on a banana peel when they are in feeding frenzy.
I believe common dolphin are most often associated with tuna schools, but it depends on the location you are at and the species of tuna you are
fishing for.
Tuna birds are those little brown suckers, don't know the name other than tuna birds. They will be found with the dolphin, but you can spot them
farther away.
I have a great article on care of tuna, once caught, that I will post on this thread as soon as I can dig it up.
I have a friend who swears by downrigging in any condition. Once caught a Marlin on a downrigged Maurader.
Cedar plug, Cedar plug, Cedar plug.
[Edited on 17-5-2007 by Minnow]
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Minnow
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Proper Care.
This was originally posted by Cabo Captain on the old Amigos de baja.
No fishing today so I've got some time. I used to rod and reel bluefin off the northeast coast of the U. S. for the Japanese shshimi market. I
learned how to handle tuna properly for that market from the Japanese buyers. I wrote about and made diagrams of how this is done in my book, 'The
Art of Chunking Tuna", written back in 94 and now out of print. Skipping aoo the scientific stuff and cutting directly to the meat of the matter,
here's the simple version of the story.
In order to get the very best quality tuna meat, be it for sushi, steaks, or whatever, it is imperative to destroy what I will call here, "the
internal body heater". If this is not done the systems within the dead fish will continue to create internal body heat that denegrates the flesh.
First, though, prime eating fish must be taken rapidly before, 'burning' occurs during the fight and the delicate meat is ruined as far as those
who really know what quality tuna meat tastes like are concerned, and Japanese sashimi grade tuna buyers certainly qualify in that regard.
They do not Grade the fish, other than determining whether it is acceptable quality, in which case they were willing to pay remarkable to
astronomical prices for them. If the flesh is burnt, they will not off a dime for it. Nuff said.
For those interested , this generally meant we had to beat a giant tuna that averaged eight hundred pounds in less that fifteen or twenty minutes.
This meant, "balls to the wall", outright warfare with 130 two speeds on bent butts with 130# line having perfect connections, drag settings of 73 to
85#s in unlimited chairs with the boat handler who knew his stuff and an angler who knew what he was about.
Good, alley fighting , and hand to hand combat struff! Great fun and very rewarding financially, but I am sorry now that I did it. The bluefin
are in dire straits because of hat I and people like me did back then and what others are doing now.
Eating, (not just sashimi, put just plain, old, eating) tuna should be gaffed in the head, then put gently on the deck to prevent bruising the
meat. Then a sharp knife should be used to sever the tail ligaments just in front of the tail. Don't cut the tail off. Just cut down to the spine on
each side of the fish a few inches ahead of the tail. This will keep if from pounding it's tail and side on the deck.
The next two cuts are made on the lateral line, just under each pectoral fin. Poke the tip of a knife on the line. Pinch the blade sideways
between your thumb and forefinger with only and inch of so of the tip sticking out. This will prevent you from poking too deeply and puncturing the
body cavity.
Hold the knife blade up and down, rather than lengthwise. You are cutting into that dark, bloody line of meat and the blood will flow copiously if
you make the cut right. Experiment a bit and you will get it. This must be done while the tuna's heart is still beating, because the heart must be
pumping to pumg the blood out. Kill the fish and stop the heart and you can try to bleed it all you want to , but you will only succeed minimally.
Don't conk a tuna you want to eat!
Give the fish some time to bleed out. Once the blood stops flowing or slows dramatically it's time to kill that internal body heater of theirs.
Feel around on the , "forehead" of the tuna of any kind and you will notice a soft area hear the top. Take a sharp knife and cut a "V" shaped wedge
of flesh away from it. Look or feel inside with the fingertip and you will notice a hole. It travels all the way down the inside of the spine.
Cut a piece of heavy cable or mono loner than the fish. Insert one end into the hole, then push it through the spine until it stops at the tail
end. Slide it up and down while twisting it a bit and you will destroy the nerves that control the heater.
If the heart is still beating at this juncture (the blood flow will tell you that it is, or not) , carefully remove the gills by cutting them at
their connection points at the top and bottom and removing them. Be careful not to slice the heart when you do this. And yes, it might still be
beating and pumping blood out.
There are several final steps taken with giants, but you need not be concerned about them with yellowfin.
When you have completed the above steps, gut the fish, then stuff the body cavity with a sack or sacks of ice (not loose ice-ice made from
freshwater is not goo for tuna meat), put put it in a cooler with ice packed around it and chill the fish deeply before you cut it up.
Rapid cooling is best performed in a brine solution, which has been discussed on this board previously. However, though icing will suffice,
especially for smaller tuna under a hundred pounds.
Phew! Sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? But yah know somethin'? The Japanese sashimi buyers ain't payin' something on the order of fifty or
more bucks a pund for whole tuna( with the heads)and not one thin dime a pound for ones that have been fought too long, then not cared for properly
for nothing. And these guys know more about taking care of tuna than all of the rest of us put together!
In the final analysis , the above steps are simple and can be done quickly once you get used to them. And the simple truth is, once you start
taking care of tuna you want to eat in this way I'm sure you will agree with m and the handful of others who do these things- There is a huge,
gigantic difference in the taste. One that is well worth the small amount of effort and preparation required.
As for the scientific mumbo-jumbo and the why's and wherefore's of why tuna and other, "warm bodied" fishes are the way they are, I will leave that
to others to enlighten you on.
As for me, ther are some hundred pund class yellowfin showing up down here rith now. They are eating small, six inch squid and if you ain't
trollin' spreader bars(SuperBars), you ain't gonna catch'em. So you don't have to worry about how to take care of one(and only one) that you want to
take care of so it's the best danmed tuna you have eaten in your life.
Sashimi.or prepared as seared ahi. Lord have mercy!Lemme at 'em!
God Bless Cabo San Lucas!
[Edited on 17-5-2007 by Minnow]
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Skipjack Joe
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Disgusting! I'm unimpressed by this expert. Maiming and bleeding a live animal to insure the best flesh quality. I respect fishermen too much for
that.
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Minnow
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If this disgusts you, you need a different hobby. Thats the facts of what it
takes to make sushi grade tuna. Gawd, you bleeding hearts kill me.
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Cypress
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Thanks Minnow! The Hull Truth site had a detailed description very similar to your info. 
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Hook
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I think that was an Archer post from the old board. He's pretty old school.
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Minnow
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You nailed it hook. Fred Archer, was Cabo Captn. Ran two 35ft sportfishers out of Cabo in the Nineties. $1,500 per day.This post is from March 2001.
We lost Fred in 2003. Good ole boy. His belief in spreader bars really set him apart. Not only that he was the only Captn. I know of that had
fresh Ballyhoo flown in from Florida. I miss him. He would be a great asset now. I wonder if we could talk Fang into digging up all of his posts
from Amigos'?
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Skipjack Joe
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Minnow
If this disgusts you, you need a different hobby. Thats the facts of what it
takes to make sushi grade tuna. Gawd, you bleeding hearts kill me. |
.. and you need a different mouth. :moon:
I've been fishing all my life and don't need you telling me about the ethics of the sport (assuming you have any).
I don't a rat's a$$ what's required for 'sushi grade tuna'. If this is what it takes to get it, it's wrong.
A sportsman who doesn't respect his game is nothing to me. Blood sports need ethics or they become just barbaric and savagery. Cutting and removing
parts of the living animal is just that. There's a reason why fishermen bring a 'priest' along.
If you wish to continue on this topic I suggest another thread. This one's about techniques for catching tuna.
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Minnow
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
.. and you need a different mouth. :moon:
I've been fishing all my life and don't need you telling me about the ethics of the sport (assuming you have any).
I don't a rat's a$$ what's required for 'sushi grade tuna'. If this is what it takes to get it, it's wrong.
A sportsman who doesn't respect his game is nothing to me. Blood sports need ethics or they become just barbaric and savagery. Cutting and removing
parts of the living animal is just that. There's a reason why fishermen bring a 'priest' along.
If you wish to continue on this topic I suggest another thread. This one's about techniques for catching tuna. |
The title of this post is lets talk tuna. Just like the bleeding hearts to pick one point then when it's rebutted say that we shouldn't even be
talking about it.
I would argue that the ultimate respect for your game is to preserve it to the highest degree. You obviously feel respecting it is making sure he
feels good before you kill it.
You are on the wrong website. Here is a link that you will find more to your liking.
FishingHurts.com
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Roberto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Minnow
You nailed it hook. Fred Archer, was Cabo Captn. Ran two 35ft sportfishers out of Cabo in the Nineties. $1,500 per day.This post is from March 2001.
We lost Fred in 2003. |
I knew he had a heart attack in Cabo and had to be flown back to the states in 2003 (I think), but I don't think he's dead. I've seen him post on www.swordfishingcentral.com pretty recently.
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Cypress
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Killing, fish, fowl, or otherwise isn't a fun thing. If you're gonna enjoy
meat/fish etc. it's part of the process. Not pretty, not easy. 
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tripledigitken
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| Quote: | Originally posted by whistler
I forgot to mention,Bob passed away a few years back and I miss him dearly. |
Whistler,
Didn't know Bob, but sure miss his stores. Nothing in San Diego has replaced them. Always liked those Radon boats by the way.
Ken
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Minnow
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Roberto
I knew he had a heart attack in Cabo and had to be flown back to the states in 2003 (I think), but I don't think he's dead. I've seen him post on www.swordfishingcentral.com pretty recently. |
I tried to find him the last time I was in Cabo, and was told he had died. Both is boats were gone too.
Turns out rumors of his death were greatly exagerated. Check out the list of instructors in this link. Sorry Fred.
http://www.nationalseminarseries.com/instructors.htm
Fred is also posting here.
http://www.sportfishermen.com/
[Edited on 17-5-2007 by Minnow]
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Skipjack Joe
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Sorry gents - I can't agree with you on this one. Everyone has his/her boundaries. I'll go up to the edge and stop. I never want to lose sight of
what's at the base of the sport. Once you do that you lose your humanity.
I read the fishinghurts site and it really has nothing to do with anything here. Those people are unreal. I'm not convinced that fishing does hurt and
never have believed it.
But cutting up a living animal bit by bit so that it dies slowly and preserves it's flavor for you. That's too much. That's not my sport. I'm willing
to sacrifice flavor in order not to do that.
I was fishing tuna from a Tony Reyes panga a few years back. The guide would throw our catch on deck after every hooked fish. We soon ran out of lures
or bait, I don't remember. He takes a live tuna, slices a section out of it's belly (a very good bait, BTW) and casts. The fish is flopping around on
deck with it's intestines coming out. I motion to the man for the fish. He hands it to me and I give it a good wack across the head. The guide just
stared at me blankly. Now that's what I'm talking about. The man has been fishing so long that he's lost sight of what he's dealing with. That can
happen to anyone who fishes a long time.
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bill erhardt
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I ususally run into yellowfin tuna once or twice a year fishing out of Loreto and about every other time that I fish in the Pacific outside Mag Bay.
I've found them under many kinds of porpoise or no porpoise at all. As a general rule, however, if you find spinner dolphin, get your cedar plugs
out. I have only fished for tuna on the troll and if I catch the first fish on a marlin feather I switch to cedar plugs. I do that because they seem
to like cedar plugs as much as they like any trolled lure. Also, cedar plugs cost less than $10 and it is impossible to to hurt them. The more
chewed up they are the better the YF like them. A $40 marlin lure that has been hit by half dozen tuna, however, is much the worse for wear. A
cedar plug also serves as its own handy handle for removing the hook so you can get your lines back out while the fish are still up. Here is a
picture of my very happy sister-in-law with a boatload of yellowfin we caught in my 17' Mckee Craft about 40 miles NE of Loreto on a choppy day in
October, 2005.
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Cypress
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You probably should have kept those fish on ice.
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bill erhardt
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Cypress....... You are right about that. We had no ice aboard but we did keep them in the fishbox with the lid as closed as we could get it as it
filled up. On the way back to the marina we ducked in behind Coronado out of the chop and took them out for a photo op. Maybe they were not sushi
quality but they canned up nicely.
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Hook
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Bill E, do you have any preference on the cedar plugs......natural or purp and black; jet head or standard head?
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