A long-awaited species
I'd known they were there for a month, but hadn't come across them yet. This game fish - some call it pelamide, I prefer to use the vernacular name of bonito or the scientific name of Sarda Sarda - is eagerly awaited every summer. This year, so far at least, we're seeing very small, very short hunts. They only last a few minutes, often close to the edges where they block the forage on which they feed.
Two fishing methods
To hook them, I use two methods, a swimming fish that fishes in the upper layer of the water. This is often a 3 DB Jerkbait in 110 SP, in blue or white. When activity is spotted, simply cast close by, leave the lure on the surface for 2 or 3 seconds and bring it back up fairly quickly. In many cases, the bait will strike as soon as the crank is turned. Always violent, it's still a cousin of the bluefin tuna. The drag must be correctly adjusted and on light tackle like my 7X28 gram, it's always a pleasure to fight them.
The second method, when you know they're around, is light trolling, with a slightly more powerful rod, a 12X42 gram, on which I drag a Deep Diver from Yo Zuri, a large-lip swimmer fish in 90 mm that dives down to 4 m. For deeper fishing, I use the same lure in 110 mm which goes down to 6 m. Here, too, the touch is violent in the arm that holds the rod and you have to be ready at all times to avoid having the rod snatched from your hands. We were thus able, with our colleague, to enjoy these beautiful sport fish, even if we did land a few.
On my second outing on this fish, I unhooked one on the kayak and a second probably completely engrossed the lure and cut my fluorocarbon. We were both trolling an area where we knew they were present, with the same lures. Tied up at the same time, my colleague managed to put his in the landing net, mine went off with the lure, that's the game...
Pelamide recipe
To bring out the best in this fish, it's best eaten fresh, so keep it in an insulated bag with an ice pack once it's back in the kayak. This fish doesn't tolerate heat and the flesh quickly softens. During the snack break, I took the opportunity to pick up some salicornia, of which there are plenty on our banks. That same evening, I passed the bonito in a ginger curry accompanied by a homemade salicornia mashed potato, washed down with a little Corsican grey wine. Long live summer...
