Yellowfin tuna

[stephanhavenga]

hi

I was looking at catches of yellow fin tuna in cape town area. All of the photos there is a peace missing on the head of the tuna. was wondering what the purpose of this is?

[Prego]

They cut that piece off so they can ream the fish with a long piece of flexible steel. This parslyses the fish and he bleeds out without bashing himself all overy the place,  to improve the quality of the meat.

[stephanhavenga]

wow very interesting. could on do this with smaller fish as well?

[bassbug]

i stab them behind both pectoral fins

[John F]

This issue was discussed at length here http://www.ultimateangling.co.za/index.php?topic=11831.0

Plenty of extra reading material there as well

[stephanhavenga]

thanks john F. v

[dugong]

i stab them behind both pectoral fins

Spoke to a tuna guy from the cape and they use a oyster knife behind(not too deep) the pecs, just to release the pressure, no need to slash/hack as so many guys do here in KZN.
Guys here that own a fish shop reckon that on smaller fish it makes no difference at all and is a bit of a myth that has carried over the years??

[John F]

Guys here that own a fish shop reckon that on smaller fish it makes no difference at all and is a bit of a myth that has carried over the years??

Are they vegan of some sorts?!?! 

I've had yft both ways and I promisse you it DOES make a difference!

[Visenvryheid]

Spiking/Ike jima and a bleed out afterwards while the heart is still pumping makes ALL the difference to any fish and animal and especially warm blooded ones..Turns what is considered waste fish in some parts of the world like sarda sarda and shad, into amazing sashimi..if not done it is pap city..bleeding any fish out makes a difference, my beef is done the same by my butcher and believe me you cannot buy that quality of meat in the city no matter how much you want to spend.. ;)

[bassbug]

i beleive, to iki jima after the tuna has bled out, if needed

[Visenvryheid]

Don't think the order is too critical so long that they are done together..I also don't think a tail slice and spine wire a needed, so long that as the fish is unhooked, you relax and make it relax, spike the brain and move the knifeblade or screwdriver tool etc around so the spine connection is severed, the fish tenses up, twitches when the spine/brain is hit, then it relaxes completely so taken out of an ice box later or a fridge tomorrow it will be limp like just caught and retain its fresh living colour. The bleed must be done same time, before or after no matter, just same time, I like to slice the throat to hit each jugular (?) to the gills, or cut the vein itself going to the gills, slash across each set of gills cutting all those arteries on each side of the fish..then having the head face downhill so it can pump the blood. This though is in general for all fish, small tuna, yellowtail, shad, reef fish etc..for XL large tuna the skipper just hits the arteries behind the pectorals and spikes the brain.. and let the heart pump the fish empty, it goes on ice with ice shoved inside, to get gutted and de-headed later when there is chance.. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBAzhUiJ4ys

Brilliant video by the Auz animal welfare organisation..

http://www.cookingissues.com/index.html%3Fp=1690.html
http://www.cookingissues.com/index.html%3Fp=1702.html

More interesting stuff, also discussing there why wiring spine also preferable to what I do, spiking the brain..
Spiking the brain and bleeding makes such a huge difference anyway and spine wire seems like so much more schlep when the fish are biting so I don't go so far.. but when I catch a nice shad I get excited and spiked and bled while still on the hook or just after, rested on ice then filleted, makes a sashimi that is comparable to salmon.. but then check this video of "blue fish" shad in america and look at how bloody that fillet is and how sif it looks and how pap and flaky and k*K tasting the flesh is..Ja it will be if you let it flap to death on the beach and die of stress and suffocation, full of blood and stress hormones in the meat..It goes sif quick..any warm blooded fish is like that and IME reef fish also it makes a big enough difference too. If you do it to chokka, they don't go white when fresh, but stay clear, with translucent flesh!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDpJWg9fWzg

Let me tell you, once you had shad taken care of properly in sashimi, you start packing wasabi and soy in your fishing bag along with a sharp filleting knife.. ;) But ja for tuna, any warm blooded fish it makes a huge difference, cold blooded fish still worth it but not as much. My skipper makes sure all our fish are done right nowadays but he had a whole career of throwing them into the hatch when we met..after seeing enough of my fish when we were filleting with huge difference in the flesh quality, he became a convert soon enough. The difference between looked after fish and not looked after is huge. If there is enough time, I say goodbyes, stroke them calm, cover their eyes, then do the deed and let it get all dexter like with a few arteries cut and blood spraying everywhere.. and I can whip out a vac pack fillet out the deep freeze a year later and it is as good as any for sashimi that you can buy in a restuarant. No jokes :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikejime
http://www.anglers-secrets.com/how-to-keep-fish-fresh/

Last one is great info..

Also when we store fish on ice, it is in a fishbox, styrofoam, with holes stabbed under for draining water..fresh ice gets packed in on top daily but seen a tuna box full of different goodies maturing..that I was lucky to sample, yellowfin dispatched and stored right and cured for more than a week on fresh ice till sashimi, along with yellowtail etc..unbelievable, still the absolutely best sushi I have ever eaten, far above all the rest..Melted like butter but firm, and flavours off the chart..

[bassbug]

thanks Visenvryheid for putting that together, was entertained by the funny chinese guy :)
i was brought up to beleive that once to kill the brain the heart stops to pump, hence why i bleed my quary

[Visenvryheid]

Pleasure man..

I know from experience though when you kill the brain/sever the spinal cord, the heart carries on pumping for a minute or two at least after..100%.. you can bleed the fish out and still take the heart out and leave it on your cutting board and it still pumps for a while..then you eat it :)

[colin]

   very interesting . "will try this at home " 

[Visenvryheid]

Not a yellowfin, but the last fish I dispatched..These pics should speak for themselves as to the quality difference in the flesh of a animal dispatched and looked after with respect compared to one that is just chucked into the bag with the rest and left in the sun etc.. The fish was caught in the early afternoon and the pics taken at home later at night when about to fillet. One can see the life in the fish still and it looks like a jewel, no rigor mortis has set in and the fish has retained the nuances of colour from when it was alive. The fish was spiked to the brain (one can see the wound) with my fishing knife and then bled out while the heart was pumping. It was gilled and gutted soon after to see what it was eating, which was what I caught it on anyway..The fish was kept in a sac in the shade and bag wetted occasionally when I had a chance with sea water. The last pic is of a portion about to be vac-packed, one can see the texture of the fillets are as firm as ever hours later, the lack of degradation and enzymatic reaction are evident, the meat and fillet are clean and there is no blood and the healthy amount of omega oils are evident in the pearl-like sheen to the meat.

My friend I shared it with said it was the best fish he had ever had, not a coincidence. I just deep fried some in batter with chips..and served it with real mayonnaise. But ja the proof is in the pudding.

[soupcan]

Visenvryheid - How do YOU spike & bleed Shad? Most of the Elf that I catch are   still quite small fish, if the US Bluefish are anything to go by.  Mine   are around the 38-45cm size, so anatomically they would be a bit of a   fiddle to spike.  I usually poke a few holes just below the gill plate   for bleeding, but I have seen salmon fishermen score the gills of larger   fish. My elf gills are so small they simply part sides.  Perhaps I need   a pair of scissors to actually cut them for bleeding?
 
  I also drive my knife into the head, to prevent them from bashing too   much, but it hardly makes any difference - they are real live wires!    Especially the smaller ones - they just keep on thrashing...
 
  As you know and mention, Elf flesh spoils very quickly, so much so that   fish I have caught, bled and gutted in the morning are not as good as   fish caught at sunset. This is after having refrigerated them all day,   wrapped tightly in a plastic bag.   I also read somewhere once that if   you make a "sea water slush puppy" mix and leave them in that, then they   can go the distance.  I also never freeze them.
 
  The whole Shad Sashimi thing interests me - but only if they are one or   two hours old, but sometimes that just isn't possible if caught in the   sunrise session.

[Visenvryheid]

I just stab him in the brain, with the shad it tends to be rough and messy as I'll be spinning off a rock in the sea somewhere and won't have gear with, sometimes a knife but mostly always a little fishing pliers..in the pocket for unhooking the tasty bastards, there is a soft spot above and behind the eyes where the brain is, you know when you hit it..If I dont the buggers jump around until they are in the water again and laughing at me..When you hit it, the whole fish squirms and goes stiff, and then limp, each time you hit where the spine joins the brain with the metal thing you are using, he squirms..Then I just move it up down and side to side to get both sides of the brain and he goes limp and stays like that.. then I'll take the same plier, braid scissor or knife or what was on hand and cut the artery on both sets of gills, across a few gills or where the gills meet, no matter, just hit both side and don't waste time. All of this done with haste, then let him hang and shake him as the heart squirts the blood all over the place and you, or it they are on the bite, cut and leave facing head down in a rock pool to bleed out while you catch another..then when bled, in the bag and roll that up and in the shade where a breeze can get it, making sure in keeping the bag moist always. Works for me.. The 1kg to 3 kg size I find best for sushi but sashimied the small pan size guys up too no matter and enjoyed them..skinny fillets though where as the larger ones are fat slabs of sashimi like good salmon but different.

I ate some of that cracker offcuts as sashimi while I filleted her..boya..

[Grumpy]

Most anglers don't look after their fish at all with the result that most often the quality of the flesh is compromised.
In my boat fish hatch I have a wood grill that sits  about 5 _10 cm above the hull bottom. This keeps the fish out of that blood, poo and water swill in the bottom of the hatch. After bleeding and dispatching any fish we want to keep, we rinse before placing in the hatch. This makes cleaning the bote easier too.

Another interesting  thing is that the Japanese don't advocate keeping or storing your fish in water or in direct contact with ice. Always a layer,of something between.This includes washing your fillets prior to freezing and consumption or preparation. Don't wash after filleting, if there is blood, mop it with paper towels.
 
When I freeze and vacuum pack any fish , I make sure everything is spotless before hand. Scaled fish are rinsed and dried prior to filleting and also not gutted.
I just find that it is easier to fillet over the ribcage without cutting into the stomach cavity. Tricky at first but you soon get the hang of it.
A few years ago I managed to find some huge bamboo chopping boards at China market,  almost a metre long. Fillet and skin on one and portion /vacpack on the other.

Bleeding and " killiing" makes quite a difference to the quality of your fish, but I think you need to look after your fish firstly  to get the best results, rather than let it cook slowly in the sand or stew in all that swill in the bottom of your hatch. Try it  , you will be pleasantly surprised.

[colin]

@ Grumpy , and the others  , I will be taking muck more care my catch in future  . Just makes sense.