mack tuna, edible qualities?

[serge975]

scored a nice mack tuna today in one of my first offshore forays
(78cm), looks like a beautiful fish, but im hearing conflicting stories on what they are like to eat. can someone please advise? thanks

[BLOOEY]

Pretty ordinary mate to be perfectly honest. Extremely bloody flesh!! But know of people that do eat them. Bled instantly on capture and iced down they just pass as sashimi when very fresh. Ben

[frankgrimes]

Great bait mate.

[jerson]

Charter boats always cut them for bait.

[bustaonenut]

Just boil the meat, let it cool down then mix a bit of oil and lemon with it. Good for sandwiches or salads.

[iricangi]

I tried to cook one after always using them for bait, filleted one cut out the bloody siney flesh part in the middle of the fillet, took it home and couldn't be stuffed cooking it, the smell and look of the flesh put me off

[Lucky_Phill]

They can be cooked and eaten. The flesh turns a nasty shade of brown, looks like ' steak ' actually.

taste is ' fishy '.............

Great bait and berley. Good sport on light gear.

Hope that helps.... I like bustaonenut's suggestion... sounds interesting.


phill

[serge975]

thanks guys. i just cleaned it. your right, it does look pretty disturbing
figure ive killled it tho, so im taking the plunge tonight.
wish me luck

[fleety77]

friends make sashimi i say shark bait

[Scott nthQld]

here's a recipe for them:

cut a nice big strip of mack tuna with skin on.

Thread a big hook through it, attach hook to line and cast into the briny over structure.

Wait until rod doubles over wind in tuna flesh to find it has turned into a snapper.

Fillet snapper crumb and pan fry.

Good stuff, you won't find better.

But seriously, I find them to be a horrible eating fish, but you can't get a better flesh bait IMO.

[kingkev]

One of the very few Tuna's that can be eaten with some degree of satisfaction. Very hard to bleed perfectly. When these fish get caught they start pumping blood throughout their body and try and fight you off. The end result is a fish with heaps of blood. Not very tasty at all.

Cooking Tuna steaks would only just suffice as a meal.

[slyman]

Yeah my experience with eating a mack tuna wasn't great to say the least, a bit like fish flavoured lambchops, but then I may not have prepeared it properly even though I did bleed and ice it right away.