Bonitos.........

[Ice Cream Man]

Got on them big time - kept 8 for dinner with friends & some for my neighbors - released about 8........Caught using small Yozuri's Deep Diver ( clown & pink colors ), # 2 Planer with #1 Clarkspoon, jigging & a Fly............My buddy Jim caught about 4 on a fly.........

Lost 2 at the boat........Great time home by noon........ICM

[gimmedeal]

Welcome to the board ICM. Looks like a good time. Where do you fish out of? If somebody in Texas says we caught bonitos, we're talkin about something else, good bait but NOT for the table.

Fred

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Congrats Ice Cream Man.
Welcome to the board. I love me some bonito! Fun to catch. Thanks for sharing.

gimmedeal... If you like sashimi, bleed and ice down one of those TX bonitas and then slice and dice it fresh. Yummy with wasabi, soy and gari.

[hatidua]

Originally Posted by Deep_Sea_Gull

gimmedeal... If you like sashimi, bleed and ice down one of those TX bonitas and then slice and dice it fresh. Yummy with wasabi, soy and gari.

heavy drag, bleed 'em while still very much alive and they are indistinguishable from yellowfin tuna. I've had fishing friends ask where I got the yellowfin while their eating raw little tunny (false albacore, bonito, etc).

[ahistick]

Welcome aboard Ice Cream Man. I grew up catching bonito; great fun!

As people have indicated, bonito is fine if taken care of after being caught.

I would go a step further and spike the fish's brain, pop a gill raker or make a cut near the base of the tail, and ice promptly. At a recent seminar, a captain described a fish after its caught--its dropped on a hard deck, tail beating down, flopping all over the place. All that movement contributes to the condition of the end product. He has his crew, if possible, spike the fish while still gaffed so it is not flopping all over the deck after taken off the gaff.

[Ice Cream Man]

I fish out of Wilmington NC...........
Bonito are often confused with False Albies & False Albies are sometimes referred to as Bonit"A".
We never gaff a fish when it can be netted - in case you want to release it - like we did with a few.

Bonito have teeth & straight laternal lines - white firm meat when cooked....
False Albies have squiggley laternal lines & make great strip baits & not much food value..........
Hope this clears up some of the confusion.............ICM

[Deep_Sea_Gull]

Originally Posted by hatidua

heavy drag, bleed 'em while still very much alive and they are indistinguishable from yellowfin tuna. I've had fishing friends ask where I got the yellowfin while their eating raw little tunny (false albacore, bonito, etc).

Dat's what I'm talking about!

[hatidua]

I wish more people would call fish by their proper names but 'bonito' seems to be a catch-all name assigned to a wide variety of fish depending on the location. Little tunny are called bonito in Florida. Black skipjack are called bonito in much of Mexico. It all really complicates things when someone catches a true bonito (sarda sarda) and reports it because too many people jump to the conclusion that it's a bonito (little tunny, skippy, etc).

All gets a tad frustrating...

[tngbmt]

good near shore/offshore reports lately from NC ... how's the fishing there year round? thanks

[Ice Cream Man]

Hatidua........it maddening to constanly have to deal with the confusion...

Tngbmt........Normally our fishing is always on - if not inshore then the offshore bites is on, but our weather this year has been strange - cold front & nasty seas have kept most on land......

Last Sun. caught 3 Red Drum ( 30" - 27" - 25" ) on the shoals on the first three cast------when back twice since & got skunked.......This time last year I had caught at least 50 Reds.......

Yesterday heard reports of BlueTuna within 15 miles of the beach greyhounding on Bonitos........

We have adopted Jigging big time...........I will post some pictures of all the fish caught jigging from local sites.........Billy