Bonito, bonito… and Mac tuna

Aaron’s team were very lucky with perfect sea conditions, clear sky and warm sun. Inshore trolling was very good with bonito all along the coast. We headed out to our nearest FAD but found only green cold water, about 20.1 C and no dolphinh fish. But bonito and mac tuna made up for it.

Bonito is a surface fish which is blue-green above and silvery below with dark narrow bands extending the entire length of the body. The fins are grey. It’s body is elongated and rounded and very streamlined, and has a single row of small teeth on both jaws.

They have moderately large, strong jaws which carry a single row of relatively small, but distinct, conical teeth. Don’t put a finger in it’s mouth! A series of dark, longitudinal stripes are evident along the fish’s upper and middle flanks. Bonito are found around the entire coast of Australia and feed on small baitfish in coastal waters. They grow to a maximum weight of about 5 kg.

The trick with bonito is to bleed them quickly, immerse in cold water, gut them and put them on ice without delay. They are then one of our favorite food fish, cooked any old way but filleting is good, then turned in egg wash and bread cumbs and pan fried in butter.

And Ian did well, preparing a mac tuna for sashimi with soy and wasabi. Appreciated by all!