DockRat
12-01-2010, 06:51 AM
Many anglers agree that bonito are one of the hardest-fighting fish, pound for pound, in the ocean.
"They're like skipjack (in fighting ability, for their relative size)," says Crooke. "I guess we're lucky they don't grow to 400 pounds."
Barely considered even a medium-size gamefish, bonito can fully flex a light-action spinning or baitcasting rod and keep it curved for a long time. Go up against it with ultralight-class trout tackle, and a big bonito feels like a German brown trout equipped with afterburners.
QUESTION: What's shaped like a tuna, sports racing stripes, fights all out of proportion to its size and, off Southern California, goes by nicknames, such as "bonehead," "striped tuna," "Laguna tuna" and "magneto?"
A few years ago, the answer could have been nothing.
Aggressive feeders, large bonito can be taken on a variety of "hard-iron" jigs.
Well, maybe not quite. While it may have seemed like the once abundant Pacific bonito had become virtually extinct, they were just hanging out in Mexican waters.
You can surely say these popular fish had been conspicuous by their absence when you figure that you had a far greater chance of landing a yellowtail or white seabass off the Southern California coast than you did of boating a bonito. In all of 2002, California anglers caught only 7,520 bonito, and that includes fish taken from private boats, party boats, beaches and piers. By last year, that figure exploded to 441,000 bonito.
So why had the boneheads gone bye-bye? And why have they now returned to these Southern California waters in such large numbers?
FOLLOW THE MONEY
The situation was not that the Pacific bonito was no longer being caught in tonnage numbers, they just weren't being caught in Southern California waters. To the south, in Mexican waters, commercial fishing boat crews had a different tale to tell.
"Boneheads" fall victim to a variety of jig color patterns.
"It was an economic thing," explained Steve Crooke, senior marine biologist with the California Department of Fish & Game (DFG) Marine Resources Division in Los Alamitos. "The Eastern European countries had discovered Pacific bonito. In places like Croatia and other Slavic countries, fish buyers started paying more for bonito than they pay for yellowfin tuna, and Mexican commercial fishing responded."
According to the California DFG, from 1988 to 2000, total U.S. Pacific Coast landings (catches) of commercially caught bonito had surpassed those of Mexican commercial landings in only four of those 12 years. And as recently as 1999, a staggering difference was noted: Mexican landings that year totaled 1,730 tons of Pacific bonito, while the U.S. Pacific Coast commercial landings totaled zero.
Mexican purse-seining pressure increased, due to high wholesale market prices. Cool water off Southern California conspired with this economic pressure to keep bonito out of reach of SoCal anglers. Now, thanks to a plummeting market value for bonito, commercial net boats are targeting other species and the striped tuna are again invading from the south, much to the delight of inshore light-tackle anglers and, especially, skippers who operate coastal half- and three-quarter-day party boats.
CARE OF THE CATCH
Although Pacific bonito aren't known for their palate-pleasing flavor, the table quality of the catch can be dramatically improved by following a few easy steps, whether the catch is baked, broiled, battered or barbecued.
¿ Always "bleed-out" a freshly caught bonito by making an incision through the fish's gillrakers in its throat area. After cutting, stand the bonito on its nose in a small, wet burlap bag placed in a plastic chest or bucket.
¿ When the blood flow ceases, immediately place the whole fish on ice in a chest.
¿ When done fishing, fillet the catch at sea, but be extra careful to leave at least one square inch of the bonito's skin intact on each fillet (a California regulation) for identification purposes.
¿ When filleting, carefully remove the horizontal band of dark, red meat running along each side under the fish's lateral line.
¿ Pack fillets in plastic bags, being careful to keep water out of bags. Also squeeze out excess air before sealing bags.
¿ Place bagged fillets on ice in chest the for trip home.
¿ Flavor is enhanced even more by preparing and serving refrigerated fillets while still fresh, not frozen
NEW RECORD BONINTO
The type of Pacific bonito (Sarda chiliensis) taken by Southern California and Baja anglers is one of three species of the fish - the other two are Sarda orientalis and Sarda australis.
The International Game Fish Association recognizes all three species worldwide. The "Southern California" bonito ranges from Alaska to southern Baja California and westward out to the Revillagigedo Islands off Baja's Pacific Coast. Then, beginning with an overlap in lower Baja waters and ranging southward toward Peru, Sarda orientalis replaces chiliensis.
For 27 years, the IGFA all-tackle world record for Pacific bonito stood at 21 pounds, three ounces, set by Brian Picciolo on July 30, 1978. Earlier this year, however, the IGFA approved a new all-tackle mark for the species: a 21-pound, five-ounce Pacific bonito taken on October 19, 2003, by angler Kim Larson.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/blackcloud9/Fishing/LJKayakingJaredDoubleYT082408022.jpg
http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/article/Species/Bonehead-Moves
"They're like skipjack (in fighting ability, for their relative size)," says Crooke. "I guess we're lucky they don't grow to 400 pounds."
Barely considered even a medium-size gamefish, bonito can fully flex a light-action spinning or baitcasting rod and keep it curved for a long time. Go up against it with ultralight-class trout tackle, and a big bonito feels like a German brown trout equipped with afterburners.
QUESTION: What's shaped like a tuna, sports racing stripes, fights all out of proportion to its size and, off Southern California, goes by nicknames, such as "bonehead," "striped tuna," "Laguna tuna" and "magneto?"
A few years ago, the answer could have been nothing.
Aggressive feeders, large bonito can be taken on a variety of "hard-iron" jigs.
Well, maybe not quite. While it may have seemed like the once abundant Pacific bonito had become virtually extinct, they were just hanging out in Mexican waters.
You can surely say these popular fish had been conspicuous by their absence when you figure that you had a far greater chance of landing a yellowtail or white seabass off the Southern California coast than you did of boating a bonito. In all of 2002, California anglers caught only 7,520 bonito, and that includes fish taken from private boats, party boats, beaches and piers. By last year, that figure exploded to 441,000 bonito.
So why had the boneheads gone bye-bye? And why have they now returned to these Southern California waters in such large numbers?
FOLLOW THE MONEY
The situation was not that the Pacific bonito was no longer being caught in tonnage numbers, they just weren't being caught in Southern California waters. To the south, in Mexican waters, commercial fishing boat crews had a different tale to tell.
"Boneheads" fall victim to a variety of jig color patterns.
"It was an economic thing," explained Steve Crooke, senior marine biologist with the California Department of Fish & Game (DFG) Marine Resources Division in Los Alamitos. "The Eastern European countries had discovered Pacific bonito. In places like Croatia and other Slavic countries, fish buyers started paying more for bonito than they pay for yellowfin tuna, and Mexican commercial fishing responded."
According to the California DFG, from 1988 to 2000, total U.S. Pacific Coast landings (catches) of commercially caught bonito had surpassed those of Mexican commercial landings in only four of those 12 years. And as recently as 1999, a staggering difference was noted: Mexican landings that year totaled 1,730 tons of Pacific bonito, while the U.S. Pacific Coast commercial landings totaled zero.
Mexican purse-seining pressure increased, due to high wholesale market prices. Cool water off Southern California conspired with this economic pressure to keep bonito out of reach of SoCal anglers. Now, thanks to a plummeting market value for bonito, commercial net boats are targeting other species and the striped tuna are again invading from the south, much to the delight of inshore light-tackle anglers and, especially, skippers who operate coastal half- and three-quarter-day party boats.
CARE OF THE CATCH
Although Pacific bonito aren't known for their palate-pleasing flavor, the table quality of the catch can be dramatically improved by following a few easy steps, whether the catch is baked, broiled, battered or barbecued.
¿ Always "bleed-out" a freshly caught bonito by making an incision through the fish's gillrakers in its throat area. After cutting, stand the bonito on its nose in a small, wet burlap bag placed in a plastic chest or bucket.
¿ When the blood flow ceases, immediately place the whole fish on ice in a chest.
¿ When done fishing, fillet the catch at sea, but be extra careful to leave at least one square inch of the bonito's skin intact on each fillet (a California regulation) for identification purposes.
¿ When filleting, carefully remove the horizontal band of dark, red meat running along each side under the fish's lateral line.
¿ Pack fillets in plastic bags, being careful to keep water out of bags. Also squeeze out excess air before sealing bags.
¿ Place bagged fillets on ice in chest the for trip home.
¿ Flavor is enhanced even more by preparing and serving refrigerated fillets while still fresh, not frozen
NEW RECORD BONINTO
The type of Pacific bonito (Sarda chiliensis) taken by Southern California and Baja anglers is one of three species of the fish - the other two are Sarda orientalis and Sarda australis.
The International Game Fish Association recognizes all three species worldwide. The "Southern California" bonito ranges from Alaska to southern Baja California and westward out to the Revillagigedo Islands off Baja's Pacific Coast. Then, beginning with an overlap in lower Baja waters and ranging southward toward Peru, Sarda orientalis replaces chiliensis.
For 27 years, the IGFA all-tackle world record for Pacific bonito stood at 21 pounds, three ounces, set by Brian Picciolo on July 30, 1978. Earlier this year, however, the IGFA approved a new all-tackle mark for the species: a 21-pound, five-ounce Pacific bonito taken on October 19, 2003, by angler Kim Larson.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/blackcloud9/Fishing/LJKayakingJaredDoubleYT082408022.jpg
http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/article/Species/Bonehead-Moves