Albacore: It Ain’t Just For Canning
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Growing up in Oregon, I heard from an uncle about the commercial fishing fleet going out of Astoria and Ilwaco and using jack poles to bring in tens of thousands of albacore tuna every year. These fish were and are predominantly used for canning, but they’re also excellent fresh as poke, quick-seared, or smoked.
The challenge is getting to them. Unlike salmon or rockfish that can be caught relatively close to shore – if not from a jetty – Pacific albacore can be 40-50 miles offshore. Factoring in the time to get out to the fishing grounds and the unpredictability of bar crossings and ocean conditions, it’s not a fishery one engages in nonchalantly. But, it was the challenge that intrigued me, and inspired me to find a way to get after them.
That’s where friends with boats come in real handy.
Late last July, I was contemplating either getting into the mountains to scout for blacktail deer or putting the float tube into a local lake for rainbow trout when my buddy texted “I have a real bad idea for tomorrow.” Obviously intrigued, I asked what he had in mind. When he suggested going out to look for albacore, thoughts of waders and spotting scopes immediately went out the window.
We got to the boat launch around 7am, and had picked up bait and crossed the bar by 8am. It was shy of a two hour run out to the albacore grounds where we started seeing water temps and clarity conducive to finding fish. At the first spot we tried we were able to troll up a fish but conditions didn’t look quite right. Moving another 12 miles out gave me the opportunity to take a quick nap as the boat skipped over the mild swells.
Suddenly, I wake to the boat quickly slowing to trolling speed with my buddy excitedly telling me the water temps have come up and the water clarity looks good. This is the spot: water temps above 60 degrees and clean, clear blue water.
Our strategy is to troll with a couple rods pulling lures. When albacore hit these, we kill the engines, drop some live bait into the water, bait up a bare hook with an anchovy, and drop it over the side with the bail open. If there are albacore in the spot, the bait will swim from 15 seconds to a minute before grabbed by a tuna; and sometimes, they get hit right by the boat.
Count to five, then (depending on the type of reel) close the bail, and the tuna hooks itself. As other tuna species are prone to do, they run, dive, and then spiral under the boat. With multiple lines in the water, it can get real intense as guys dive and climb over each other to keep their lines from tangling and fish breaking off.
The first trolling rod was hit at 10:45am. Bait goes into the water, we bait our hooks, get them into the water, and immediately we both hooked up. This is the beginning of an epic, two-hour long drift.
Gaffs are pulling albacore aboard, fish hit the deck, and blood splatters on us and the gunwales. We put fresh ice into a bleed bucket – a garbage can strapped to the transom with ratchet straps – and clear decks, then get back to getting baited hooks into the water.
Eventually, between getting lines snarled by tuna, cut by the occasional blue shark that encounters our bait, and hooks worn out by the strain, we exhaust our supply of gear and are forced to suspend fishing. Exhausted, I announce there are now 23 fish in the bleed bag, bucket, and on the deck landed over the past two hours. Combined with the number of sharks caught and released and tuna fought but lost, it was a near-constant battle over two hours and thousands of yards of drifting through the Pacific Ocean. Truly epic.
Why go through such an ordeal? Aside from the excitement, fresh albacore is delicious. For the first few weeks after the trip, my family and I consumed multiple tuna in the form of poke bowls, but eventually a little variety helps keep my wife and kids excited to eat more tuna.
In my search for tuna recipes, an idea came to me: yakisoba.
Yakisoba is a wheat noodle-based dish with a deep history in the Seattle area. As Japanese and Korean restaurants proliferated in the 1970s onward, restaurant patrons could find fast and inexpensive dishes of chicken teriyaki and yakisoba from urban street corners in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District to suburban strip malls across the Puget Sound region. Typically made with chicken or pork, yakisoba is a fast, inexpensive, and comforting dish combining a sweet and umami-flavored sauce with stir fried vegetables and protein.
Serves: 4-6
Time to make: 30 minutes
Tools needed: Large wok, Colander, Tongs, Sharp knife
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Albacore: It Ain’t Just For Canning
4-6
servings25
minutes5
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- For the Tuna
Two albacore loins (½ of one fish)
Toasted sesame oil – enough to coat the tuna
Sesame seeds – enough to coat the tuna
½ yellow onion thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
½ green cabbage – roughly chopped
Two packages ramen noodles (unflavored)
2 tablespoons cooking oil (vegetable, canola)
- For the Yakisoba sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestshire
1 tablespoon sake
1 teaspoon ketchup
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon of curry powder
Pinch or two of ground pepper
- Toppings (optional)
Pickled ginger
Bonito flakes
Dried seaweed
Fried egg
Sriracha
Teriyaki sauce
Scallions
Preparation
- Mix yakisoba sauce ingredients in small bowl and set aside.
- Rinse the tuna to remove any scales left over from butchering. Pat dry with paper towel. Using a brush, paint toasted sesame oil on all sides of the loins, and then coat with sesame seeds.
- Sear the tuna over medium-high heat for 45-60 seconds per side. Do not overcook or the tuna will dry out. You want it rare. Set aside.
- Add in your onion to the same pan and stir fry for approximately five minutes. Add in more oil if needed. Once cooked, remove the onions from the heat and set aside.
- Heat your wok with cooking oil over medium-high heat. While the wok heats, cook your ramen noodles in boiling water. You want these underdone, so if the instructions on your packet say cook for one minute, only cook them for 50 seconds. If it says cook for two minutes, cook them for one minute and 40 seconds, and so on. Once you’ve cooked them for the appropriate time, drain in a colander and then rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process. One drained, put them into a mixing bowl and toss them with some cooking oil to keep them from sticking.
- With the wok heated, add the ramen noodles, season with salt and pepper, and fry until they brown slightly. Add the yakisoba sauce, and stir to mix evenly.
- Add in your onion and cabbage, and stir. Stir fry for a minute or two until well combined and the cabbage wilts slightly.
- Plate the yakisoba – I like large bowls for this – and garnish with the topics of your choice, though I highly recommend the pickled ginger as it is delightful. Slice up the tuna into medallions, and place on top of the noodle dish. Pairs nicely with chilled white wine or Mexican pilsner.
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