Pompano Beach - 28 March 2022

John McKroid

Pompano Beach  - 28 March 2022 

Launching off the beach at 6 am. It was a late start for bait fishing.   Bait fishing was plagued with toothy critters that destroyed several Sabikis a few small Cudas were brought in, but this felt like the work of Spanish Mackerel.  By sunrise, I only had one Bigeyed Scad and a Runner and headed out to the third reef.  I hit a few bait marks on the third reef with no luck.

 The Scad was promptly hooked up shortly after being put out.  It came unbuttoned, from what felt like a King Mackerel.  The Runner was put out deeper and soaked for a while before eventually landing a shark.

  Vertical jig fishing was overall slow, There were some good meter marks, but more lookers than takers. 

Hitting spot after spot, I scratched out a variety of fish.

It was good to harvest some Blackfin Tuna.  

Having had so much windy weather, the frig was in need of restocking, but it was still good to release a few to fight again another day.

tankered

Is that a big blue runner? And under it a true Atlantic bonito? 

John McKroid

tankered said:

Is that a big blue runner? And under it a true Atlantic bonito? 

Correct on both.  I ate the blue runner and am still eating the Atlantic Bonita, I made a big container of sandwich spread with it.

tankered

Never thought to try blue runner, how do they eat? I have tried crevalle, won't do that again, but yellow jacks are great. 

conchydong

John McKroid said:

tankered said:

Is that a big blue runner? And under it a true Atlantic bonito? 

Correct on both.  I ate the blue runner and am still eating the Atlantic Bonita, I made a big container of sandwich spread with it.

John, I bet that Atlantic Bonito brought back memories of the Pacific Bonito you probably used to catch in California. They’re pretty good table fair I don’t mind eating them. I also eat blue runners too. My wife cooks them in coconut milk hot peppers and Calabasa and a few other vegetables.

John McKroid

tankered said:

Never thought to try blue runner, how do they eat? I have tried crevalle, won't do that again, but yellow jacks are great. 

I had never thought of eating Blue Runners either, but it was the third fish I took, so it was going in the bag.  Freshly bleed, filleted and the dark meat trimmed out it was tasty.  I concur regarding Jack Cravelle and Yellow Jack.

John McKroid

conchydong said:

John, I bet that Atlantic Bonito brought back memories of the Pacific Bonito you probably used to catch in California. They’re pretty good table fair I don’t mind eating them. I also eat blue runners too. My wife cooks them in coconut milk hot peppers and Calabasa and a few other vegetables.

Exactly Scott.  Pacific Bonito was a catch that really fascinated me as a kid learning to fish in Redondo Beach, California.   The SoCal Edison plant had saltwater coolers and the warm water that they pumped into the ocean kept Pacific Bonito in King Harbor year-round.  It was a hard-fighting fun to catch surface fish.  They were an excellent training fish for learning the basics for targeting larger pelagics on the West Coast.   Your wife's recipe for Blue Runner sounds delicious.

conchydong

John, it is called Ginataan. There are a million recipes for it and each province in the Philippines makes it a bit different. They use whatever seafood and or vegetables they have but the common theme is the coconut milk.
Scott