Video of our Albacore Catch in 2007

skip · February 24, 2008, 09:30:42 CET

Hi,

I've modified the forum and you can now embed Youtube video's. You will see a new icon under the B for bold button for embedding youtube video's like this one.

shanook · February 24, 2008, 13:02:25 CET

Skip I just had a look at the video and if I am not being a pain in the butt I would like to point 2 fundamental points to Albacore fishing. As u might already know Albacore have to move to breath otherwise they suffocate... also the more an albacore exerts energy and gets excited it releases Histamine that make the flesh taste like pepper and can even cause u slight food poisoning. The mistakes i see in the movie are. the boat seems stopped so when reeling the fish it sometimes goes forward of the rod and then turns back this can be avoided by keeping the boat going at a slow speed like 2 knots, this way u keep the fish behind u all the time thus allowing it to breath by passing water through its gills thus not making the fish fight for breath.... the second thing is that when you brought the fish in u didnt spike it (pass a knife or whatever through its brain, u know u have done this right as the fish opens its mouth wide spreads the fins and give a slight jerk) and after spiking u didnt bleed it (cut the gills or cut the main vien near the heart) when u bleed Albacore the histamine is released with the blood and the fish tastes better (as it should). I even do this with tumbrell and tunnag (better eating).
Sorry to point these out (maybe u did all this after the video), but being an MFF member I just had to tell u.
Thanks for the video, I never get fed up wathcing movies of fishing especially if its done in Maltese waters.

skip · February 24, 2008, 17:18:04 CET

Not a pain in the butt at all, in fact its only with a video that you can really analyse technique, what went wrong etc and be able to comment. Pictures are static and dont provide that info.

You're right, however on that trip the Albacore was being used for chum on another trip hence we didnt go through the whole process of killing it the proper way. The main reason being we had two girls with us, one of whom freaked out about the thought of us gaffing the fish, let alone spiking it, and bleeding it, hence the choice to use it for chum once it was ruined.

With all our tuna of a decent size we always try and do the sashimi method of killing tuna which hardly anyone does, the spiking is one small aspect of the sashimi method. Do a search on sashimi and you should find the attachment, I think you will find it an interesting read and def. makes the flesh taste much better!

In fact in some of my other posts I mention about the troubles with Albacore, but wasnt aware it was histamine that they build up, knew it was some kind of chemical and that they are very important to bleed out quickly. In our family we dont have very many Albacore eaters although they say as its light meat tuna its better but we already had some in the freezer and for some reason they dont sell well?

However, about the keeping the boat moving forward to breathe I was not aware of! I know that all pelagic fish generate lactic acid and their core blood temperature increases when you are fighting a fish, hence the need to a) not fight the fish too long and b) bleed it out and chill it quickly, but perhaps this can be offset by keeping the boat moving so they can breathe perhaps.

In the past I used to always keep the boat moving, however we lost a fair few fish as it was felt that too much pressure was being put on the fishes mouth with the boat moving forward, so we switched to going into idle. It also makes from a sport perspective a far more challenging fight. The americans often anchor up when they fish for Yellowfin etc as its far more of a challenge.

For very big tuna etc, there is actually a specific technique of using the boat, both forwards and backwards. Backwards to gain line and forwards to help lift the fish up to aid in the fight. I had about the technique a while ago.

From my own comments on this video, we had made a mistake of having a very long flurocarbon leader in an effort to get more strikes. It helped with the strikes but mean we had to hand line the fish in which I dont like doing as neither me nor fin are very experienced at that, in fact whilst we tried to be careful there were a few instances where if the fish had bolted we would have probably got caught in the line. It's why I prefer a wind on leader or a leader that is no more than 6-7 foot.

Keep the comments flowing, it's what the forum is all about, learning from each other

shanook · February 24, 2008, 19:10:00 CET

yep we Maltese dont like albacore (for the same reason we dont like tumbrell) its because hardly anybody bothers to bleed and chill the fish immediately. And while we are at it when chilling fish especially albacore its better done in Cold water not with Ice on top of the fish. Albacore can keep for 14 hrs in chilled water without deterioration. Around the world Albacore are called 'chicken of the sea' so its is priced.
Ah you are right regarding fighting Yellowfin or for that matter any tuna, but tuna can breath while stationary but albacore dont, they have to have a flow of water going through their gills, another reason why we find albacore near thermoclines and drop offs. Regarding lifting the fish u need to have a lot of line behind u to do that.
Regarding the leader I usually have my lures on a 5 foot leader so i can bring right next to the boat while still on the rod. Regarding gaffing if u have girls with you I have a method which is girlproof... bring the Albacore right next to the boat (boat has to be moving to do this) and catch the Albacore by the tail.
Mind u when my kids saw me catching the fish by the tail they smiled BUT when they saw me first clubbing and then spiking the fish I got branded as 'KATTIV' can please all can one ........

EmicMalta · February 24, 2008, 19:32:45 CET

cannot see the video. do you have a link?

thanks
edward

shanook · February 24, 2008, 19:50:26 CET

Edward it was there before LOL. cant see it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

skip · February 24, 2008, 20:21:22 CET

Youtube seems to be down I can't access youtube.com

EmicMalta · February 24, 2008, 20:32:18 CET

Its sunday. Can imagine what dowload traffic is being used $:-\$ $:-\$ $:-\$ $:-\$ $:-\$

thanks guys for the immidiate reply

skip · February 24, 2008, 21:02:18 CET

Back up now, just working on another clip!

EmicMalta · February 24, 2008, 21:54:43 CET

its ok now. Yes from videos we understand where we missed up, but thats it good cos we always try to learn.

Good job

Jonathan · February 25, 2008, 06:11:07 CET

Quote from: skip on February 24, 2008, 17:18:04 CET
With all our tuna of a decent size we always try and do the sashimi method of killing tuna which hardly anyone does, the spiking is one small aspect of the sashimi method. Do a search on sashimi and you should find the attachment, I think you will find it an interesting read and def. makes the flesh taste much better!

I googled sashimi and amongst others the following link came up. I am not sure whether this is the attachment which you were referring to Skip but in any case it is a very interesting and detailed explanation of how fish should be gaffed, handled, killed, bled, and chilled - I think its great!

http://www.mozpesca.gov.mz/Publicacoes/On-board%20handling%20of%20sashimi-grade%20tuna.pdf

EmicMalta · February 25, 2008, 06:23:16 CET

Really a good job Jonathan. This one helps a lot.

skip · February 25, 2008, 08:25:31 CET

http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/index.php/topic,19.0.html

This was the post I was referring to; it's in the Offshore Fishing General Board stickied as a Topic: Correct Preparation of Tuna on Capture. It has the sashimi attachment but for some reason it seems you cant search attachment names!!

Think its the same article yes.

MartinB · March 01, 2008, 05:06:04 CET

Quote from: Jonathan on February 25, 2008, 06:11:07 CET
Quote from: skip on February 24, 2008, 17:18:04 CET
With all our tuna of a decent size we always try and do the sashimi method of killing tuna which hardly anyone does, the spiking is one small aspect of the sashimi method. Do a search on sashimi and you should find the attachment, I think you will find it an interesting read and def. makes the flesh taste much better!

I googled sashimi and amongst others the following link came up. I am not sure whether this is the attachment which you were referring to Skip but in any case it is a very interesting and detailed explanation of how fish should be gaffed, handled, killed, bled, and chilled - I think its great!

http://www.mozpesca.gov.mz/Publicacoes/On-board%20handling%20of%20sashimi-grade%20tuna.pdf

Awesome article! i never really thought about what sashimi means even though i love sushi & have eaten sashimi in sushi restaraunts on dozens of occasions.
It also never occured to me that it refered to the method of killing a tuna as oppose to just presentation as i thought.
Also that a tuna's blood during a struggle could produce histamine which taints the meat!
Also what shanook said about doing the same with tunnag & tumbrell is interesting ill definitley try it with the next kubrita i catch (fingers crossed) thats why this forum is so brilliant we all learn something from one another
thanks guys!

visa · March 02, 2008, 20:52:53 CET

another thing is to keep the blood and use as lure when nothing is touching, or after u have landed the fish to keep the fish in one place sometimes it works sometimes u keep it for nothing but u can always use it to attract the fanfri they go crazy and take your hook without any bait.