Tuna Trip

[matt345]

6 off us are doing a tuna trip in July and I would like to know from those who have done that out of Westport if they have just had it filleted or trade it for canned at the market?

[Becky]

I haven't gone, but when I did a bottom-fishing charter last year we were asking them a ton of questions about tuna because we were interested in going. Anyways, he said most (if not all) will give you your fillet uncanned to take home if you WANT, but otherwise they trade you the equivalent amount for ones canned just the day prior.

[Fish4Fun]

I am looking into the same thing for a possible Tuna Trip, what to do with the fish. Here is the instructions from the cannery in Westport, it is not a 1 for 1 exchange as noted. You get 6oz. canned for every pound fresh. Plus an added $ 2.25

TUNA MUST BE IN THE ROUND...WHOLE FISH, "BLED" AND IN GOOD CONDITION.

Fish must be cold.  If you plan to exchange your fish, please inform your Skipper, and that any fish over 40 degrees may be declined.  Make sure your fish is kept cold and in good condition for exchange.

Do not let the deckhand(s) fillet your tuna...we won't do an exchange for loins.

Also, there is currently only one option available for our exchange, and that is one six ounce can of tuna for every pound of whole, bled tuna plus $2.25 equals one can of our own freshly canned tuna.  Add an additional .50 per can for our "flavored" tuna

[Becky]

I am looking into the same thing for a possible Tuna Trip, what to do with the fish. Here is the instructions from the cannery in Westport, it is not a 1 for 1 exchange as noted. You get 6oz. canned for every pound fresh. Plus an added $ 2.25

TUNA MUST BE IN THE ROUND...WHOLE FISH, "BLED" AND IN GOOD CONDITION.

Fish must be cold.  If you plan to exchange your fish, please inform your Skipper, and that any fish over 40 degrees may be declined.  Make sure your fish is kept cold and in good condition for exchange.

Do not let the deckhand(s) fillet your tuna...we won't do an exchange for loins.

Also, there is currently only one option available for our exchange, and that is one six ounce can of tuna for every pound of whole, bled tuna plus $2.25 equals one can of our own freshly canned tuna.  Add an additional .50 per can for our "flavored" tuna

Sounds like more official info, mine was just told to us by the deckhands and skipper of one of the charters, they sounded like they did their own canning  and that was the method they used.

[matt345]

I got the same info today when I called the cannery. My dilemma is that we fish Sunday and wont be back in time to do the exchange. We will have to keep the fish cold until Monday morning to make the exchange.

I am curios if people have just kept the loins and cooked them on the BBQ or what there preferred method of cooking is???

[WSU]

It is great seared and eaten rare.  I would definitely keep some for that purpose.

[washingtonmuley]

I went in august of last year and 11 of us landed 110 for the boat. We all kept our own fish and had the deckhands loin them on the way in. I canned and smoked all of mine and I will do it the same way this year. Nothing like canning and eating your own fish that you know how the were handled.

[BOWHUNTER45]

I agree  you can not beat canning it yourself ...it is soooooo good 

[TONTO]

 TUNA!    can't beat fresh bbq loins, or home canned.

[270Flat]

 

It is great seared and eaten rare.  I would definitely keep some for that purpose.

[lokidog]

"You get 6oz. canned for every pound fresh. Plus an added $ 2.25"

Sorry to say, but anyone that does this deal is STUPID!  Tuna are no harder to filet than a salmon and vacuum packed will last as long as it takes to eat them.  As many have mentioned, home canned tuna is good, but there is nothing like a grilled tuna steak, or a pan seared loin rolled in cracked pepper and sea salt.

Please, please, don't trade your fish in for canned stuff that god knows how it was taken care of, etc.  Put your filets on ice and they will keep until you get home to freeze them, remember, this is fresh fish not old store bought stuff and will easily keep with some care.

Good fishing!

[robodad]

I'd be willing to bet that the cannery takes your nice fresh fish and cuts the best part off and sells it over seas (or locally) for BIG money and cans up the remains and thats what you end up with....How else could they give you $$$ on top of the 6oz/lb ??

[lokidog]

I'd be willing to bet that the cannery takes your nice fresh fish and cuts the best part off and sells it over seas (or locally) for BIG money and cans up the remains and thats what you end up with....How else could they give you $$$ on top of the 6oz/lb ??

If they are giving you money, isn't that selling sport caught fish?  Maybe not illegal for unregulated tuna, I guess....

[Houndhunter]

Deep fried is good too

[RadSav]

Brined albacore battered in tempura and deep fried served with seasalt and vinegar chips!  Mmmmm one of my favorites!  You'd have a hard time getting me to can fresh albacore.  Home canned or otherwise.

Be sure to keep the plate behind the gills on your tuna after filleting.  That includes the gill guard plate and the front fin.  Seasoned like you would bronzed catfish and then grilled it just might be the best part of an albacore. Good blackened too if you like hot and spicy!  And almost everyone throws this piece away   It's a little hard to eat, but the reward is worth it.  Here is a pic of what it looks like cooked (not my photo).

[matt345]

Thanks guys for the input!

[quadrafire]

Bringing up an old thread.

I have a trip planned this august. Newby here     I have made fillets of all fish I have ever caught and have never heard the term Loins. What is a tuna loin? Are all parts of the tuna not edible?
I plan to get a pressure cooker to can some, eat some "sushi like", freeze some to grill. What are some other options?

[Hawgdawg]

"You get 6oz. canned for every pound fresh. Plus an added $ 2.25"

Sorry to say, but anyone that does this deal is STUPID!  Tuna are no harder to filet than a salmon and vacuum packed will last as long as it takes to eat them.  As many have mentioned, home canned tuna is good, but there is nothing like a grilled tuna steak, or a pan seared loin rolled in cracked pepper and sea salt.

Please, please, don't trade your fish in for canned stuff that god knows how it was taken care of, etc.  Put your filets on ice and they will keep until you get home to freeze them, remember, this is fresh fish not old store bought stuff and will easily keep with some care.

Good fishing!

  Well said!

[BigD]

Bringing up an old thread.

I have a trip planned this august. Newby here     I have made fillets of all fish I have ever caught and have never heard the term Loins. What is a tuna loin? Are all parts of the tuna not edible?
I plan to get a pressure cooker to can some, eat some "sushi like", freeze some to grill. What are some other options?

Basically when you loin one out you get 4 loins 12"-18" long and about 4" around.

[quadrafire]

Bringing up an old thread.

I have a trip planned this august. Newby here     I have made fillets of all fish I have ever caught and have never heard the term Loins. What is a tuna loin? Are all parts of the tuna not edible?
I plan to get a pressure cooker to can some, eat some "sushi like", freeze some to grill. What are some other options?

Basically when you loin one out you get 4 loins 12"-18" long and about 4" around.

Hmmmmm......I'll have to google Tuna anatomy, I'm confused to how to process one. Should I trust the "deckhand" to do  the processesing, or do it myself?

[quadrafire]

How To Fillet An Albacore Tuna GOOD NEWS TUNA STYLE

I see what you are saying about the 4 loins. OK.......No worries. I was worried I was missing something big here.

[BigD]

If you do it yourself make sure they are cold, very cold. Firms em up quite a bit and makes it much easier.

[TONTO]

If you do it yourself make sure they are cold, very cold. Firms em up quite a bit and makes it much easier.

 Yes you want the whole fish as cold as you can get it. I like to leave my fish packed on ice over night and deal with the next day to get it chilled completely through. The colder the fish the firmer the flesh. You also donot want to get TUNA loins wet, keep the whole process as clean as possible and trim the loins do not rinse them. Cold and dry, never let TUNA get warm or wet. If not canning right away it is alright to freeze the fish whole then cark and can at a latter date. Fresh loins I wrap like I would elk or deer with saran wrap and freezer paper, vaccume packing works too. I've just always done the freezer paper with my loins,they kkep just as well, just make sure to get all the air out of the saran wrap.

[LongTatLaw]

If you like canned tuna...canning is a great option. i forced Michelle Nelson into a 1 for 1 exchange on about 40 whole tuna this fall..came out great...buttttt....WSU is right...

now that I know what I know...I wouldnt can a one...id loin em...and they would all get the 20 second each side sear job...rare steaks with soy and wasabi...

but thats me!

dave

[clindsayrun]

We paid like $4 per fish to have the deck hand filet them on the ride back in. You get four loins off each fish. We kept 8 or 10 whole to filet out ourselves and see if we were getting all the meat off the fish. We should have paid the deck hand to filet those ones was well. Totally worth it! That kid tore through those fish, and he was getting every scrap of good meat. It's actually nice to get to the dock and grab your bags of filets and hit the road or head back to the hotel.
At home we cut the loins in half, vacuum sealed them into meal sized portions and into the deep freeze. Awesome! Kept for a long time, and even thawed some out and canned it. Worked out just fine.
Can't wait to go again. I think we'll go out every other year or so.

[hollymaster]

And you can smoke some too! 

[lokidog]

If you do it yourself make sure they are cold, very cold. Firms em up quite a bit and makes it much easier.

I actually prefer to filet immediately and then cool it off.  It cools much more quickly and has less chance to get soft in the center.  Albacore are probably not quite as critical as a 60 pound yellowfin though....     Unfortunately, this is not practical on the cattle boat type of outing as they will want to split the fish evenly no matter how many you caught or if the other half of the gang was sick and not even fishing.   

[Boss .300 winmag]

Which charters are the pod ones? 

[Come Get Some]

We fish out of Westport and Illwaco for tuna. I run a 6 man charter on a 33' Bounty with twin deisel engines. Epic Fishing Adventures.We put a slurry in our fish box consisting of 800 quarts of salt ice. We add 3-4, 5 gallon buckets of salt water from the ocean, then we add solar salt. It brings the temp. to below freezing. Just like making ice cream. When caught we immediately bleed the tuna, Gut and gill them and sink them in the slurry. They are kept almost to the freezing point. When we get back to the dock, we fillet the tuna for a small fee of course or I can show you how to do it. Very easy to do. I do believe it the funnest thing you can do on the ocean with your clothes on. I fish a couple different rods for live bait. I have 8' One piece rods with Takota 600 reels. OR for the people who really like the sport of fighting a fish we use 10' Spinning reels with Okuma Baitrunner reels. Loads of fun. Some say that alone is worth the price of the charter. We fish live anchovies once we get bit on the troll;. Sometimes we never start the engine and fill the boat.

[lokidog]

We fish out of Westport and Illwaco for tuna. I run a 6 man charter on a 33' Bounty with twin deisel engines. Epic Fishing Adventures.We put a slurry in our fish box consisting of 800 quarts of salt ice. We add 3-4, 5 gallon buckets of salt water from the ocean, then we add solar salt. It brings the temp. to below freezing. Just like making ice cream. When caught we immediately bleed the tuna, Gut and gill them and sink them in the slurry. They are kept almost to the freezing point. When we get back to the dock, we fillet the tuna for a small fee of course or I can show you how to do it. Very easy to do. I do believe it the funnest thing you can do on the ocean with your clothes on. I fish a couple different rods for live bait. I have 8' One piece rods with Takota 600 reels. OR for the people who really like the sport of fighting a fish we use 10' Spinning reels with Okuma Baitrunner reels. Loads of fun. Some say that alone is worth the price of the charter. We fish live anchovies once we get bit on the troll;. Sometimes we never start the engine and fill the boat.

   Pound for pound tuna are one of the best fighting fish IMO.  Hooked one (yellowfin) that was about 5 foot long on a spinning rod with 20lb test,    I don't think it noticed I was even there.   

[GregE]

Carking Tuna is only confusing the first time........  Goes pretty quick after that.  Home vacume packed or canned is great!!  We swore off store canned after our first ones.