Fish #2 - Yellowfin Tuna!
12 May 2012 | 225 Miles Off the West Coast of Mexico
Bev
Fish #2: Yellowfin Tuna! April 11, 2012
Unfortunately, it's difficult to locate a book that shows pictures of all the fish one might catch around the world along with a list of which ones are good and good for you and which, like the cute little puffer fish, will kill you if you taste its liver. Sea Mar didn't have one. Presumably most of their clientele knows which fish is which. Amazon was no help. I'd found a great website with details on all the fish in Mexican waters, their habits and habitats and color photos. But it was nested in hundreds of separate web pages and would have taken a lifetime to download. And still have given me only Mexican fish. I wasn't even fishing in Mexico.
Squinting down his long narrow nose at me, the man in the gift shop at the Scripps Aquarium in San Diego let me know in response to my query for a fish identification book telling which fish are edible that they do not approve of such activities. What was I thinking to even ask such a question there? It seemed like such a good idea at the time.
I think somewhere in the back of my Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing there must be a list or something to help me identify my catch, but I hadn't seen it yet and as I hauled up the very first fish I just knew that I'd be sure of nothing except whether or not it really was a fish.
Luck was mine! This stunningly beautiful shiny fish with the lemon yellow stripe down each side had smooth skin and a lovely yellow fin. A yellowfin tuna! Not a bad start to my fishing career. Plus I actually knew what it was and it would be delicious.
He was already dead from the fight I had missed, or at least too exhausted to resist, so I pulled the handline, monofilament line, rig and fish hand over hand up onto the deck. An extra piece of white Starboard left over from the watermaker installation had been reserved for our fish cutting board and it was exactly the size needed for this guy who was about 24Â" long and weighed perhaps 12- 15 lbs. Robbie ran below for the knives I'd asked for.
Photo: Our first catch. Yellowfin tuna.
I have watched fish mongers clean and butcher fish on many occasions, most recently at the Marina Malecon market in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. I understand the general principle and wish I had the big specialized knives that they use to clean fish behind the counter.
My knives are excellent quality and sharp, but a bit small for the job at hand. And I'm inexperienced at this art. I had not yet enough interest to read beyond the first thirty pages in my Cruisers'' Handbook, the author having lost me with is discussion of sport fishing and rods and reels to carry on a powerboat. So it took me a while to reduce my lovely fish to meat only. I tossed the lines back in the water and carried our dinner below. It was delectable seared medium rare with a rub of cumin, cinnamon, brown sugar, salt and pepper, parsleyed potatoes on the side and I reveled in the satisfaction of catching our first meal ever.
While Robbie washed the dishes I went above to check our instruments and scan the horizon and, now that there was hope, I couldn't resist a glance back at the promising spot where I knew the ends of the fishing lines bobbed through the water with their tantalizing little iridescent plastic squid.
I did not see the iridescent squid. Where the squid should be I saw two more fish following precisely at boat speed! Two more yellowfin tuna, one twenty pounds and the other about eighteen. I spent the rest of the evening cleaning these two - this time I consulted the book - and making room in the freezer.
This is surprisingly exhausting work, killing, bleeding, gutting and butchering fish. I have excellent sharp knives in my galley, but can readily see that if I'm going to do this kind of thing frequently I'll want larger weapons. A larger galley, too, come to think of it. This is difficult and messy activity and I've had kitchens in the past where I could have handle the job of preparing a forty pound fish. At that time, I had no fish. Now fish, but no kitchen. So? We will make do with what we have and be grateful for these delicious gifts of the sea!
I don't dare put the fishing lines out again for a while. The freezer is full. And I'm dying to try again. This must be what heroin is like!
Photo: I'll have two more of the same, please!