I Regret It!!! A Rant...

[Deep C]

Our window opened and we took our shot. It took tossing the kitchen sink at em but we scored...
Now I'm no tuna fisherman. I was at one point, driven by the gold rush money and atmosphere of decades ago. In the days of yesteryear, I didn't care to eat them. Cat food... Better destined for Tokyo where those crazy buggers are welcome to have at em. Pearl Harbor payback if you will. With no drive to eat them they have gone largely ignored by me...
Don't get me wrong. A nice yellowfin tickles me. Good on the grill, as tataki, or even raw it gets a thumbs up. My recollection of bluefin was barely palatable on the grill and fair to good at best as sushi. I guess I never had the "right" one before...

Then came this fish... From the second the blade went in there was something special about this one. Fat and color both there. Quick fight so no stress enzymes to deal with. Bled while floppin. I figured I might set aside a chunk for myself instead of turning my nose up as I usually do. Crew, friends, neighbors were welcome to the lions share...

I just got done knocking off a plate of this critter shaved nice and thin... My taste buds must have matured. The fish itself must have been getting massaged by angels themselves cause ...HOLY SHIT WAS IT GOOD!
I'm not talking about run of the mill good... I'm talking about orgasmic titilation of palate and all senses. Buttery smooth texture, gentle picante, each cell of it exploding with a burst of indescribable heaven sent goodness. I'm talkin a chin pokin woody maker!
I felt ashamed that I had dipped the first piece in the usual wasabi and soy. A sin to in any way alter what lay beforer me. This was past any ol snack. It had become a life altering experience to be savored and cherrished as exciting as being born itself...

As the nitrous oxide and morophine caliber buzz ever so slowly abated and my feet were once again on terra firma, came the ugly realization that I had consumed roughly a quarter of my lifetime supply of this Mudhole nectar...
This is where the regret sinks in. I had let crew, friends, etc abscond with the lions share. I regret my generosity and want it back... Not just some. All of it! Do I go indian giver here? Jump in the rolling tackle box, bang on doors, shake people down for what I had given away so carelessly?

No I guess not. I'll live with my regrets and decisions about the food of the gods I let slip through my fingers... It will serve as a reminder that assumptions even generated by past experience may be wrong... Next time I'm eatin the whole goddamn thing while we're still out there....

[floridadeckie]

so make yourself feel better and go catch another one

[Big Fish Billy]

Bringing back memories buddy, I used to average 17 800 pounders a year. Lived to go out there and reel them in. It was a city at sea at NWC and "e" of Maine, 2 or 300 boats, 24 hours a day, with the Moonies trafficing in Bluefin, buying them on the spot, pay cash, delivering beer, $35 bucks a pound was the revenge. Used to eat them raw or steeped in italian dressing or some concoction the mooneis gave us. A good life, my old 1969 Post would bring them up faster than anything....won tournaments at Bailey's Island, Gloucester, and the Wentworth......those were the days........

[GitchaSome]

I must admit Deep, I cut some slices off for me and my friends and boy oh boy was it delicious!!

[Ultralite]

a chin pokin woody maker!

Well, if you say so.

[Deep C]

I must admit Deep, I cut some slices off for me and my friends and boy oh boy was it delicious!!

Hayyyy... Its past delicious... Drive back down here and bring me whats left!

Deckie
We're done up here... Spent the last couple days unloadin the north stuff and loadin on the southern stuff... Unless we accidently step on a stray yellow over at Chub or blackfin off Palm that boat is not likely to see tuna blood til next year...

Billy
I had a '63 Post 38 looked like yours... Is yours that or a 40? Either way she was death on al kinds of billfish until I repowered. Went to Volvos after the detroits... She raised sails with them left and right but I never saw a marlin again... The yellowfins and blackfins ate her transom off though...

UL
Yeah... Thats what I said, and I meant it... Full fledged sequoia generator...

[neilinov]

I don't know what these bluefins do between the NE and OC, but when they get here they stink like chicken shit. Over the past couple of years we have caught a few pigs in Nov. and Dec. on the inshore lumps. Of the ones we kept they stunk when cut and when they touched a flame got even worse. I mean you can't even cook it in your house unless you planned on fumigating the next day and throwing out your cook wear. Oily m-fer's does not describe it. I think they r snackin on blufish and whatever other garbage fish there is out there.

[Deep C]

Thats how I remember the few I did eat in yesteryear but man this one was right... I even laughed at the guys toting their bags of it away. "Don't even think about cooking it..."

A religeous awakening if you will with this individual though. I got an education I guess in the difference between just bluefin and topshelf write home about stuff...

[neilinov]

That's strange, because these late season ones we catch here just plain stink. The ones in the summer not too bad but not the best. I'd rather go after some longfins and swords this time of the year than the stinkfins. But then what do I know about good fish I'm just a round eye devil.

[Deep C]

I remember when they were running about eight bucks a pound suddenly somebody would get $20-25 for one... Always thought my buyers were jerking me off and "those" guys just had better connections... Now, I can see a price swing like that based on quality...