Tuna 2023

[Jake Watrous]

Another mention that if any forum supporter wants to borrow gear, I have three setups and a crapton of flies you can borrow and use. I’m in Seattle area.

1. 8'4" 13wt Scott Sector + Tibor Pacific w/500gr fast sink.

2. 12wt NFC Fiberglass Rod + Behemoth 11/12 reel w/500gr fast sink.

3. 7'6" 11/12wt G Loomis Short Stix & Behemoth 11/12, rigged with a floating line for surface action.

 

[jasmillo]

If all goes well I'll be heading out on Sunday, so I've got a few basic questions for anyone that cares to chime in.

-Are most people running two rods to switch between trolling and casting? I have a cheapo 12wt backup rod but don't think I can swing/justify a second 12 weight reel, so was thinking of stringing up a Behemoth 8-10 for use on the backup. Would that be a passable for the job at max-drag or just get spooled?

-Any particular tricks of the trade for bringing back the catch other than a big cooler with lots of ice? Probably nothing much more to it than that, but if I have the good fortune to bring anything home I'd like to keep it in optimal condition and do what I can in the field to make the in-home prep for the freezer as clean/efficient as I can.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Don’t worry, if you display poor tuna etiquette Sunday, one of us will hip check you overboard 40+ miles out. You’ll learn fast with our methods.

I kid. I have only been on 4 trips for Tuna myself and don’t think anyone Sunday is a true veteran of this fishery. Whatever knowledge we have we’ll share Sunday. Bring a cooler or two, buy salt ice in Westport or bring it. I usually bring it because once I am in from the boat, I want to get on the road home ASAP.

Weather was looking decent last time I checked. I think we’ll have a fun trip. Fish or no fish.

Not sure the boat will have extra rods like it does when captain @Nick Clayton is running things. Definitely bring an extra rod if you have it. I’ll be bringing one as well, so will others so we should be covered.

 

[Tallguy]

The aftermath of the Tuesday trip... Bowl of poke chilling in the fridge, waiting for my second canner to hit 11, hoping to get to bed by 10. A little tuna OD woozy from last nights party with sushi/poke/sear fish, plus lunch today, and soon dinner. But nothing left to process but a handful of bellies and one half loin still chilling in the fridge and one sushi loin in the freezer. I don't freeze any for long term eating, so it's all given away, eaten, or soon canned.

 

[Evan B]

The aftermath of the Tuesday trip... Bowl of poke chilling in the fridge, waiting for my second canner to hit 11, hoping to get to bed by 10. A little tuna OD woozy from last nights party with sushi/poke/sear fish, plus lunch today, and soon dinner. But nothing left to process but a handful of bellies and one half loin still chilling in the fridge and one sushi loin in the freezer. I don't freeze any for long term eating, so it's all given away, eaten, or soon canned.
View attachment 79230

Why not freeze long term? I have a few loins from a year ago that are still excellent in a poke bowl.

No canning for me. Albacore loins raw or lightly grilled are one of my favorite things on the planet.

 

[Tallguy]

Why not freeze long term? I have a few loins from a year ago that are still excellent in a poke bowl.

No canning for me. Albacore loins raw or lightly grilled are one of my favorite things on the planet.

Don't tend like the flavor of frozen tuna after a relatively short time. Suspect if I had a way to flash freeze it, it would be okay, but I feel like it gets mushier and stronger tasting relatively quickly in the freezer. Just prefer it fresh or canned I guess, feels like I can always tell it's been frozen.

Strong recommendation for making sweetish poke sauce if you like those:

Lived in Hawaii for a bit last year, my wife recently found it over here. Good stuff. Nice contrast from last nights spicy pepper poke.

 

[Evan B]

Don't tend like the flavor of frozen tuna after a relatively short time. Suspect if I had a way to flash freeze it, it would be okay, but I feel like it gets mushier and stronger tasting relatively quickly in the freezer. Just prefer it fresh or canned I guess, feels like I can always tell it's been frozen.

Strong recommendation for making sweetish poke sauce if you like those:
View attachment 79232
Lived in Hawaii for a bit last year, my wife recently found it over here. Good stuff. Nice contrast from last nights spicy pepper poke.

Hmm, mine holds up very nicely. I use a chamber vac and a very cold freezer. Had some a few days ago and it was still excellent. I also take meticulous care of the fish on my boat and have the cold in an ice slurry within minutes. Makes all the difference.

 

[Tallguy]

Hmm, mine holds up very nicely. I use a chamber vac and a very cold freezer. Had some a few days ago and it was still excellent. I also take meticulous care of the fish on my boat and have the cold in an ice slurry within minutes. Makes all the difference.

I suspect the vacuum sealing helps you a lot then. Not freezing meat at all, I don't have one! The cold freezer is useful, but I am guessing that any home freezer is still 10-20 times slower at freezing versus a flash freezer, so it's not like you will get any great benefit in ice crystal size at home. I have been a bit tempted to try the dry ice flash freeze methods on a loin or two, but have never pulled the trigger on that.

Wish I had a bit more control over the initial bleeding and chilling process for anything going into sushi or poke, but I only rent the boat!

 

[Pink Nighty]

I suspect the vacuum sealing helps you a lot then. Not freezing meat at all, I don't have one! The cold freezer is useful, but I am guessing that any home freezer is still 10-20 times slower at freezing versus a flash freezer, so it's not like you will get any great benefit in ice crystal size at home. I have been a bit tempted to try the dry ice flash freeze methods on a loin or two, but have never pulled the trigger on that.

Wish I had a bit more control over the initial bleeding and chilling process for anything going into sushi or poke, but I only rent the boat!

Heres a vote for dry ice freezing! If you take the plunge, take the time to vac seal (a food saver is less than a new line) your fish and put it in salty ice water for an hour before hand. Get it chilled down to 32° internal and cover in crushed dry ice in a cooler. Hard as a rock in 5-7 minutes, near zero cellular damage to the fish.

 

[Evan B]

I suspect the vacuum sealing helps you a lot then. Not freezing meat at all, I don't have one! The cold freezer is useful, but I am guessing that any home freezer is still 10-20 times slower at freezing versus a flash freezer, so it's not like you will get any great benefit in ice crystal size at home. I have been a bit tempted to try the dry ice flash freeze methods on a loin or two, but have never pulled the trigger on that.

Wish I had a bit more control over the initial bleeding and chilling process for anything going into sushi or poke, but I only rent the boat!

Oh, yeah. If not vacuum sealed of chamber sealed, it won't last at all.

I have this guy here.

 

[Pink Nighty]

Oh, yeah. If not vacuum sealed of chamber sealed, it won't last at all.

I have this guy here. View attachment 79242

Dude...... nice.

 

[Evan B]

Dude...... nice.

Make no mistake, I went for the cheap knockoff forum salary hasn't bought me the legitimately nice one yet.

 

[Pink Nighty]

Make no mistake, I went for the cheap knockoff forum salary hasn't bought me the legitimately nice one yet.

I've only purchased a commercial chamber sealer... it was brutal haha

 

[Jake Watrous]

Make no mistake, I went for the cheap knockoff forum salary hasn't bought me the legitimately nice one yet.

Buy once, cry once was my justification. Plus I told myself I was saving money by not buying meat at the grocery store anymore.

I owe it all to my beloved VacMaster
Amazon product ASIN B005ETDKEA

 

[JayB]

When I worked in the lab we'd use a dry-ice + ethanol bath to flash-freeze stuff when we didn't have any liquid nitrogen handy. I was going to say I'd only use that technique if I lived someplace where I could get food-grade ethanol but it looks like WA is one of the few states where you can get Everclear. If I have the energy/fish I may give that a whirl.

 

[Cabezon]

Generally, the All Rivers boats have a huge cooler that starts out the day filled with sea ice. The mate will periodically dump a scoop or two into the two fish holds to cool the catch (a briny bloody slush...). But there is usually quite a bit left in the cooler at the end of the day. They are happy to provide it to their guests to fill their personal coolers; they would just be dumping it otherwise. All Rivers has hand-trucks and carts to help move these now heavy coolers back to street level.
Several folks that I have fished with do have a second rod available (as do I). Broken rods happen when fighting albacore... I have thought about having my other 12 wt. rigged with a floating / intermediate line and a popper to play with surface-feeding fish when stopped. But I haven't done it yet. The rod holders on board are not well-designed for holding fly rods. So, most likely your second rod would need to ride in the cabin or secured to the roof of the cabin.
Regarding using a 9 wt. reel/line on your back-up 12 wt. rod. I might be concerned that it might be hard to cast this combo when the boat is stopped because of the mismatch between the line mass and the rod's casting characteristics. So, you could use the matched 12 wt outfit for casting and the mismatched outfit for trolling. You don't need to worry about casting when the boat was on the troll (or the "slide" as the boat slows after one of the rods has a hooked fish); the mismatched setup would not be a problem in getting the fly in position when trolling. But then, I would be concerned with the hurt that a 25lb. tuna could inflict on a 9wt. reel especially on a troll bite where the burst swimming of the fish is enhanced by boat movement.
Steve

 

[Evan B]

Buy once, cry once was my justification. Plus I told myself I was saving money by not buying meat at the grocery store anymore.

I owe it all to my beloved VacMaster
Amazon product ASIN B005ETDKEA

Yeah if the Vevor ever takes a dump on me, that's next. That or the LEM that you can get at Costco. But the Vevor actually has great reviews and seems to work really well so far. I've put a lot of bags through it this year so far and it's doing awesome. Can't say the same for the Weston vacuum sealer I got last year. That one didn't last long (nor did the repairs I had to do on it).

 

[Gary Knowels]

When I worked in the lab we'd use a dry-ice + ethanol bath to flash-freeze stuff when we didn't have any liquid nitrogen handy. I was going to say I'd only use that technique if I lived someplace where I could get food-grade ethanol but it looks like WA is one of the few states where you can get Everclear. If I have the energy/fish I may give that a whirl.

We did the same from time to time, worked great for mouse parts lol.

We always grab some 190 proof everclear when we pass through Idaho, pretty cheap too. We use it for a bunch of different applications.

I've heard its been difficult to find dry ice recently though

 

[Stonedfish]

I saw this on FB. I think it is pretty cool when fish like dorado show up in the catch off our coast.
SF

 

[Evan B]

I saw this on FB. I think it is pretty cool when fish like dorado show up in the catch off our coast.
SF

View attachment 79570

That's one of the bigger ones if not the biggest I've seen. Most out here seem to be smaller hens. That's a big bull.

The one @Tuna Ball and I were part of catching last year was more typical of Oregon / Washington Dorado.

 

[JayB]

Tip a 40 for El Jefe.....