Cutting the Gills

[dgax65]

Originally Posted by SDLivin

Any experience with Albacore, Yellowfin, Bluefin, and Dorado. I don't recall on the overnight or 2 day sport charters, the fish being bled.

Many of the long range boats spike and bleed the tuna as soon as they hit the deck. A lot of the boats have also installed RSW systems and rubber mats on the aft decks. The mats prevent bruising of the meat when the tuna are thrashing around. The boats are trying to do what they can to preserve the quality of the meat that you bring home.

Spiking and bleeding are common practice with commercial boats that sell to the Japanese market.

There is some good info at this link
http://www.spc.int/Coastfish/Fishing.../Sashimi_E.htm

There are a number of things that you can do to maintain the quality of the fish that you catch. Obviously, you can't do everything suggested in that publication, but you can bleed and spike your catch and put them on ice. Even bonito and barracuda will be fine table fare if you handle them properly.