Teacher institute day

[mems]

Aloha, today was teacher institute day, and I would like to thank our teachers union for providing me an excuse to go offshore. What a beautiful sunrise, nice and orange and red in the east. Small swells, 3 feet and calm seas welcomed us this morning. Lots of life, birds, and flying fish. We got to the first bouy at sunrise, and had it to ourselves. I got a nice 10lb mahi on a new TFO mini magnum bluewater 10 wt. Then I got a nice 20lb ahi and lots of good size skipjack tuna. the bite was on until some dlphin showed up so we headed to another bouy.
On the way we had a small marlin hit a skirt and it threw the hook when it jumped. My friend had fun fighting it, but I am glad it got away. I hate to kill them, and my friends would have.
We hit the next bouy, and I got a nice 35lb female mahi as soon as my fly hit the water. They are so much fun to catch on the fly. They jump and cartwheel and take off like rockets. Plus tonight it is fresh mahi and ahi sashimi. I love my union, thanks for the day off, Mems

[Darian]

Aloha Don,.... Sounds like you had a great day off. =D> =D> Wait until you're retired like me. Every day is a day off. :D :D :D

[Scott V]

Mems, why would you have had to kill the marlin? I do not understand. This is a serious question, not a joke.

[erhetta]

Mems you are killin' me. That would have to be the best sashimi ever.... Pics would send me over the top mano... :):):)

[Jay Murakoshi]

Darian,

WHAT? Everyday is a day-off..... Seems like I put in 8 days a week and 25 hours 25/8
But you know what....... it's the greatest feeling not to have a boss telling you what to do (except for my wife :-) and can go fishing or relax whenever you want to. Heck, somedays I even take a nap.

Now that the DVD is going into final video and audio production, I will start planning and working on the next 3 videos on the schedule

Enjoy life

Jay

[Jay Murakoshi]

Mems,

I could be visiting my old stomping grounds next year. Depends on the cost to take 7 people. It's in the planning stages but I know it won't be in April thru July (Baja time)

Jay

[Darian]

Scott,.... I don't want to speak for Mems but it sounds like he's saying that the guys he fishes with wouldn't object to killng a Billfish.... And that he wouldn't necessarily want to do that. From past postings from Hawaii, the culture over there doesn't encourage catch and release.

BTW, that's not uncommon for inshore/offshore here for that matter.... Check out some of the postings on Gary Bulla's BB in Baja/SoCal.

If Mems is on their boat he can't really object.... ("when in Rome....") Unless he doesn't want to be invited again. :cool:

[mems]

Thanks Darian for trying to explain. We kill fish in Hawaii. They eat everything here, including bonefish, marlin, you name it. Marlin are seen as a bit of a problem. The blues aren't very good to eat, so they smoke them and make fish jerky. I like to release them, that is why I like to use a circle hook and bait. This fish hit a skirt, $50 and we would have done all we could to get the lure back. I got a dead bait and dropped it back to the fish on a circle hook, but it didn't eat. I would have encouraged my friends to get it in quickly and cut the leader as close to the hook as possible, or to bill the fish and get the hook out. Most times we fight the fish to exhaustion, we are in relatively small boats, and they will die anyway. I like to get them in quickly and give them a chance on making it. This one made a nice jump and threw the hook, so problem solved. I try and get my friends to practice catch and release, and to say when enough is enough, but there is a history and custom to overcome here, that I am working on. The same guys that will practice catch and release on inshore species, wouldn't dream of letting a pelagic go. I do it for both, but I am in the minority, and like Darian said, it is not my boat.
Jay if you need help with anything don't hesitate to ask.
Sorry I forgot the camera, I will take pictures next time, Mems.

[Scott V]

Thanks for the answer, I did not know people eat marlin. I have never tried it. I'm all for taking a fish every now and then, heck I eat sushi atleast twice a week when I can. One of my korean buddies owns a sushi place. So what does marlin taste like, is it good? Can I eat it sashimi?

[Darian]

Scott,.... I'm in the same boat with you. :unibrow: If I have nothing in the freezer, I'll keep a fish for the table. Sashimi/sushi/seared Ahi are tops with a cold glass of premium sake'.... MMM, MMM. :D :D :D

There're at least 3 Pacific Marlin that I'm aware of. Blue, Striped and Black. Not an authority here. But, of the 3, the only one I've heard of anyone eating is the Striped. Didn't hear any favorable comments about the flavor.... :-? Mems knows a lot more about the edibility of all of the Marlin than me. Maybe he'll favor us with one of his famous recipe's....

[mems]

Ok you got me, marlin is very watery, at least blues and blacks. Stripped marlin is great, as is sailfish. Stripped marlin is very close to mahi in flavor, but the color is red/orange. Not as red as sailfish. You can tell stripped marlin by the one big swirl and the small swirl on the steaks of the fish. I like those two smoked or blackened. The do make good sashimi, just avoid the outer edge of the steaks, large tendons in the meat.
Blues are very watery. It is white meat, and has a large single swirl on the steaks. The smaller blues are a little firmer. The fish dries out quickly. The sashimi is chewy and is not a desired fish raw. If you get it, they were out of other fish for sashimi.
For blues I like to make strips, then soak them in terriyaki sauce and smoke them in my big smoked for like 9 hours. I put more brown sugar in the mix to make squaw candy, and have even coated them in honey and sesame seeds for the last hour to give a nice glaze on the fish.
For fresh marlin, the only way I would eat it is sliced steaks with mayonaise and parmageisan cheese sprinkled on top of the steak, then I bake them in the oven. Marlin dries out very quickly once the water comes out. The large ones have a metalic taste to them, organic mercury. So I wouldn't eat a lot of blue marlin. But that is the problem in trying to process 800lbs of fish. So you need a long list of friends in order to give that away. If the fish auction is open they give you between 10 and 25 cents a pound for a big fish. So like I said, use a circle hook and let em go.
There are other billfish that are much better tasting, sword fish, and my favorite short billed spearfish. We get those on the kona side on a regular basis. Still if I had my way I would let all the billfish I have caught go. It is kind of like the old man and the sea, when you catch a really big marlin. Epic battle, and then this massive creature ends up dead. It is one of the sad parts of fishing, that is why letting any fish go gives us such joy, and hope. I only think flyfishermen really understand that. Mems.

[Adam Grace]

Don, you're killin me with all that talk about sushi, sashimi, and all that yummy tuna. My mouth is salivating right now. I am very jealous.