That's My Story

You say Po-TAY-toe.  I say poe-TAH-toe.  Semantics can screw with you.

One man’s bonito is another man’s skipjack and is another man’s catfood and another man’s gourmet dinner!

It was a number of years ago that I was sitting with a group of fishermen in a little  palm-frond palapa bar/restaurant just north…or south of Loreto.  Details are fuzzy.   I remember the beer was chilly.  The sandy floor between my toes felt good and we were all a little wind and sunburned from a good day on the water.  A little fishing.  A little diving.  Some stupid pull-my-finger horseplay between fellow goofballs.

We sat in those scuffed -white -plastic chairs with the beer logo that every Mexican beer company gives to every restaurant with the equally scuffed-up white plastic table.  No matter.  We were hungry and ordered up some fish tacos and a plate of “filete al mojo de ajo” (grilled fish with garlic.)

It arrived on mis-matched plastic plates and served with bent forks but the tortillas were warm; the salsa spicy and the beer so cold that “smoke” came out the mouth  when popped open.  And the fish could not have tasted better!  RIQUISIMO!

We wolfed down taco after taco and plate after plate.  Shoveled it in like chipmunks stuffing our cheeks!  Lime juice squirted all over.

Then someone asked the waiter… “Que clase de pescado es? Tan sabrosa!” (What kind of fish is this?  It’s delicious!”

The waiter said with a smile…”BONITO!”

AAACK!!!!

Six guys nearly hurled and choked in unison!  Everyone stopped eating to look up and at each other. Salsa dripping from fingers and corners of mouths. More than one eye-brow arched.

Bonito?  You gotta be kidding me!  We’re eating junk fish?  Isn’t that the stuff we throw away?  Give to the cats?  Put in the garden for fertilizer?  Man…if it is…that’s danged good!

Just another chapter in my enlightenment of Mexican fish! Another fish “epiphany” as it were.

 Just as I had come to enjoy eating such fish like triggerfish and sierra mackerel over the years after thinking they were also “junk fish,” I got schooled about bonito.

Highly-prized as a sport fish, but much maligned as table fare, it’s easy to get confused.  Many of us who grew up or did any fishing on the Pacific Coast came to stereotype bonito as a throw-away species. Catch a ton, but throw them back or give them away!

But, in Mexico the lines get blurred.  Everyone runs into species confusion.  Everyone calls the tuna-look-alike-fish that has trips on it a “bonito.” But, in reality, they’re usually talking about two kinds of fish…black skipjack and real bonito!

They look very identical.  Both are hard-charging members of the tuna family and if you didn’t know better, you’d think they were tuna.  They grow to about 8-12 pounds but fight like 20 pounders. 

Easily caught on live bait, lures, trolled feathers…they’re not real fussy.  Fun at first but after-awhile, if you’re really trying to catch something else like dorado or real tuna, they’re pests!

But that’s the rub.

Most captains will say “bonito” and immediately the stigma is attached.  They make no distinction between bonito and skipjack.  So, the gringo  anglers just toss the fish back and get increasingly frustrated. 

However, a good captain knows the distinction. 

Skipjack have dots or stripes on their silver/white bellies.  Meat is dark red and frankly terrible eating. 

On the other hand, bonito have no marks on their bellies. They have white/silver bellies.   Meat is not only light color, but if bled quickly and all dark meat and blood lines are removed, will fool many into thinking they are eating tuna!

So next time, take a closer look before tossing your “bonito” back !  Or convince your buddy that you really do want those bonito he planned to throw away!  Remember, yesterdays “junk fish” is often today’s dinner. 

 Just remember the prices at your local seafood restaurant for such “junk fish” as …catfish…whitefish…shark…mackerel (yes mackerel!)…tilapia (in Hawaii, they used to bring in tilapia to eat the sewage and mosquitos in the irrigation canals for the sugar cane fields!) Now they call them “African Perch” at 2o bucks a plate.  Believe it or not…even albacore was considered a “throwaway” fish at the turn of the century!

As for us eating that day on the beach…we were just hungry!  Dos mas platos por favor!  (two more plates please!) And more tortillas!

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            Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004.  Along with his wife, Jill, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter-international.com.  They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront.  If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com  or drop by the restaurant to say hi!           

Jonathan

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