The Raw Story

While many of my friends are fascinated by my late-in-life discovery of fishing, more than a few of them get agitated by one aspect of my addiction: They can’t understand how and why we release all of our fish. To them, it seems like a waste of a good opportunity.

Because we were raised on the catch and release tournament mentality, until recently Pete and I never came home with a full livewell. There’s nothing wrong with eating what you catch if done responsibly, but usually that was done on location.

That changed when we went to Alaska in July of 2020. We came home with a whopping 96 pounds of Bristol Bay salmon.

By April, the salmon was depleted. Fortunately, that same month we’d scheduled a trip to Panama, which presented us with an opportunity to refill the freezer with yellowfin tuna. Captain Shane Jarvis and his team delivered. Our group caught tuna up to 130 pounds and we filled out Yeti travel cooler for our return home. We’ve been “experimenting” with it ever since.

While we often share our pictures of our prized catches fresh out of the water, this gives us an opportunity to offer up some food porn.

Pete’s favorite way I prepare the tuna is seared on a high heat, with a little crunch on the outside and pink in the middle.

I just like it raw, simple and easy. No prep: just slice, dip and eat.

Despite my hair color, I’m not a big fan of ginger. I don’t really love wasabi, either, but I think those items are what gets Pete to eat it raw.

We apparently didn’t bring enough home so we’ve been forced to go back in early November, a true “first world problem.” If you didn’t make the trip this time, hit me up and we’ll get you booked for a future big fish beatdown. Just make sure you clean out your freezer first. In the meantime, listen to the sizzling sounds of greatness below (turn up the volume).