angel huerta's 74 pound opah!

alantani · October 21, 2016, 03:16:10 PM

got a text last night from a friend, angel huerta. not sure exactly when, but he landed a 74 pound opah out of santa cruz harbor fishing with captain tom from "fish on sportfishing" on board the sara bella, melvin and shaun on deck. congratulations!

Tightlines667 · October 21, 2016, 03:27:51 PM

A rare catch on sportsfishing gear to be sure. A few are landed each year on the Hawaiian Islands on Hook & Line. While each of the Longline trips typical land 6-12 per trip. With around 400 trips annually, they have become a relatively common occurrence at the local markets.

Super tasty fish, with 3 different types of meat/cuts present.

There are actually 2 different recognized species of Opah present in the Pacific (Bigeye, and Smalleye). This guy appears to be the less commonly encounteted Smalleye Opah.

John

Bryan Young · October 21, 2016, 05:31:24 PM

Santa Cruz Harbor? Like Santa Cruz, California? Opah is one of my favorite fish. There are 3 sections of the fish that has different texture and taste in one fish. Let's go fishing!!!

Dominick · October 21, 2016, 07:51:43 PM

I just discovered that the opah is the only warm blooded fish in the ocean. Dominick

El Pescador · October 21, 2016, 07:55:40 PM

Quote from: Bryan Young on October 21, 2016, 05:31:24 PM
Oprah is one of my favorite fish. There are 3 sections of the fish that has different texture and taste in one fish. Let's go fishing!!!

Uma vs. Oprah!!!!!

I thought Oprah is a talk show host?

Enjoyed Opah in Hawaii at Sam Choy's Honolulu location, FANTASTIC!!!! Don't know which of the three parts I enjoyed, but plain fantastic!!!!

Wayne

mizmo67 · October 21, 2016, 09:23:19 PM

Wow, that's a pretty fish. I haven't seen pics of them much, didn't know it was called Opah, had to look it up!

Steve-O · October 21, 2016, 09:41:55 PM

They are pretty! This one made the washington state record last year. Very rare in colder waters, warm blood or not.

Second pic is a jumbo opah..possible world record.

David Hall · October 22, 2016, 01:47:20 AM

Tom and the Sara Bella are fish killers. He works his behind off to get his passengers on fish. Him and Khanh are in my opinion the two best six pack charter captains in central California waters. I have never fished with either but I must be doing something right because we seem to fish the same areas a lot. People chase them on the water, not me!
Last year Tom caught more Blue fin on the Sara Bella than any other boat in our area. I don't know for sure but I'm thinking last year he boated 8-10 maybe more, and I caught 1!
I ventured out today to the same area I fished last year, can't say for certain that is where Tom caught this fish but it is where I caught my fish last year and Tom killed them.
Anyway today was not the day, I never even reached the area I wanted to fish and running at 7kts I was still taking water over the bow. There was a mixed swell 6-8' with 1-3' wind waves today, basically unfishable for everyone except Tom, I have a rule when I'm out, of water is coming over my bow at trolling speed and I can't stand up and walk around, I'd rather be home drinking vodka! the weather turned it into an all day trip, we left the dock at 0700 and made it back at 3:30 traveling around 70 miles round trip.

David Hall · October 22, 2016, 01:50:46 AM

Quote from: Bryan Young on October 21, 2016, 05:31:24 PM
Santa Cruz Harbor? Like Santa Cruz, California? Opah is one of my favorite fish. There are 3 sections of the fish that has different texture and taste in one fish. Let's go fishing!!!

Several were caught here in the same waters last year, I have yet to catch one but when I do, I'm going to call you and ask you to come over and give me a tutorial on butchering this species, in exchange for a good portion of each for you to take home. Deal?

angelh · October 22, 2016, 07:29:37 AM

The catch was great! Captain Tom is the Man and his boat the Sara Bella is great! I forgot my trolling rod at home because I was running late to get to the harbor, so I wanna thank Melvin for lending me his gear and knowledge, also want to thank Shaun and Captain Tom for the gaff job.

Don't hesitate to book a trip with Captain Tom with "Fishonsportfishing.com "

angelh · October 22, 2016, 07:36:22 AM

The meat is Beautiful! The deep red resembles Tuna which came from the Breast / Chin , the thick pinkish cuts came from the bottom loin and the thinner cuts came from the upper loins.

David Hall · October 22, 2016, 04:31:30 PM

Thanks for showing that Angel, great looking cuts. You mind sharing when did you catch this beautiful fish?

Fishy247 · October 22, 2016, 04:51:18 PM

Nice! Good to see a blue water fish come out of our local area. Amazingly beautiful fish. We caught 3 of them a few years ago fishing albacore on the Kahuna. The first one(and first I had ever seen up close) was about 60#. I was the senior deckhand on that trip and none of us knew how to process it! The skipper even went on the radio to check with other captains on how to proceed....lol. I ended up playing it by ear and figuring it out as I went. Very different skeletal structure than anything I had cleaned before. I think it took me at least 45 minutes to do just that one fish! One thing I have to point out about it though. The 3 different types of meat are all FANTASTIC eating, cooked or raw. The pink meat is kinda weird though. It starts out looking like standard fish flesh, but as you go down toward the "belly" section(for lack of a better description) it transitions into a super firm type of stuff, almost as hard as bone or cartilage, but staying a similar color. When the fish is intact, that lower portion is so hard that I thought that you could blast it with a shotgun at close range and it would bounce right off!

I discovered that this is not the case. It's actually super fatty meat. Trim the skin and stomach lining. If it's really thick, you can butterfly it or cut it into thin strips and cook it up hot and fast. I blackened some of that stuff as an experiment and it was AMAZING!

Cortez_Conversions · October 22, 2016, 05:07:51 PM

Looks Tasty!
How was the fight? Looking at the fish, it looks like it could be difficult to turn?
Tom

Tightlines667 · October 22, 2016, 05:37:59 PM

These fish only yield about 35% of total weight (i.e. 35lbs of filets from a 100lb fish).

They are much stronger then they look. They swim primarily with their pectoral fins, but use their caudal for short bursts of speed. The dark meat, and thermoregulatory capacity (Endotherms) gives the fish staying power, while their flattened disc-like shape gives them the ability to turn on a dime. They are efficient long distance travelers, and hunt deep in the Meso layer. Squid is a favorite prey item.

Cool fish.

For those that are intetested, I attached a copy of (& a link to) my friends', and colleagues' (Don & Megan) papers on the vertical movement/habitat preference, and DNA analysis confirming multiple species of Opah.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.12268/abstract