Otaru

[mems]

Aloha anyone ever catch a really big aku, skipjack tuna? The japanese call them otaru and man can they fight. We went offshore last weekend and hit the buoys, but no love. A school of porpoise was at one and no fish wanted to play with those guys around. We decided to chase birds and got a double strike on the big reels. These fish pulled drag on a 130, so I thought it was some nice sized ahi in the 40-50lb class. When we got the fish to the boat it was a pair of otaru in the 30lb class. They were the biggest aku I had seen. I got into some big black skipjack in baja, but they were like 15lbs and fought hard as well. We put the fish on ice and I got out my 12wt. We chased more birds and when we saw a nice boil I cast out a blue and white Rainy's popper and wham I got hit by a nice sized otaru. They fight very hard but stay on top and race all over hell. They don't go down like an ahi, but really do take a lot of line, like 150yrds into the backing. I landed the fish, but did not have my camera for a picture. We ended up getting 4 in all and they made great poke and sashimi. Don't turn up your nose at aku, big ones like these otaru were a lot of fun, Mems.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Those smaller tuna like fish are super hot.


We caught Pacific Bonito which seldom run over 10 pounds down around southern Cal and Ensenada.

Down around La Paz they get Skipjacks that run 10 to 30 pounds?.

On the Atlantic Coast they get what they call Atlantic Bonito or Little Tuny or Atlantic Albacore which run around 10 to 30 pounds.


I think the meat of all these fish is dark and not as popular for eating as the lighter fleshed tuna.

.

[Darian]

Aloha Don,.... I've caught many Black Skipjack around La Ventana (Roca Montana) and found that they acted the same as Ahi (Yellowfin). After the take and initial run, they sound and slug it out to the end. The flesh of the Black Skipjack is very dark/oily and, according to the captains, inedible.

Our captain usually starts each day trying to catch a skippy which is then sliced and tied to the transom to create a blood trail. That combined with minimal chumming brings in all kinds of fish to the boat. Lots of fun watching Dorado breeze by the transom following the trail.

[Jeff C.]

I loved eating aku aka poor man's ahi growing up in Hawaii. We had it every way possible: sashimi, poke, lomi, fried and dried.

[FISHEYE]

One of the guides makes sashimi from the bonito we catch in Belize. They are usually pretty small and I do not think the same as the black skipjack we catch in the Baja. I'll try to look them up and figure it out but if anyone knows what we catch in Belize let me know. They are really good.