I was fishing the chesapeake tower on tuesday and spotted false albacore. I was wondering if these fish were good to eat.

Very bloody fish. Not good table fare in my opinion.

I've heard you could bleed them when you catch them and they'll make a good "tuna" salad. Has anyone tried this?

make good cut bait and flounder strips....

I've had smoked f. albacore salad and it wasn't bad. But you can smoke about anything and make it taste half way decent. Good flounder baits and even better smaller chunks for bailing dolphin. They love it!

good tuna salad

[quote=captainmatt30,Jul 25 2007, 04:31 PM][quote=short comings,Jul 25 2007, 06:25 PM]make good cut bait and flounder strips....
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I've had smoked f. albacore salad and it wasn't bad. But you can smoke about anything and make it taste half way decent. Good flounder baits and even better smaller chunks for bailing dolphin. They love it!

[/quote]
they make decent tuna salad

Whats the best way to catch them?

In my opinion "no", but then again some folks eat Carp. True Albacore or Longfins are good.

some people also eat bear gall bladder and skate wings. that don't make it taste like filet mignon. it's all what you like. kill one and try it. if you like it, kill another one and if you don't let 'em go. way too bloody for me. you catch them the same way you troll for spanish and bluefish. clark or drone spoons with planers or in-line sinkers. they do pull hard.

I have smoked it and it's edible. Spanish is much better. I was out there yesterday and did not see anything.

Small rattletraps work well.

They taste fine but are a pain to prep.

Bleed the fish immediately.
Fillet and soak in a 10% lemon/ 90% water mix for 16-18 hours.

Its the same prep the Japanese (saba) and Californians' use for Bonita and Pac Mack.

Its a fine tasting tuna filler.


I milk the roe and soak it in saki for 2 weeks. Its uber- yummy.

I have heard from folks that it makes a decent sashimi. Make great strip baits for spoons (but with the advent of artificial strips like pork rinds, no need to kill one for that).

If you want some fun, cast to the schools with a fly rod or a light spinning rod. They are rather voracious feeders, and a hell of a lot of fun on light tackle. Trout grubs or stingsilvers are good baits to use. Good luck!

Sounds like way too much trouble to prepare for the table, but they are great for major pullage on light tackle. Caught one from the surf a couple of years ago that went 12lbs on a light spinning reel, this thing peeled drag so fast had to palm the spool after loosening the drag some and burnt my hand. A small crowd assembled as I did battle and applauded me after a 20 min fight. Hope I can get another this fall, that was a freakin' blast.
DB