Mack on the Back – By Anthony Davies
“Only a bonito” muttered Chris as the hard fighting fish came into sight. I was much more excited, it was a TUNA, and I’d never caught one before. This was way back in the 80’s, my first real cord line trolling session with Chris’ favoured Huntingdon Drone Spoons, and we’d already put a brace of school sized Spaniards in the kill box. The “bonito” was half the size of the mackerel but pulled twice as hard, and as I swung him into the box I saw a patch of mackerel stripes on his upper flank. The fish was a little or mackerel tuna , Euthynnus affinis, generally called a bonito in the North Queensland of my youth.
This solid Mack Tuna fought well after inhaling a Halco Streaker metal slug.
The true bonitos of the genus Sarda are small tunas, strongly marked with stripes or spots. “Bonito” means “pretty” in Spanish and Portuguese. Compared to the albacore and bluefin tunas caught off the coastline of these countries, the Atlantic bonito is rather small and pretty, hence the name.
We get the tiny Watsons Leaping Bonito Cybiosarda in the tropics, the larger Australian bonito Sarda australis is a popular sportfish in more southern waters. Mackerel tuna have similar markings, so that’s where the local name came from.
Mack tuna have a much bigger average size than true bonito, around 3-5 kilos, although maximum size is about the same as S. australis at around 10 kilos. Like all tunas they are a handsome fish, more robustly built than the longtail tuna that inhabit the same areas. Mack tuna lack the yellow colour on the tail wrist finlets as found on longtails, but the easiest ID feature is the patch of mackerel stripes on each side of the rear upper back.
Many an angler has mistaken that opening run of a mack tuna off the rocks as something bigger. For a much maligned bait thief, the humble mack tuna can be a lot of fun on a slow day
It’s as a sportfish that the mack tuna really shines. They travel in large schools, “busting up” spectacularly on the surface at times. With their longtail cousins and spotty mackerel they are prime targets for high speed spinning with metal slugs. This fishery has declined in popularity in recent years, although the high levels of frustration and fun associated with the technique have not. Through the eighties to the ‘oughties’, fishos with seven foot 10 kilo “Moreton Bay Spin Sticks” matched with big Penn Spinfishers and the like would chase the tuna schools in search of sport.
Mack tuna were also a frequently caught species when the “spinning from the stones” technique of high speed land based spinning with metal lures took off in the late seventies. In those bad old days mack tuna were disdained as table fish compared to bonito, Spanish mackerel, kingfish and yellowfin and longtail tuna, called “Northern Bluefin” in those days.
Dan Bowater with a great catch of Mackerel Tuna
That’s because mack tuna are one of the darkest fleshed tunas, the central core of “red muscle” typical of tunas is almost black, and the flesh proper is almost liver coloured, bloody and strongly flavoured. That said, if bled properly with deep cuts behind the pectoral fins, rapidly chilled mack tuna is definitely edible, particularly if smoked or cooked Mediterranean style. I used to sell electric smokers in the Betta store where I worked, and one Saturday I did a smoke up with spotty mackerel and mack tuna fillets. The mack tuna was far more popular, smoking up like pork it had the punters coming back for seconds.
Mack tuna are a handsome smaller member of the tuna tribe, they put up a fight that’s out of proportion to their size and they are even reasonable eating. They deserve more respect than “Just a bonito”.
Doug Williams landed this mack tuna (in spite of the sharks) at Townsville’s Bunnings patch. Dave Carney photo.
