The Boat Lunch

A feature story from April/May 2015 Print Edition Volume 14 Edition 3 InTheBite The Professionals Sportfishing Magazine

The Boat Lunch

by Monte Richardson

Despite the travel, planning and execution that takes place in between all of the waxing, rigging and prep, sometimes the fish decide not to punch the time clock. While we are drilling new holes in the ocean and drawing all kinds of amperage with our fancy fishing gadgets, our quarry might as well be sitting down deep on a thermocline playing poker. Lately, I have convinced myself that acting like you don’t care has a positive input on the bite. This brings me to the subject of lunch, a tried and true doldrum breaker that will certainly help add to the chaos of the moment. Just try not to choke when the right short gets clobbered.

Many years ago and in my Dad’s fashion, boat duties were split between me and my two younger brothers. Being one of three boys, each had a responsibility for setting up the boat with needed items for a day trip. Justin, my youngest brother and just 10 at the time, had enough business being in charge of the lunch as a mud shrimp. This assignment was short-lived after the first day when we discovered on the grounds well offshore of Port Mansfield, TX, that he had produced a small block of Parmesan cheese and one stale bagel. The saving grace was my mother’s participation, which included the addition of a Little Red Riding Hood-style wicker basket filled with fried chicken as well as frozen Totinos pizza and all kinds of chocolate to keep the hungry wolves at bay. Fried chicken, as it turns out, is excellent for offshore fishing but yet requires particular attention on fancy surfaces such as leather couches and glass windows. If you’re a little kid, there is a lot of forced cleaning involved anyway.

I once fished for big bluefins up in the Hyannis area of Massachusetts, a place that’s pretty darn foreign for a Texan used to fishing in warmer waters. We were on a huge Viking that was pretty as a picture and as clean as Clorox. Having never gone for the big tunas, I was more enthralled with the Sub Zero freezers and ostrich quill couch with full-time satellite TV. For me, it was similar to our beachside rental house, just with a lot more horsepower. I had dressed the part with a bunch of Grundens crab hauler gear to look cool. All that raingear was quickly shed when I hooked on to a freight train of a tuna that took me down to my skivvies for a couple of hours. After an unbelievable display of power (from the tuna) and a good catch, we celebrated the event with a cocktail (a Cape Cod, of course) and I felt myself getting a little hungry. I retired to the salon stacked with Sub Zeroes only to find……………………………………..(To continue reading this article click here) You can also subscribe to InTheBite The Magazine to enjoy more industry leading editorial.

Bonus: Do you have a boat lunch recipe to share with us? If we use it in our future issue we’ll send you a free one year subscription. e-mail info@inthebite.com with recipe and photo(s) Thanks!

 

Microwave Mackerel Tacos

Here’s what you’ll need:

Fresh corn, flour or whole wheat tortillas

Red Onion, cilantro, fresh key limes, shredded Colby Jack cheese

Butter, paprika, salt and pepper to taste

Fillet a Spanish or sierra mackerel. Freshly caught works way better than the pitch bait. Place mackerel on microwave safe dish and season lightly with salt, black pepper and a dash of paprika. Place one pat of butter on top of the fillet and squeeze juice from half a key lime over fillet. Microwave for about a minute and a half or until the fish flakes slightly.

Remove from microwave, roll into a tortilla and garnish with fresh red onion, cilantro and shredded cheese. Season to taste with Cholula or Valentino hot sauce. Tortillas are best heated in the microwave, stacked and wrapped in a paper towel.