Caring and Preparing Bluefin Tuna

In Joon Park is no stranger to catching southern bluefin tuna, but he learnt something new about caring and preparing for his catch on a recent trip down to Waihau.

It is the season. The temperature is cool and while a lot of people look forward to being rugged up at home in front of the fire, us avid fishermen take it as a sign that winter fishing is about to commence. We know it’s time to pack our gear and head down the line when we start hearing reports of commercial fishermen catching southern bluefin tuna (SBT) near the East Cape.

We wait eagerly for a good weather window and as soon as the opportunity arises, we pack up our gear and head down to Waihau. In a perfect world, I would line up this trip with the full moon cycle, but it wasn’t possible this time due to the conditions. It was mid-June when we geared up for the first tuna mission, and joining me were keen fishermen Piri and Chris. Neither had caught a SBT before so they were amped to give it a go.

After finishing work and packing up the gear, we left Auckland around 7:00pm and arrived at Waihau at 2:00am. It is a long drive, and you have to take it easy past Opotoki as it gets really windy and bumpy in places. This is where I am forever grateful for the CAM aluminium trailer as it makes the towing feel seamless and carefree. Once you get up the climb and start smelling the sea breeze, you know you have reached the eastern coastline. When we arrived, we only had a few hours left to get some rest in before we headed out for the day. We spread ourselves out across the ute and the cab of the boat and tried to get some sleep.

We launched the Offshore 650 at 5:00am as the sun was rising. I had brought along Bonze lures and this time I was going to try my new spreader with lots of squid attachments, which allows me to just click my lure into the bar. I had my trusty Daiwa LD60 reels and Tournament rods, and they were set up on the outriggers and shotgun pole. Given it was day one out on the water for the season, we didn’t know exactly where to start but using my Ocean Eye SST Chart, I knew that at the 1500m mark there was a good temperature break, so we headed there. I noticed on the Simrad Sounder that there was a sudden increase in temperature of one degree and when the sun rose further, we could see that there was green water, which quickly turned purple. It was really cool to see the current line. There were lots of birds, so we knew this was a good place to start ‘mowing our lawn’. We were marking lots of baitfish and signs of tuna. Soon after we were hit, and it was Chris up first so he began the fight on the Daiwa Saltiga LD60 with 24kg line. After 40 minutes, we had the gaff in its mouth and were pulling it on board. Chris was so stoked to have landed his first SBT. We were all ecstatic about landing the first SBT of the season, and there were cheers and high-fives all around.

I never want to miss an opportunity, so when a weather window presented itself the following weekend, I organised another crew to head out. Joining me this time were David, Moe, Kaz and Glenn. We call this the Japanese crew, even though we are a mixture of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Kiwi. Among the group, there is some serious knowledge about how to fillet and serve SBT, so I was excited to learn a few new techniques.

Searing tuna is one technique to enhance the taste.

Once again, we headed down in the evening and drove through the night. Bright and early the next morning, we set up the gear with all the same equipment as the previous week and began marking lots of bait on the Simrad Sounder. As we were mowing the lawn, the boats around us were continually hooking up. We would go past, then next minute the boat nearby would have a four-way hook up. We even heard on the radio that a boat had hooked up and was on a three- and a half-hour fight, which was still going (the fish is a pending world record at 179kg). It was actually a rather frustrating day but there are always days like this and it’s all part of fishing. We decided to call it and get a good rest before heading out the following day.

Day two arrived, and bright and early we headed to the same spot as we knew that the SBT were there. People were hooking up all around us again, so we decided to work ourselves up to a deeper area of Sea Valley. We were fishing at about the 1450m mark when we heard our Daiwa Saltiga LD60 start to scream. We were thrilled and once this reel had started, we saw another SBT jumping out of the water after hitting our second lure. This second fish dropped but our line was tight on the first. It was Glenn’s time to shine. We harnessed him up and he was away fighting his first SBT. After about 30 minutes of fighting the fish, we had the leader.

Catching your SBT is just the start of its journey.

Following instruction from our Sensei (Japanese for teacher), we carefully bought the SBT aboard, making sure not to bruise it. This is because bruising affects the quality of the flesh and we wanted to keep the fish in optimal condition. We began by administering a spike to the brain to dispatch the fish, and then bled it. We then used an ike jime to insert a wire into the spinal column to prevent further muscle movement. When done correctly, the fish relaxes and ceases all motion. Destroying the brain and spinal cord of the fish will prevent reflex muscle movement. This method is done for two reasons: first it is more humane and second, it preserves the flavour and texture of the fish. If left alone, the muscles would continue to move and in turn release lactic acid and ammonia which will taint the flavour of the fish. We then gutted the fish, cut the gills out, and placed it in our Icey Tek cooler bag. Ice was placed inside the fish and around it to lower its temperature quickly. Once we got back to the boat ramp, we bought more ice and added it to the cooler bag.

The following morning, we cut up the fish, being mindful to utilise every part. We even used a spoon to scrape out the flesh from the skeletal frame. We used this meat to make a makeshift donburi bowl with rice, soy sauce, wasabi and Korean spicy sauce (Gochujang). This made a pretty tasty breakfast before we headed back home.

Once back in Auckland, we were invited by Kaz and Moe to a SBT party. I was excited to see what other more experienced cooks would do with all the different fillets of tuna. There are many cuts of meat on a tuna fish. In Japan, they are divided into three different categories: akami – this is lean dark meat; chutoro – pink-medium fatty meat; and Otoro – light pink meat with white lines throughout. Otoro has more fat content, so it literally melts in the mouth. We had different types of sushi with all the cuts of meat – some were seared with the gas torch, others were served raw, and there was also panko fried marinated tuna which was flash-fried and still pink in the middle. The wings were coated in salt and pepper and baked in the oven on high heat. There is lots of meat on the wings and it was juicy. The off-cut pieces were marinated in a soy-based sauce and cooked up – this was called Shigure Ni. They also made a Korean-style poke bowl with rice, raw egg, avocado, seaweed and sesame seeds. I was so impressed with what can be done with SBT, and particularly by how one can reduce waste and enjoy nearly every part of the fish. I was also impressed by how treating the fish well can have such a great impact on improving the taste of the fish. I learnt a great deal from this crew, so thank you for sharing this knowledge with me guys! You make these fishing experiences seamless and memorable.

The versatility of tuna as a table fish is shown here.

August 2022 - In Joon Park
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