The Willapa is coming in with
(Surprise!)
FRESH TUNA!
Wow! What a surprise for us all!
Kenny is coming into the Garibaldi Port with FRESH TUNA!
First of all, I want to say that I hope this letter finds you safe from the fires and from illness during these crazy times!
Kenny thought he’d give it one last shot at tuna, due to what he calls “radio fish” and he found them! “Radio fish” are just reports that you hear around, or on the radio!
As you can see in the pictures above, (you may have to select to view them at the top of your e mail) we have been busy painting buoys and getting ready for the 2020-2021 crab season. Tuna sadly seemed to be a season of the past. It sure was a crazy season!
He called in on his Zoleo (Which works on the Iridium global satellite network) and said he had 100 fish! And who knows how many he’s landed since then?!
I’m so excited for the crew and for all of you who have been desperate for tuna canning this year! We have another chance! (me included!)
He said he’d be in late tonight, and that he’d sell tomorrow. I realize that Monday isn’t always the best day for folks to get away, but I’ll take it!
So, in short, there will be fresh tuna on the Garibaldi dock on the f/v Willapa, tomorrow at 9:00 AM. and until it sells out!
The tuna is first come first serve!
We would love to save some for you, but it’s just too crazy and rarely works out smoothly or fairly.
Next year, we will be taking orders. I wish we could do it this trip, but it isn’t set up for this year. I’ll be sending out a questionnaire to find out what you think of it!
We hope to see you tomorrow, and until this fish sells! It will go quickly, as we are still receiving requests for tuna, multi times daily!
Thank you so much! You guys are the best!
For information on how tuna sales work, scroll down
Jennie, via our great fisher,
Kenny Bushnell
From Kenny:
“Today, I would like to point out some helpful info about tuna- things I get asked often. I hope you find it interesting and helpful. I will also include some resources found on the internet that you may find helpful!
If you have any questions to ask me, simply reply to this email and Jennie will write it down and I will answer for the next email we send!
The fish I bring to the dock for you are handled with extreme care to ensure a high quality product. For tuna, this includes bleeding every fish as it comes on board by slicing the artery in the throat and immediately chilling them down with an ice/salt/water brine that is approximately 20 F, before being transferred to the fish hold where they are buried in ice until the fish is removed from the ice to be taken home by you.
We sell whole fish and the price you pay, (as of August 30th 2020) is $3.50 a pound. Please remember that this is for a whole fish, otherwise known in the fishing world as “fish in the round” —not loin price. Yield of a fish is generally between 40% and 60%, depending on the individual fish. In other words, you will go home with about 50% meat from a whole fish or fish in the round. When you buy tuna from us you are buying the skin, head, belly, fins, and loins. You are welcome to all of it, even if you have it processed by the cutters. The scraps make excellent crab bait or fish stock. This is all yours and we encourage you to make use of it all!
When a fish is cut, it should yield four loins per whole fish, one belly section, and often some scrap parts that are not part of the loin.
We offer an optional service to cut your fish for a fee per fish. This optional service is provided for your benefit and we do not make a profit on the cutting service (cutting fees go to the individual fish cutters, not to F/V Willapa).
The cutting service we chose this year for our boat is one of the best! The gentleman we use to process fish is used by the Garibaldi Cannery and has been cutting fish for many years. His cutting fee is $6.00 per fish and is likely less than the other fish cutting services in port. There are many fish cutting places such as The Spot and Garibaldi Cannery.
When our cutting service is used, any edible scrap piece is included for you to take home as it is great for additional fish in your canner loads.
Let’s talk about belly meat! The fish piece with the skin left on are the belly meat. Many people use tuna belly as a bait for salmonoid fishing, as it is one of the best baits available for freshwater salmonoid fishing (especially steelhead). It is also great crab bait. Some people smoke their tuna belly, skin on. Some people remove the tuna belly meat from the skin and put a bit of each in each can for canning, as it is high in oil content and makes the cans a bit oilier. Bellies have many uses. If you do not want to use the belly meat for anything, I assure you that many people would gladly take it off your hands as it is highly prized for smoked fish and for bait.
Please also watch the video below, which is very helpful in purchasing tuna! I really enjoyed it!
Have a great Monday!
Kenny Bushnell