From as early as I can remember, my Mom would often serve the family tuna salad, and frequently tuna noodle casserole. They were not expensive meals to prepare, nor were they too time consuming to make. Until recently, I have continued to enjoy both of these meals using tuna fish as the main ingredient – but, that all changed last week.

Last week, a neighbor invited me to join him and his son on two ocean fishing trips – one just offshore for sea bass and flounder on Monday and the second trip on the following Friday would be way off shore for yellowfin tuna. I had fished for both sea bass and tuna on trips over the past few years and enjoyed them, so I eagerly accepted the invitation. Both trips would launch out of Margate City, New Jersey with the same Captain, Steve Bent on his boat named “Free Spirit.” We would leave before daybreak and return in late afternoon, thus avoiding the need to stop at a restaurant or store, and further avoiding any unnecessary contacts with other people in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.

For the sea bass trip, we departed the dock at 7:00 a.m. and motored out for two hours until we reached an artificial reef, were we bottom fished around the structure for 4 hours. We were joined by another father and son combination and each fisherman caught 15 to 20 sea bass. The possession limit per fisherman was 20 sea bass, but the problem was that they had to be longer than 12 ½ inches to keep, and only 8 of all of the ones we caught exceeded the size limit. Only one of the fishermen caught any flounder and he caught 2, but only brought one into the boat and it was a dandy, measuring 19 ½ inches.

All in all, it was a fun trip, we all caught fish, but it was a bit disappointing that we each only ended up with enough fish for one good meal. But, it was great weather, the salty old Captain was entertaining and did put us on the fish and it turned out to be a memorable day of swapping fishing and hunting stories as we reeled in sea bass. It was our chance to check out the boat and the Captain, as we would be with them again of Friday for our tuna fishing trip.

Friday was an early departure, as we pulled away from the dock at 3:00 a.m. for a 4 hour run that would take us out almost 25 miles and just short of the Baltimore Canyon. Other fishing boats continued out another hour until reaching the canyon, but our Captain had located yellowfin tuna the day before at our destination. Upon reaching our fishing spot, the Captain throttled back the engines and let the boat drift as he and the first mate began to set out 10 rods with lures and bait that rode on the surface at various distances behind the boat. It was at 8:30 that the first fish hit, and immediately the rest of the lines were reeled in to clear the area for the fight that ensued – but not before a second tuna struck one more of the baits! It was a double and the fight was on! The tuna would run, taking up to several hundred yards of line, then the fisherman would regain some of the line, only to have the reel sing again as the tuna plunged deeper. The fights lasted about 20 minutes until the fish were finally brought into the boat. On this trip there were a total of 4 fishermen, and up until quitting time of 1:00 p.m., we boated 5 really nice yellowfins, weighing from 45 to 60 pounds apiece. Three fish were lost before getting to the boat, and the Captain later said they were probably mako sharks since the lines were bitten clear through. We had trolled slowly the entire time we fished and had the pleasure of being accompanied by literally hundreds upon hundreds of playful dolphins that would leap time and time again as they swam next to our boat. Sometimes a pair would leap simultaneously, and often 3 would show off together. The trip was also highlighted by observing more than a dozen fin whales as they breached the surface, at times only 100 yards away.

Various seagulls and a number of small birds nicknamed “tuna chicks” circled overhead. The dolphins, the whales and the many birds were great indicators that we were in a very good spot for fishing.

The very next day, I had the pleasure of making sushi from the freshly caught tuna, and an appetizer called Ahi Poke, and later, a pan-seared tuna steak with hot wasabi sauce. It was unbelievably delicious and made me want to discard the cans of processed tuna that had been lining my pantry shelf!