When Harry Met Charlie
 

The stars aligned (wave forecast, wind forecast, lull in work) and I managed to get out on a mixed party trip w/ Capt. Don on the Labrador of Mass Bay Guides for a tuna trip on Thursday. The forecast was for 2-3ft seas but it was actually a lot flatter than that and made for a perfect day, along with the weather which was partially overcast so we didn't get sunburnt too badly.

After the usual boring wait for something to happen, Capt. Greg on the Fortuna hooked up first and managed to land a 90lb tuna before we got anything. After trolling for a bit longer, we got a heavy hit on one of the squid bars and it almost spooled us while we tried to reel in the other rods. Harry drew first pull (lottery system to see who goes first...turned out Harry was best qualified since he'd gone out 4-5 times this year already, and Jay had a back back and my noodly arms would probably have gotten butt kicked by Harry's tuna) but the harness came apart while he was getting strapped into it, so the 1st mate had to help him put it back together while we reeled in the other rods. After a long impressive 20min battle w/ 5-6 runs, Harry boated Charlie. Turned out to be the biggest fish of the day amongst all the ships on the radio. 70" and roughly 250# and it had to be hauled into the boat w/ a block&tackle.
We unfortunately didn't get any tuna hits after that but there were 30# small ones around.
Sounds like there were a lot of tuna from this writeup, but I thought it was relatively quiet for fall. There seemed to be a lot of boats that got skunked and there weren't that many marks on the fishfinder. The netting of these in the Mediterranean has to stop..

This is the first time I've ever seen a tuna live and it's an amazing creature. The skin is irridescent like fresh mackerel. The fins have indentations in the body to tuck into. The little yellow tiny things after the dorsal fin on the back are actually little fins that it can use to make smaller course corrections. It's built for speed and it's almost like it has racing stripes, spoilers, and a cool paint job :-)

Afterwards, we headed over to Race Point for some striper jigging through sand (out of casting distance of the shore guys who didn't seem to be having any luck)...weirdest way to fish I've seen off a boat, but it worked. Ended up boating 3 shorts (24-26" long) and two keepers (30-31" and relatively skinny). Harry was still basking in his achievement, so Jay and I hooked the stripers and each caught a keeper.

Good day w/ Capt. Don and 1st mate Brendan and we had so much meat, we insisted they take some home w/ them too, so everyone got to have sashimi that night :uhuh:

Pics:
1 - gotta be a good day when the sun breaks through the cloud cover
2 - Harry fighting Charlie
3 - Harry hugging Charlie (yes, you can tell he was happy...I should have taken pics of him having a few beers after he caught it ;-)

few more pics
 

pics:
4 - Labrador crew and tuna
5 - OMG, They Killed Charlie!
6 - toro...mmm (and yes, you can eat too much of it..felt kinda sick after eating too much of it when we got back)

food pics
 

pics:
1 - tuna tartare on toasted bagette slices

Forgot to take pics of the sashimi and sesame crusted grilled steaks I made when I got back :smash:

congrats on the fish. good story and pix.

Wow that looks good. Nice job congrats on the toona

Thanks guys. Would have made my day if I got to take a pull to see what a tuna feels like, but my taste buds are happy.

Relatives are happy too. Made some more sashimi (see pic...I really need a long sushi knife..a chef's knife is way too short to do clean cuts) for a birthday party yesterday and ate until we were stuffed :jump1:
The toro tasted better on the first day...it was fairly bland yesterday (2nd day after) but the regular tuna tasted much better (less strong tasting and firmer)

Anyone know how long you can eat sashimi from a fresh tuna? I'm thinking today's probably the last to do it safely...

Congrats on your first! Donny is a great captain, can always find the fish.

Personally I wouldn't eat any fish that hasn't been blast frozen to kill the parasites. I believe it's actually a FDA law for food service as well.

Good job on the fish!

FYI, that's mainly an issue w/ freshwater/brackish fish:
Fish Parasites
Beyond Salmon: Branzino Tartar with Apples and Ginger

Tuna is usually one of the "safe" fish to eat raw. And yes, it's an FDA law for food service, especially sushi (most sushi is flash frozen w/ nitrogen for transport anyways).
No wigglies were seen in all the pieces I cut up over the past few days. The rest is in the freezer except for a pack that'll be made into tuna kebabs today :)

p.s., Tried this recipe on the striper filet broiled and it was surprisingly good even if odd sounding (guess striper needs a stronger recipe since it doesn't have that much flavor):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/fo...nd-Mint-350088
Forgot to take a pic again :P

Nice job !
That fish must have been good for a few (dozen)
"Ya, how bout ya "
:uhuh:

Yep, Harry was on cloud nine and high fiving everyone for a good hour :uhuh:

Last of the unfrozen tuna was turned into kebabs tonight :)

Talk about a chatterbox. Chanell 69 is all him :call::chatter:scream2:
greg you pickin me up.:call: greg you on this one. :call:How bout ya, :call:how bout ya,:call: how bout ya:chatter: :smash:
:deadhorse:

LOL. Now I get Ronnie's comment :-)
Fairly noisy chatter but they do seem to team up to cover ground fairly well.
I always wondered how you guys decide to choose channels and folks on reel-time are always on 68/69...

Put up a video of the final moments but you guys probably already know what it's like:
YouTube - Tuna Trip 2009 w/ Capt. Don of Mass Bay Guides (part 2)