What do you do with tuna?

[Poodroo]

Hey there everyone, just out of curiosity I wanted to put a question out there about what people do when they bring in a big LT Tuna or Mack? From experience I caught a 15kg LT when I was fishing with my uncle many years ago but a more experienced fisher you can't get and when the Tuna came on board it was practically dead anyway from fighting so hard but my uncle knows exactly what to do with them and how to prepare them and cook them etc. I am guessing not everyone has his knowledge and skills (I could be wrong) but I have heard if tuna aren't bled and cleaned and even cut up properly they aren't the best things to eat. I know they fight great but does everyone keep them and eat them? If you keep them then how do you prepare them? Let me know your thoughts. ;)

Poodroo

[Burley_Boy]

Mac Tuna is very rich in taste. Basically tastes like canned tuna actually!
My Cat and dog absolutely loves em so they get fed!

[hungry6]

From our limitted experience with other tuna ie, yellow fin "small example" we would boat the fish and spike the brain asap with a thin metal spike and bleed the fish in a cold-cold brine solution. I've been told, this stop the fish damaging the "precious" flesh for sashimi from kickina round on board. As for sashimi, I give everything away and only keep the belly flaps fo personal consumption. We release every mac tuna unless we need bait.
But having eaten LT steaks BBq in with salt and lemon grass, I've been on the look ot for them, but no luck for 2 years in a row, just getting lots "this is and understatement" of mac tuna.
Maybe i'll try great sandy strait this seaon.

[timbacutta]

Yellowfin and Nothern Blues - Great on the BBQ or Mornay's, Sushi if your that way inclined.
Mack Tuna - Excellent bait and burley for me but some people do eat them.

If I have no use for them, release back in the water ASAP.

Jeff.

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

longtail tuna are nothern bluefin - the same as Safcol can which is in my opinion the best canned tuna. They are delicious.

Big eye yellowfin tuna are also delish.

Treat them like a steak - cook to medium rare on a high heat with very little oil/butter. Either cut them thick like an eye fillet steak and try marinating in a any soy mixture you can think of for 15minutes first, or paint on Kecap Manis as a thick one is cooking for a crunchy carmelised finish.

Or slice them thin and cook them on a red hot plate then roll up in a sushi roll with carrot and cucumber mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Make sure you ice well on capture or the flesh turns yuck.

chris

[marlinqld]

sell em to john west

Mike

[DazSamFishing]

I try to release most tuna I catch. Except for Mack Tuna, sometimes they can be in plague proportions and you can't help but keep them for snapper bait later down the track. Always bleed tuna upon capture... Don't let them flick around or sit and vibrate in the boat, it causes bruises and spoils the flesh. I have seen commercial footage where they catch tuna and lay them on foam mattresses while they prepare to bleed them.

With larger specimens, they can be cut into steaks. Or used as sashimi... Don't know how though....

Daz

[banshee]

Tuna is not something I look foreward to catching,will keep a Bonito for bait but the others are cradeled upside down unhooked and speared back in as soon as possible.

[SURF_SNIPER]

tailor bait or sushi

[finding_time]

Macs = bait

yellow fin=yum

nth blue fin or long tail=yum

[Spaniard_King]

they all end up in my burly pot :-X

not much of a tunna fan :-X

Garry

[finding_time]

they all end up in my burly pot :-X

not much of a tunna fan :-X

Garry


They dont have the side effects of spanish though mate! ;) Do you need a new recipe ;D

[Poodroo]

Thanks for sharing guys. I guess if I caught one out there on my own I'd most likely do the release thing. I do love Tuna for eating but I am almost certain I would prepare it wrongly and end up stuffing up the taste somehow. My uncle catches them all the time off Bribie and I have often gone to his place for fresh sashimi and there is not a lot that beats it for taste when mixed with soya sauce and wasabi. Gotta love it.

Poodroo

[Canoedle]

Mate, I just swear at them as they swim away at speed. ;D

[Jitlands]

cover in cajun spices and onto a red hot BBQ plate

[Poodroo]

Mate, I just swear at them as they swim away at speed. ;D

;D ;D I do that too when I see them working the bait schools and when you try sneaking up on them they vanish and appear where you just came from. >:( ;D

Poodroo

[Wear_the_fox_hat]

Hate tuna out of a can & thought cooked would be the same.

What a fool I've been.

Mate convinced me to cut them into thick steaks (cut at joins in back bone, about an inch thick), cook on very hot plate for 2-3 minutes each side so it is still pink in the middle (do not overcook), add a bit of soy & that's it.

Absolutely beautiful, even without the soy.

I only cook yellowfin or northern bluefins. Mac tuna are kept for bait.

Try it, you won't be disappointed.

[Poodroo]

What a fool I've been.

Mate convinced me to cut them into thick steaks (cut at joins in back bone, about an inch thick), cook on very hot plate for 2-3 minutes each side so it is still pink in the middle (do not overcook), add a bit of soy & that's it.

Absolutely beautiful, even without the soy.

I only cook yellowfin or northern bluefins. Mac tuna are kept for bait.

Try it, you won't be disappointed.



That sounds so nice I will have to try and remember that the next time I manage to score a yellow or bluefin. Thanks. :)

Poodroo

[Burley_Boy]

Surprisingly the kids loved the taste of Mac Tuna that had been blanched prior to frying.
I can't eat the crap but the kids and animals love it...go figure. ::) ::)

[slymo]

We caught a Northern Blue Fin tuna at Cape Don in the NT last year and ate it that night. :) I would have to say, it was the best tasting fish I have ever eaten. It was cooked on a very hot BBQ quickly, just the way you would treat a good steak. Yummmmmmmm.

Cheers - Slime

[Great_White]

Andrew very simple, watch you uncle prepare it and there you have it.

I haven't as yet have the pleasure of catching one of these bullets of the sea.

But here's hoping ;) ;) ;)

Peter ;)

[Poodroo]

Peter they are bullets alright. You know you are alive when you have a 15kg bluefin on the line. I actually caught it on a rod Scalem let me use for the day and I am glad that I decided to take him up on the offer because there was no chance I'd have dragged it in on the outfit I had at the time. Typically though I have invested in a substantial amount of money in outfits that will handle up to 200kgs of fish now but do you think the buggers would jump on the end of the line now? Several years down the track and I still have a Shimano TLD25 rig that remains a virgin. >:( :-/ I want so much to feel something huge on it. One day soon hopefully.

Poodroo

[Scalem]

Peter they are bullets alright. You know you are alive when you have a 15kg bluefin on the line. I actually caught it on a rod Scalem let me use for the day and I am glad that I decided to take him up on the offer because there was no chance I'd have dragged it in on the outfit I had at the time. Typically though I have invested in a substantial amount of money in outfits that will handle up to 200kgs of fish now but do you think the buggers would jump on the end of the line now? Several years down the track and I still have a Shimano TLD25 rig that remains a virgin. >:( :-/ I want so much to feel something huge on it. One day soon hopefully.

Poodroo

You think maybe a bait jigging trip up around Tangalooma is the go? That's the trouble with this soft plastic obsession we have for Snapper, we haven't blown the dust off the TLD and my Wilson Live Fibre rod in too long. We better had put in a trip to fix this before our gear is considered old fashioned quality gear from yesteryear :-/ :-/ :-/

I don't know if I mentioned that I took the bloodline we cut out of my LT down to the Logan and threw some on the hook. It's still going to Tahiti last I saw of it zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ SNAP!!! Buggar!!!

Scalem

[flyfisho]

spike , ice ,soy and wasabi, beer
for both macks and LT's
I let most go thogh
tokk some Japanese guys fly fishing for LT's in april and they were more interested in the mack yuna for sashimi
aparently its dearer and more sought afterin Japan than bluefin ,yellowfin and bigeye

[Krazi-kev]

slice into thin slices and marinate in sake, soy and ginger and shallots................on a bed of rice and you have a great meal

Japanese cal it "Maguro-don" and its expensive

[Poodroo]

Quote from Scalem: I don't know if I mentioned that I took the bloodline we cut out of my LT down to the Logan and threw some on the hook. It's still going to Tahiti last I saw of it zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ SNAP!!! Buggar!!!

Scalem

;D ;D That fish was so fast that it has done the round the world trip and back in our waters for tomorrow. ;) Here's hoping.

Poodroo