Morehead City Giant Bluefin - 87" 380#

[Over Under]

We got one a couple days ago, dressed at 297. It's been slow, but atleast we nailed this one. Think it was the only fish taken that day though..been tough.






Tight Lines,

Trey

[quack quack]

Nice fish good job. Is it all chunking or do you guys troll to? I like your exta long safety lines on your rods.

[Mike]

Great fish!

[Capt Ted]

wow what a fatty! good work

[RiskTaker]

GReat fish indeed. I would simply love to catch one of those fish during the Bahamas migration in May-June.

Did you see that nice Yellowfin that was caught off of Fowey, in 100 ft. of water. Sailfish rig, with live bait, I suspest. Report on FS - http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=438481

Hopefully they treated that fish with all the respect and dignity that it deserves: Bled well and pithed "or the Tanaguchi method applied".

It looks like the Bluefin above was bled and the gills cleaned but I cannot see the primary (and most important) cuts from the photo.

Some additional reading on better Tuna preparation. The .pdf document is the best of all listed.

http://www.fishep.com/fep/documents/Sashimi.pdf

http://www.ledafish.com/tuna.htm

http://www.fishep.com/fep/species_tu...20on%20capture.

Correct preparation of tuna on capture.

At the very minimum tuna must be killed and bled immediately to prevent build up of lactic acid and to prevent the temperature of the blood from rising.

STEP 1: If possible, club the fish sharply on the top of the head between the eyes to stun it and prevent the thrashing which bruises the meat.

STEP 2: By running your thumb along the top of the head of the tuna you will feel a soft spot usually directly above the eyes. Insert a sharp spike or knife into this soft spot at an angle of 45°. This is where the brain is. If you hit the spot correctly, the tuna will shudder and the mouth will drop open. Move the spike around to destroy the brain. Another step called the Tanaguchi Method also sees a large diameter length of monofilament run along the backbone to neutralise the nervous system.

STEP 3: Lift the pectoral (side) fins and measure about 4 fingers from the base of the pectoral fin. Cut an incision about 2cm long vertically. Blood should flow freely from the cut. Do both sides. It's a good idea to tail rope your tuna and secure it to a cleat over the side before you do this. There is lots of blood and it makes a hell of a mess.

STEP 4: After 5 to 10 minutes, the bleeding should have stopped and the fish should now be placed into an ice slurry to preserve the flesh.

[Over Under]

It's all trolling. Couple guys live bait I guess, but everyone is primarily trolling big horse ballyhoo behind islanders and down on planers.

this was a "commercial" fish for us and we prepare them exactly like the buyers ask.... As you'll see from the second to last photo, the fish are always "revived" after being cut, so as to pump all the blood out. This is really key, then it's primarily about getting the core temperature down.

[RiskTaker]

OverUnder:

Thanks for providing that explanation of how you process your tuna fish.

After reading the .pdf document for preparing Sashimi grade tuna for commmercial operations, it seems like this can be easily done for recreational catches as well, minus the dedicated slurry ice baths, etc.

From your post it appears that you may cut the fish then return it in the water to continue to breathe until it is bled out. How long do you typically drag the fish for?

Have you found this as a preferred way, rather than stunning/brain killing the fish and letting it bleed on deck? I have often contemplated the idea of letting a fish breathe in water while it bleeds out. Even for swordfishing, but since this is at night it seems like the natural and first priority is to get the fish into the boat rather than leaving a bleeding fish in the water for Mr. Mako to have a swipe at.

Any further thoughts on this?

[Over Under]

they decked another one this morning. Fatty today..95" fish dressed at 383, probably about 500 whole. Only two of them on the boat today...they had their hands full.

they usually drag it around for a good 10-15 minutes. The fish can either be cut while it's in the water or brought onboard, then returned...

it's a heck of a lot of work sometimes bringing that big of a fish in the door...so the big ones, better to cut, revive, bleed (and die), before bringing them in the boat. thrashing around and such bruises the meat.