25/2/2015 Bloody Tuna!
Anyone
who knows Leanne, knows that things can get a bit crazy on board Easy Tiger
when a fish is caught. For 99 percent of our sailing around Australia
adventure, Leanne has had a fishing line or two trailing behind the boat and in
Western Australia, did quite well. She caught at least half a dozen Tuna, a
couple of Mackerel and not to be outdone I had reeled in a good sized Pike.
South
Australia has been a bit quieter, so we had packed most of the fish “processing”
tools like the gaff hook for example, away. Leanne has still trawled right down
the west coast and Port Lincoln to Adelaide with no success.
When
we left Adelaide a couple of weeks ago, Ian and Sue Sully came with us to
Kangaroo Island. Ian brought a para vane trawling line that proved it’s worth
once the water got a bit shallower. He caught 2 Snook in about 12 metres of
water.
This
fired up the fishing manager aboard Easy Tiger. Ian very kindly donated the
line to Leanne, and she used it on the way from Kangaroo Island to Robe last
week. Again two Snook were caught in pretty much the same spot.
On
the way out of American River on Kangaroo Island, sailing conditions became very close to perfect for Easy Tiger and we managed to get along at 8 to 9 knots. The
water got quite a lot deeper so the para vane was packed away for another day.
We
passed the Penneshaw hotel and then the ferry terminal, then turned southeast
at Snapper point. We hurtled past Antechamber bay making excellent time with
the wind behind us as predicted.
When
we logged on with the American River VMR, Carol connected us with
another boat called Sapphire with Richard, Isabelle and their kids Robbie and
Rebecca aboard. We could just see their sail on the horizon in front of us.
They were also making their way to Robe.
As
midday approached the wind softened and it was back to one motor chugging away.
This did slow us to about 5.5knots, so Leanne got out the trawling rod,
attached a new lure and let a hundred or so metres out.
Everything
progressed well as we motored our way southeast towards our destination of
Robe.
We
did a shift change, with Leanne going off watch and me taking over at around
5.30pm. It was a beautiful warm day, by this time there was no wind to speak of
and the sea surface resembled glass. Leanne decided to have a shower and a
clean up on the back deck, preparing for sailing overnight.
After
Leanne, I did the same, showering and change of clothes into clean, warmer
clothes.
I
had just taken the helm, when ZZZZ. The trawling line began unreeling at a
rapid rate. The rod was bending indication that something quite heavy and
strong had taken the lure.
That
was when Leanne, who is still recovering from dengue fever, grabbed the rod,
stiffened the drag and started winding. All the while urgently shouting, “YES,
YES, YES”.
Being
as good hearted and natured as I am, I offered to do the heavy lifting for
Leanne and bring the fish in. “No way”, she shouted, “I know your rule”. She
had a point. My rule is simply that whoever winds the fish in…caught the fish.
To
assist the winding in of the fish, I stopped the boat.
After
half an hour or so of winding a little, give a little, Leanne had the fish
close enough to see that it was a Tuna. A big Tuna.
I
did a brief search for the gaff hook without success. I did an even briefer
search for the gloves. The only alternative I could manage was wrapping some
thick rag around my hand then grabbed the line and hauled the fish aboard.
Leanne
has previously used an old shower curtain to “process” the fish she has caught.
This keeps the mess contained and off our unsealed cork deck. So the big Tuna
was slid on to the shower curtain that was folded in half.
“Now
what?” I said. “this may be a bit big for us”. I was looking down on a 750mm
long 20kg Tuna. Leanne, had already dashed to get her fillet knife and other
“processing” tools. “Gotta bleed it” she said “otherwise we will have wasted
it’s life”. Without further ado, she stabbed the big Tuna behind the pectoral
fin.
The
big Tuna, obviously still alive, objected to being stabbed by flapping
violently around. Leanne had severed an artery in the big fish and it did the
required trick, meaning it started bleeding. Heavily.
Combine
a fish leaking about three litres of blood, have it thrashing around on your
cork boat deck and then start sawing it’s head off, result; an unholy mess.
Leanne
was now going through her ritual of apologizing to the fish as she was hacking it’s
head off. I could now see fish blood now spattered on the roof, on the seat cushions
and trickling down into the engine bay. Thinking that we had better get it off
before it stained, I got the bucket and filled it with seawater. Then I started
dousing the back deck. Unfortunately Leanne was in the way when I flung the
fourth bucket of water, splashing cold sea water mixed with fish blood over
her.
The
fish’s head was now completely off and it’s internal organs had spilled, on to
the cork deck. “Oh no”, I said. “We haven’t taken a photo!” This is usually
part of Leanne’s fish catching ritual. To achieve a proper photo, I stuffed the
organs back inside the fish and pushed the head back in place. I held it there while Leanne snapped a couple
of photo’s for her facebook page, then we swapped and I took a photo.
I
continued the bucket sloshing of the entire rear of the boat, while Leanne
continued to hack away at the big Tuna. We cast the head and internal organs
into the sea towards a waiting bird. From nowhere, one bird instantly turned
into 100 birds. Their eyesight and ability to spot a feed form several miles away, must be amazing.
Leanne
transferred the fish into the galley. Unfortunately it obviously hadn’t been
bled out, as witnessed by the trail of mess from the back deck into the galley.
The bloody mess now occupied the entire bench on one side of the galley. “Where
are we going to put all this?” I asked, remembering that our fridges and
freezer were all full. We had restocked and provisioned for four weeks while we
were in Adelaide.
Looking
at the big pile of bloody fish that was accumulating as Leanne hacked away at
it, was quite unappealing to say the least. Finally she agreed that we could
keep the less blood filled pieces she was trying to extract, the rest would
have to go back where it came from.
The
birds were very happy to receive pieces of fish tossed to them. The bigger
pieces quickly sank. I hate to think what gobbled them up.
After
an hour of cleaning up what we thought was the rest of the mess, we re-showered
and changed into another set of clothes, then got under way.
Next
morning we arrived in the delightful town of Robe. There was a gaggle of people
on the jetty to catch our ropes and welcome us, which was nice.
As we tied on I noticed the the red streaks of dried blood on the back of the boat. I hoped our greeters hadn't seen them. They didn’t say anything, but then you wouldn’t would
you? If they did I wonder if they would have accepted our explanation of the
bloody tuna fiasco.
Leanne and her prized catch. |
Yes! I am holding the head in place for the photo opportunity. |
Inside for the "processing". Let the mess begin!!! |
The main beneficiaries of our lack of knowledge as to how to process a bloody Tuna! |
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