The Majesty of the Blue Fin

I started my fishing career as an unpaid “pinnhead”  where we scrubbed the boat for free ticket; at the ripe old age of nine, aboard the boats on Paradise Cove and Malibu, I worked like a grown man. Back then, fishing had hit a low point from post El Nino morning sickness that the sea gets every few decades combined with years of lax management -especially for the offshore tuna fisheries. I used to glare at magazine images of the mighty blue tuna taken back East. Like a teenager with a stolen playboy in the bathroom, the images of the bluefin stole my imagination.  I could not really explain it, but something about that fish in particular spoke to me, its massive size, its giant eyes, its teardrop shape – all nice features but it was deeper yet. It took 35 more years for me to get my first one on the boat and only then did I fully comprehend the majesty of the blue fin -it finally all made sense.

With my good buddy, Brian Colgate, on his boat the, Market Price, I managed to spear the 147-pounder seen in the photos. I have hooked many on rod and reel, fought for hours only to lose them just below the surface – broken hearts and wounded muscles ensued. I had seen a few diving  and never managed to land one.

After a marathon with days of no sleep, this time we got the fish. With my mighty six band, 68 inch mahogany spear gun in hand, I slid over the side  into the bottomless powder blue water 50-miles off shore, near the Mexican border. When you dive a scant 70-feet down waiting for random tuna to pass within range, in 3,000-feet of water, in the blue – it is an otherworldly experience. It is the only true quiet place on earth, there is no up or down, no sideways or even gravity – it is total sensory deprivation punctuated by extreme excitement.

Then a slight shimmer far  below  reveals that hoards of tuna are just out of sight and then like dive bombers from the clouds, they appear magically out of the blue- they make a first pass, the largest fish usually breaks from the heard and does a sort of tail dance to exert dominance and let you know that you have been spotted. These fish appeared to be actually blue, most over 200-pounds and six-feet long ran figure eights around me making it impossible to track  a single fish- the feeling of being in a tuna vortex with top end lions of the sea accustomed to eating anything they please brings about a feeling of intense connection to the sea and the tuna like I had never known -it was truly a level playing field.

Still hovering at 70-feet on a single breath hold, I kicked down further after a single medium sized fish.  At 80-feet, I took aim and knew I had a bad shot,  but pulled the tigger anyway. I hit it in the back, the fish zoomed out of sight  to about 250-feet of water where it strained the line attached to my set of floats that sunk out past me as I kicked way to the surface which seemed to be a mile away.

After being pulled around for two-hours, I managed to inch the wounded  fish to depth where I could  shoot it a second time. I killed it with a shot through the spine.

Once on deck, after a few screams of delight, we cut out the heart and gobbled down the tender, still besting muscle then chased it with slices of the fatty toro belly meat. The heavy fats warmed my belly and gave me  added brain power. When I removed the organs, the liver and kidney they were massive like a shark.

It was clear that the blue fin tuna had senses and anatomy that other fish do not. Its sense of vibration detection, brain power, its ability to warm its own blood, its eye sight, all a notch above other fish, and the pure force of its thrust is unmatched- hence the difficulty in landing one. But after 35-years of steady trying,  it finally happened and it exceeded my expectation in terms of creating a new place in my mind and heart and increasing my respect for the sea and all the life within it.

The lifelong chase also proved the case that to the persistent go the spoils and nothing worth having comes easily. Our society is so focused on fast results and guaranteed outcomes that we often lose sight of the joy of the journey. A country where everybody  is a winner leads to depression and despair for many as nature rewards those who allow its design.  Nature wants us to feel true, deep satisfaction that only comes with honing one’s  skills and practicing long term patience with an eye to long terms success.

Having a lifes work allows people to never mind short term losses and setbacks – if you view your pursuits as one part of a longer term, lifelong project and even a start of a legacy that you begin for others to follow after you go, it truly helps put things in a healthy perspective.

Friends came over and we gorged on the fatty belly meat for hours – the added brain power and sexual effects did not go unnoticed.  As one party guest put it, “Think like Einstein and screw like a gorilla.” No wonder the Japanese are so smart.