9/22 - Run to the Dump

[ktm_2000]

I headed out today with a guy I've done dozens of canyon trips with over the years. We left the ramp near the house at 3:30am and made the run down buzzards bay in the dark, headed out quicks hole and then south. We started getting false dawn a little past Noman's and put in lines at the claw and worked south towards the dump. We weren't marking much on the sounder and there were quite a bit of weeds in the water so we had to check the spread constantly.

On one of the checks, I removed the salad on the way way back and mid-way through dropping back the reel started sounding funny. I moved the reel to strike and a reel was still screaming - We're on!! but it was not the reel in my hands but a spreader bar on the rod right behind me. I cleared the spread and my friend got a belt and harness on and I had the boat in a corkscrew course as we brought the fish in. Sub 47" bluefin.


We quickly put the spread back out and started bleeding the fish and before we could finish we hooked up again on the same bar. This time it was my turn and a smaller sub 47" fish was on the deck. We took a couple pics then tuna-bombed them and got them on ice.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8DNXDiTjo2PP9JCJ9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fSn7E8MyBv5bdKiZ7

the area we were in was fishy and the seas were building. Since we had our limit, and we didn't want to kill fish trying to release more similar size fish on the troll so we setup and drifted doing some vertical jigging for a while. The wind was a steady 15kts and gusting over 20 and even though we were occasionally getting a mark on sounder we didn't have much luck as we were getting scoped out way too quickly.

The forecast was for winds to out of the east to increase as the morning went on and the area we were at was rough for a smaller Bertram
We ended up going back on the troll to cut the distance we'd have to run back working north back towards the claw but a bit west of where we came down in the morning. Nothing was happening and we picked up and headed back starting at 11:30h. The east wind we were hoping to do a beam sea run in, turned North east we had a sporty run back till we could get in lee of the Vineyard.

[DCJ]

Nice fish! Got my taste buds salivating. No bluefin in our hot water in the gulf. Lots of yellowfin in the deeper water around the floating rigs.

[Yannis]

Which tuna is best tasting and probably most expensive?
Bluefin, yellowfin or some other one?
Thanks.

[ktm_2000]

Yannis,

I would order them in my preference 1. Big-eye, 2.Bluefin, 3.Yellowfin when it comes to sushi. Albacore aren't bad but I tend to make steaks out of them or mason jar pressure-cook can them in good olive oil to make an improved canned tuna.

my opinion on price comes down to my boat's range, I can find bluefin and yellowfin within my boat's range, I would need to go to the NE canyons to find Big-eye and Albacore so those are Expensive fish to me as I would need to upgrade my rig to think about fishing for them.

[Carl]

I'd say Bluefin can be the most expensive, at least for the buyers in Japan. I rarely if ever see Bluefin in my fishmarkets.

As to best tasting that would be personal taste. So far, I am not a fan of Bluefin tuna...I say so far as tastes change and maybe I have yet to have it done the right way for me. I find baked, broiled, and sushi to be too strong of a taste for my liking.
Yellowfin I really enjoy most ways, especially when in the rare to raw spectrum. Albacore I find it to be really mild to have a strong like or dislike, so it's just good to me.
I haven't had enough of the others to offer any thoughts.

[Yannis]

Thanks gents.

My only interaction with tuna is canned tuna, and the occasional sushi tray at the supermarket.

Also, when we were launching Rio mare canned tuna in Romania, they were telling us that it was yellowfin, which they were claiming was the best variety, but it may have been for marketing reasons...

I try to avoid fresh salmon and tuna due to their proven heavy metal contamination, something which is not the case for cooked canned tuna, I don't know why though.

Here in the Med we have smaller varieties of tuna, some of which we treat with salt and put in jars. They are great with ouzo or wine. There is also a variety which they fish in the north Aegean that has a white flesh and is exceptionally tasty.

Nobody mentioned skipjack.

[Carl]

Also, when we were launching Rio mare canned tuna in Romania, they were telling us that it was yellowfin, which they were claiming was the best variety, but it may have been for marketing reasons...

"Almost as good as" is not usually the best sales pitch in my humble opinion.

I try to avoid fresh salmon and tuna due to their proven heavy metal contamination, something which is not the case for cooked canned tuna, I don't know why though.

I have never heard of Salmon as being high in heavy metal contamination, especially not fresh. I am a little confused about your term "fresh"...I am assuming you are referring to Wild Caught compared to Farm Raised. Now farm raised I've heard they can be problematic due to the food pellets and overcrowding, still not heavy metal. But I'm far from up on fish and contamination, I don't eat enough of it to be.

Nobody mentioned skipjack.

skipjack...problem solved.

Sorry, I had to go there...

I think skipjack and canned being often Albacore are smaller and not as high up on the food chain as larger species so possible less contamination with heavy metals like mercury; which is very high in the top of the chain fish like Shark, swordfish, large tuna etc.

[Carl]

Ugh....

Matthew, Sorry to hijack your thread.

Awesome to see a bloody deck after so much time on your build. Has to be a great feeling, keep those pictures coming!!
Maybe I'll even manage to get out this year, hard to believe the season is coming to an end already and I'm still trying to get started.

[ktm_2000]

Carl,

No problem with the side step. I see a lot of posts on the forum for folks working on their boats and not so much of them using their boats, the majority of my posts are of me fixing my boat up.

Since I've got the boat running, I want to try to make a shift to more content of using a Bertram for what it was made to do. I've setup my boat as a spartan nearshore fishing boat. It has been quite a few years since I've got the decks bloody and now that she's been running fairly well hope to make a habit of doing so on a regular basis.

Right now I'm struggling a bit, since being out of the offshore game for a few years, I've lost crew and have been having a tough time getting anyone to go fishing. Tomorrow there is a weather hole where the winds aren't going to be bad around the backside of Provincetown and there will be Bluefin <5miles off the backside. I've texted over a dozen of my buddies and can't get crew. Maybe I burnt a few bridges before the re-do when we had to come home on one motor or they had to bob around with my as I fixed a motor. I got the boat back with the new motor 7/14, I've already put 68hrs on her and want to hit 100 before I get her shrink wrapped.

Worse come to worse I will inshore fish tonight or tomorrow after work. bad part is that I've got tuna on my brain and a few stripers aren't going to scratch that itch.

[PeterPalmieri]

I’m right with you, I’m thoroughly over dreaming about using my boat. I fully intend to post about doing stuff, maybe in the spring haha.

[Carl]

Maybe I burnt a few bridges before the re-do when we had to come home on one motor or they had to bob around with my as I fixed a motor.

If that is burning bridges in a friendship, I think it was best they walked.

Now if you were chartering, they were customers and this was recurring, that is a different story.

[ktm_2000]

no chartering....

the guys that went on beat down trips or I was doing repairs on the water with, they returned the favors to me on their boats.

a view from a friends boat.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rcbzC7bSgAkZKyyE8

- all I have to say, if your boat engine has an idler pulley you need to have a spare idler pulley. I've experienced this on several of my friends boats,
the image above was not the first time on the boat and not the last

When it comes to crew, I think there's a difference in folks who like offshore fishing and those that don't.

[Carl]

when you said burning bridges due to a mechanical issue with your boat I understood it as your trip wasn't good enough for them to hang around for another...kind of like a fair-weather friend. Not the case, they just moved on it seems.


Yup, I kinda of gave up on bringing people fishing. Who doesn't like to drift, who won't troll, it's too rough, are we going back soon, and my favorite...not showing up on time. The boat sails at 6 and at 6:15 I get a call, they are stopping for bagels and sandwiches do I want anything. Yeah, I want to leave n go fishing...


...sorry a sore spot.

Anyway, serious fishing is a commitment, go out a day and pay for it the next day. I know these days that makes me think about going...or not going.

[PeterPalmieri]

Carl,

I’m very much in the camp… we are loading the boat at 4:45 and leaving the dock at 5, plan on being there at 4:30 and if you get there at 5:01 we will have left and if you missed the load in at 4:45 we will pull out some deck chairs and watch you clean the boat at the end of the day. You want the guys that show up at 4:15 and are wiping condensation off the gunnels when you get there.

I don’t have a large group of fishing buddies but the ones I have wake up at 2am and were to excited to fall back asleep.

[Tony Meola]

Carl and Peter

Too funny. But what if someone drinks Mr. Clean thinking, he was grabbing a container of milk. True Story.

We used to run off back in the MId 70's early 80's with our boat and our friends 31 as the companion boat. We used to share crew depending on who had who going. On this day, we were going out on his boat since we did not have enough of crew for two boats. We show up at his boat, one of his crew is there and our friend is nowhere to be found but the boat is open.

Well, he and one of his friend who was fishing with us decided to do a night out. They returned to the boat in plenty of time, but they went to sleep, and the boat owners' friend woke up thirsty. And why we will never know, he went out on the deck into the fish box thinking it was the cooler and pulled out a bottle of Mr. Clean and took a swig thinking he grabbed the Milk container. Well, they ended up at the emergency room getting his stomach pumped.

So, we didn't get offshore that weekend.

The funny part was after getting his stomach pumped, every time he burped it smelled like someone was cleaning something.

For the young guys on here, a fish box was used by a lot of boats since we did not insulated kill boxes. It sat at the transom and had a teak cover. I actually still have one but it is not on the boat anymore.

[Carl]

all I keep hearing in my head is You shouldn't drink from the container...yeah, something is wrong with me. lol.

Wow, that's a crazy story Tony. I'm glad he was dockside and not offshore when he took the swig. Could have been worse...

lol...I like the burping aspect...too funny!

[PeterPalmieri]

I used to fish on a 31 years ago that had a transom box. Very useful I thought. We’re those Bertram items or after market?