Blue fin

dobber

Old Mossy Horns
i was feeling "blue" about not being able to fish last year down there, decided to bing watch Tuna wars or what ever its called off the Outer banks. I hope the borders open up this year so i can get down there at least once
 

B-KayCh

Six Pointer
Last week when we went bottom fishing out of Masonboro, bluefin boats were 2-3 miles off beach. Where the food supply is.
 

Woods and water

Ten Pointer
I have zero interest in catching one but I like to hear the local guys catching them . Five hour fights just isn't for me. I fished with a guy that has been doing it for years and his fights last about 10 minutes. Green stick, hydraulic bandit reel and a rusted 270 . I don't think he is real popular with the tuna crowd 😂
 

Wilmywood

Button Buck
How much per lb they averaging?

All depends on the quality of the fish. He has had one fish that only brought like 1.25 a lb. A lot of it has to do with how well you take care of the fish once you catch it. Such as swimming the fish on a rope behind the boat for an hour or two to get rid of the lactic acid that builds up while the fish was being fought. Then bleeding it after.

They also won't know how much they are getting for the fish until after it goes to market over seas.
 

HotSoup

Old Mossy Horns
All depends on the quality of the fish. He has had one fish that only brought like 1.25 a lb. A lot of it has to do with how well you take care of the fish once you catch it. Such as swimming the fish on a rope behind the boat for an hour or two to get rid of the lactic acid that builds up while the fish was being fought. Then bleeding it after.

They also won't know how much they are getting for the fish until after it goes to market over seas.

Jesus thats sad....I'd pay $1.25 all day and twice on Sunday!
 

bag12day

Six Pointer
Contributor
Jesus thats sad....I'd pay $1.25 all day and twice on Sunday!
Nah you probably wouldn't... I have kept several before we had commercial season here in NC and the are not good table fare like a typical yellowfin or even Bigeye. They are greasy/ fishy as heck if you try to cook them since mostly they are feeding on Menhaden and Atlantic mackerel . Fantastic for sushi or anything raw but when you put heat to them its not good IMO. I love sushi but 250lbs of sushi is alot to eat and give away! We kept 2 fish in the 550-600 range and several medium school size in the 150-200 and they were all about the same with the smaller fish being SLIGHTLY less oily. Back then you were only allowed 1 fish per vessel per year in the 300+ category.
whoa, I guess you have to go far out and fish the gulf stream ?
We caught one fish with 1/4 miles of the gun mounts at CLO and when we were over the fish it was kicking up sand we could see on the bottom in 35 feet of water. That fish was in the 700 lb range based on the LXG estimator. Another day we caught 2 fish in the 800-850 range off the knuckle buoy in less than 50 ft of water. Heres the interesting part both of those fish were tagged with sat tags and tracked. One fish showed up in the Azores off africa and the other one went to Newfoundland and was captured by a comm boat the next year. Dr Barbara block was on one of the preeminent researchers on GBFT back then and she came every year jumped on a charter boat for about a week with students and they would tag approx 5-10 fish per day.
 

Dick

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I haven't had fresh bf in a long time, but it was incredible cooked rare on the grill. Like, better then filet, good.
they were not giant bf. one was 65lb one was 110.
 

Dick

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
no worries, I want nothing to do with a fish that big..😄
we also canned a good bit of those bluefin. OMGOSH that was good tuna. I never cared for tuna after it was frozen. Not bad, but not the same as fresh.
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
whoa, I guess you have to go far out and fish the gulf stream ?

Back in grad school I was buzzed by them while freediving at the Liberty Ship and 5mi Boxcars. We decided to give it a go one year in my old 14' McKee...hooked up for about 90sec. Thought for sure we were going to swamp the boat before it pulled...we were hoping for a smaller model and WAAAY outkicked our coverage.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
one is enough for me 1 hr 45 minutes.
it is cool though when you have something that is big enough to move you when it runs.
Thank you Captain Bruce waverunner MHC.
 
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