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00:00I'm Nick Hanushefsky. As a professional saltwater fishing journalist, I've explored the world's wildest fishing destinations.
00:07Now, I'm bringing you there, into the saltwater underground.
00:30It's late August in New Jersey, and speed demons have arrived in full force.
00:47Atlantic Benito have taken the inshore waters by storm as they zip through the water, shimmering with silvery green flank sides marked with diagonal black bars,
00:56attacking spearing bait skulls in a relentless pursuit.
01:00When hooked, bar none, Benito Byrne drags off reels like no other inshore fish.
01:05I dialed up old fishing bud Austin Pirelli, who told me his son James has been dying to catch his first Benito.
01:13Would we be able to achieve that dream for James? A lot was riding on this trip, especially for Austin and James.
01:20Most anglers think of Benito fishing as a trolling or cast and blast type of affair.
01:29But I met up with seasoned captain Dave DeGennaro of the High Flyer, who employs an odd tactic when targeting bones.
01:36Setting a spearing chum slick and using hook baits for a battle.
01:39Kind of like when you're tuna fishing, but on a much smaller scale.
01:43Benito had been amassing at a spot six miles offshore called the Manisquan Ridge, so we broke Barnegat Inlet and sped out to set anchor on the ridge to try our luck.
01:53So now captain Dave is going to get a spearing slick going.
01:56We're going to dish out a little spearing, get the, you know, the bait in the water, start attracting all this Benito and Albies and Spanish Macs and maybe some exotics that, uh, who knows what might show up today.
02:07So we're going to get this party started.
02:13Oh, first cast with the Island X Hellfire, man.
02:17Oh, it's a little, little, yeah, a little Benito.
02:23Yep.
02:24Yeah, boys.
02:26First Benito of the day.
02:28Getting right back in the water there.
02:30Beautiful little bone, man.
02:32Oh, there he goes.
02:35There's the run.
02:36There's the run.
02:38Nothing better than doing these on spinning rods.
02:42Anytime it gets to be August, September here off New Jersey on these lumps, that means if you can get bait, spearing, peanut bunker, you can catch Benito Albies on spinning tackle.
03:01Dave, fishing out the spearing right into the slick, picked it up right away, man.
03:06That was perfect.
03:07Another bone in the box.
03:12Yes.
03:13So what underground style on the high flyer.
03:15Woo.
03:16Oh, there we go.
03:18Father, son duo.
03:19Woo.
03:20Nice again.
03:22Nice again.
03:23There's James lighting them up.
03:29Me and All Dog, we're going to work the bow up here, casting these hellfires out.
03:34They mimic like sand eels right now, and it seems like that's what they're feeding on.
03:38And just kind of ripping the lure in.
03:41Rip it.
03:42Rip it.
03:43Jigging rip.
03:44There we go.
03:45That sink is over.
03:46There he is.
03:47Oh, yeah.
03:48Ah.
03:49Solid.
03:50Solid.
03:51Yeah.
03:52See if we can slam that thing, dude.
03:54That's what I'm talking about.
03:56Oh.
03:57Drag ripper.
03:59What's it feel like, brother?
04:00Man.
04:01Solid pony.
04:02Oh, yeah.
04:03That's your best single buck, dude.
04:04No bum at all.
04:05Ripping away at the drag, dude.
04:06He swung at it.
04:07That's what got him.
04:08Yes.
04:09Another beauty.
04:10Beauty bone.
04:11Look at that beautiful.
04:12Back to back, dude.
04:13Double header bones.
04:14Triple header jigs in the back.
04:16Oh, man.
04:17Oh, man.
04:18Oh, man.
04:19Oh, man.
04:20Oh, man.
04:21Oh, man.
04:22Oh, man.
04:23Oh, man.
04:24Oh, man.
04:25Oh, man.
04:26Oh, man.
04:27Oh, man.
04:28Oh, man.
04:29David keeps chumming.
04:31We're just ripping him in here, man.
04:33This is unreal.
04:34Another beautiful Oceanic Bonito back to back, baby.
04:44Saltwater Underground with Nick Honeszewski is brought to you
04:47by Nick Honeszewski on Instagram and Saltwater Underground on YouTube.
04:52Fisherman's Supply, Island Ex Which Lores, Drumpy's Tackle.
04:57and these fine supporting sponsors.
04:59Saltwater Underground with Nick Honoshefsky
05:02is brought to you by Nick Honoshefsky on Instagram
05:05and Saltwater Underground on YouTube.
05:08Fisherman's Supply, Island X Lores, Grumpy's Tackle,
05:12and these fine supporting sponsors.
05:17All right, Dave, so now that we set up
05:19in about 58, 60 foot of water, what's the whole deal here
05:21now that we're on anchor and we get to start the chum slick?
05:25So for Benita and Albacore, it's all about spearing,
05:29the peanut bunker a good addition to,
05:32but it's really about the spearing.
05:34So what happens is you get the spearing out there,
05:36you get the slick started, they start floating out there,
05:38the albies start coming from below,
05:40start gobbling down all the spearing baits,
05:42and what's the key, what's our rig?
05:44What are we using to freeline with?
05:46So this is our bait fishing rig,
05:49using that little 1-0 hook.
05:51And we have our chum spearing,
05:53if you see they're like more yellow,
05:55they were frozen for a bit, they're fine for chums.
05:58But then we always try to get these really fresh ones,
06:00these selects for our hook baits.
06:03You could pull a seine net locally in the bay to get them.
06:06And you hook them through the eyes.
06:09One big one like that is fine, just let it hang.
06:13And then you don't even have to cast it.
06:16Just lay it in the water,
06:17feeding it out, free spool, bail open.
06:20We want it to sink at the same rate
06:23that the chum is sinking.
06:25And that's the key, right?
06:26Because you want to have that natural flow
06:28of the freeline spearing going with the slick.
06:31So if you have a split shot or something like that,
06:32it's going to take that bait out of the natural strike zone,
06:35it'll be a little bit deeper.
06:36So that freeline, and then a little bit slack in the line, right?
06:39That's right.
06:40And sometimes the blue fish are the first to show up in the slick.
06:43Right.
06:44And you'll get bit off on that monofluorocarbon leader,
06:46but you just keep getting bit off
06:48because eventually the Bonita Albies show up,
06:51and the blue fish can't compete because of the speed.
06:54Right.
06:55And so when the Bonita takes the bait, what do we do?
06:57Do we just reel set the hook or what?
06:59Immediately set the hook.
07:00As soon as that line starts shooting off the reel,
07:03just set up because they gobble it on that first bite.
07:06All right.
07:07Well, we got the slick rolling.
07:08Let's get the freeline baits out there and start jigging.
07:10Let's see if we can catch a few bones.
07:12We'll catch a few bones, brother.
07:13Woo-hoo!
07:14Yeah.
07:18Woo!
07:19There's the man with the plan getting it done.
07:22This is the Brooklyn drag.
07:24They're real nice and light.
07:25Makes it look good for TV.
07:27I got that thing pinned down, and that's what it's doing.
07:30Come on.
07:31Rip them, buddy.
07:32Oh, yeah.
07:33Best sound in the world.
07:35Looks like little speed demons, man.
07:38One, two, three.
07:39Four, five, six.
07:40Woo!
07:41Look at that beauty.
07:42Look at the teeth on him, right?
07:43Oh, that's so cool.
07:44Oh, nice.
07:45Look at that.
07:46You got a chub nackerel.
07:47That's sweet.
07:48That's sweet.
07:49That's sweet.
07:50That is cool.
07:51Look how cool.
07:52These things make great baits, too.
07:53We need them for maybe a chunk of hammerhead.
07:55And look at James in the back.
07:56Here's another bonito.
07:57All right.
07:58Lighten them up, boss.
07:59Yeah.
08:00James is on right away, dude.
08:01Look at the teeth on him.
08:02Yeah.
08:03Nice work, James.
08:04Yes.
08:05Shows you the different species and the colors here.
08:06The color patterns.
08:07Oh, look at this.
08:08Look at this.
08:09Look at this.
08:10Look at this.
08:11Look at this.
08:12You got a chub nackerel.
08:13That's sweet.
08:14That's sweet.
08:15That is cool.
08:16Look how cool.
08:17These things make great baits, too.
08:18We need them for maybe a chunk of hammerhead.
08:19And look at James in the back here.
08:20Another bonito.
08:21All right.
08:22Lighten them up, boss.
08:23Yeah.
08:24James is on right away, dude.
08:25Look at the teeth on him.
08:26Yeah.
08:27Nice work, James.
08:28Look at that.
08:29Look at that.
08:30It's just beautiful.
08:31That thin profile of a roar.
08:33Whew.
08:34Nice.
08:35Get him back in the water.
08:36Bones are just crushing today, man.
08:37What after?
08:38Now they're spearing.
08:39The roars.
08:40The jigs.
08:41The jigs.
08:42Can't ask for more than this right now.
08:43This is insane.
08:44That one hit the finger roar.
08:45Look at that.
08:46Look at that.
08:47Look at that.
08:48Look at that.
08:49Look at that.
08:50Just beautiful.
08:51That thin profile of a roar.
08:52Whew.
08:53Nice.
08:54Get him back in the water.
08:55Bones are just crushing today, man.
08:56What after?
08:57Now they're spearing.
08:58The roars.
08:59The jigs.
09:00Can't ask for more than this right now.
09:01This is insane.
09:02That one hit the finger roar.
09:03Look at that.
09:04Look at that perfectly cooked set on that, too.
09:05Right in the corner of the mouth.
09:06Oh my goodness.
09:07You just can't beat it.
09:08Look how fast they go right back down into the water.
09:10Like a bullet.
09:11Turn them right back in.
09:12And they take off.
09:13Go right back with the school.
09:14So we just ended up casting a, or chumming the last of the spearing.
09:19And as we do that, this hammerhead shark just started rolling through here.
09:22And he's circling the boat.
09:23So we're going to see if we can chunk up one of those bonito or that chub mackerel.
09:28And see if we can catch a hammerhead here in Jersey.
09:29About like two miles off.
09:30Good.
09:31Real, real, real, real.
09:32Real, real.
09:33Nice job, dude.
09:34It looks like he's on, right?
09:35He's on.
09:36All right.
09:37Let's see if there's another one around.
09:38James is on the hammerhead.
09:39We think it is.
09:40We'll find out.
09:41Could be another one around unless it's just a solitary hammerhead.
10:01We'll find out.
10:09It's burning now, boy.
10:16You know what I'm saying?
10:17It looks like you're about three and a half foot, maybe.
10:22Remember, keep your rod low.
10:24You don't want him hitting that car.
10:30Keep steering, guess what?
10:32Keep the rod over here.
10:32Oh yeah, it's a hand with her.
10:34There you, sir.
10:35It's all right.
10:39It's all right.
10:40It's nothing.
10:42Yeah, 25-pound fluorocarbon.
10:45Saw him for a second there, but all right, well,
10:47that's what sharks do, so name of the game.
10:50All right, boys.
10:53That's a Benito swim right there.
10:55Got it out today.
10:57Beautiful day out on the water.
10:59That's how you do Benito fishing on the high flyer.
11:05I'm a
11:09little boy.
11:11I'm a little boy.
11:13I'm a bit a little boy.
11:14The gea got us into the big bones
11:16on jigs and spearing baits.
11:18Now it was time to ship tactics, so I met up
11:20with Chef Brad Rodriguez of Spring Lake Seafood.
11:23We pulled the boat up to Fisherman Supply to gas up
11:26and reload some gear, while we got more Benito intel
11:30from Jason and the crew.
11:32Yo, Jay, we've got to go out for Albies today.
11:35Any recommendations or Benito?
11:38The fishing's been pretty good on the inshore lumps.
11:41Small metals, light floor carbon.
11:44Fire them out, let them sink a bit, and scream them in.
11:46All right, why don't you show us in the shop
11:49and get us hooked up with all the gear we need, all right?
11:51Absolutely.
11:51All right, let's do that.
11:52What do we got, brother?
11:53So something like this right here, the Shimano Vanford
11:583000 paired with the 6.9 Shimano Zodius rod.
12:02Super light, nice light line to complement it.
12:07Like I said, this is super, it's perfect for, you know,
12:10firing long casts, quick retrieve, and it's nice and fun, too.
12:14I like the light braided line, too, like, you know,
12:1625, 30-pound braid, you know?
12:19And then basically like an Albright or a Uni-Uni knot
12:22to the 25, 20-pound fluoro tied direct to the jig, right?
12:26Perfect, it all adds to the experience
12:28of catching these, you know, quick inshore species.
12:31Yeah, well, we'll put this on my tab, all right?
12:33Goddamn.
12:34Let's go.
12:35Hey, Brad, Brad, check this out, dude.
12:37Look, Jay's not lying, man.
12:39Inshore, Alves and Benitos are everywhere.
12:44Let's do it, dude.
12:44Let's go, let's finish this and gas up.
12:46Let's roll, man.
12:47All right, make it happen.
12:49So now what we got going on here is birds are kind of hovering
13:00around, and they're waiting for the Alves to come from below
13:03to push up all the peanut bunker and the little baby bluefish.
13:07And as soon as those Alves push up that bait,
13:09the birds start diving, and then we can see
13:12and get visuals where they're at.
13:13But in the meantime, we're going to try and put some
13:15of these little feathers out, troll around,
13:19and see if we can find them just motoring around a bit.
13:28Shawnee's on.
13:29Trolling around, the feathers just went down.
13:32Oh, yeah.
13:35Little Benito.
13:38All right on that sucker.
13:39Hit the little troll.
13:40All right, first one on the board.
13:42We got these little feathers out,
13:45and they're just whacking it.
13:48You can feel them like clipping the ends of it right now.
13:51There he is.
13:52You see that thing?
13:54Yeah.
13:55Boy, that sounds perfect timing right there.
13:58This thing's got a little bit more to it.
14:00We'll find out.
14:01I'm guessing Benito, maybe a Spanish.
14:04Ooh, look at that, look at him in the water.
14:05Say a little Benito.
14:07There's a few with him, too.
14:09Little dude.
14:11Another tiny little Benito.
14:15Hitting the feathers right there.
14:17Oh, you got something on the way in.
14:20Are you serious?
14:21They're whacking him on the way in now.
14:23Hitting the little blue and white feathers.
14:25Putting him back in.
14:26Yeah, usually I don't like trolling for these, you know,
14:28but this is actually kind of fun.
14:31Dropping it back, it's more of an aggressive approach.
14:33Little dude, oh, a little bit bigger.
14:39All right, that could be pokey size right there.
14:42So right now, we're dispatching the fish as fast as possible.
14:46Ikejime, which is brain spiking it.
14:48And then we're cutting the gills and then bleeding it in the salt water.
14:53You get all as much blood as we can out of this meat.
14:56And then after this, we'll ice it so we can preserve this fish.
14:59And then, you know, later on, we'll do a couple of different preparations with it.
15:04Maximize the eating quality.
15:06There we go.
15:15It's a little bit better bonito, I think.
15:17Look, take it for the sushi chef.
15:19He goes right to grab that thing.
15:20He ain't letting that go.
15:23It's going right in sushi style, man.
15:26All right, we'll see what Brad can do with the bonito back at Spring Lake Seafood.
15:31Heading out with Brad and Sean allowed us to grab some more fresh bonito for good
15:35reason.
15:36Brad tells me bonito are fantastic eating, and though I'm a bit skeptical, as I had
15:41heard they have a very strong fishy taste, but I'm about to find out just how true this
15:46claim of their edibility can be.
15:49Saltwater Underground with Nick Onyshefsky is brought to you by Nick Onyshefsky on Instagram
15:55and Saltwater Underground on YouTube.
15:57Fisherman's Supply, Island X Lores, Grumpy's Tackle, and these fine supporting sponsors.
16:04All right, now that we've got our bonito, we're going to stop by Chef Brad's place at
16:07Spring Lake Seafood and see what he can conjure up.
16:10Generally speaking, people say bonito's not that good eating, but maybe we'll see if Brad
16:15can work his magic here.
16:17Yo, Brad.
16:18What's up?
16:19How you doing, Nick?
16:20What's up?
16:21Hey, man.
16:22Nice to see you.
16:23Nice to see you, too.
16:24All right, we've got the bonita.
16:25How are we going to chef it up today?
16:26All right, we're going to cut it up, and we've been aging it for a couple days, and then we're
16:31going to do some pokies bowls.
16:32All right.
16:33Let's make it happen, man.
16:35All right, now we've got the heads and the guts out.
16:39We're going to cut it off the fillets.
16:40You know, bonita has, like a tuna, has four loins on it.
16:44Two back loins and two belly loins.
16:54I mean, the meat's beautiful on this, too.
16:56It's nice red meat.
16:58We have some binchotan charcoal, so Japanese hardwood charcoal.
17:01Wow.
17:02We're just going to get a little bit of sear on this thing on all three sides.
17:06And what are you trying to achieve here, Robert?
17:08So we're just going to sear the outside of it to get a nice little, you know, char on
17:13all three sides, and then that way it'll have a little bit of flavor on the outside.
17:16Right.
17:17We just want to get a little of that Japanese hardwood, a little bit of smoke from the hay,
17:20and then what we want to do is, after that, you'll see we're going to just slice it,
17:25and this fish is going to come out beautiful.
17:27Oh, that is beautiful.
17:28Look at that.
17:29We're leveling up the poke bowl here.
17:31I'm really impressed just the way that looks.
17:34All the time and effort you put into that, and it's exquisite.
17:38I mean, that's what we do.
17:40I mean, we take a little extra step in preparation, you know, handling of the fish,
17:44and so we get a better final product.
17:46And really, it's just elevating the experience as opposed to trying to add more sauces
17:51or different things.
17:52We use more technique, so let's bring this thing inside.
17:54All right.
17:55We like to call this sushi don, which is really what it is.
17:59So we have sushi rice here, and then we have our fish, and then we can have various toppings.
18:03I mean, we have a little bit of cucumber, avocado, scallions, lemon.
18:08We have some pea shoots.
18:10This is actually katsurobushi, which is the smoked and prepared bonita.
18:17We have a little bit of furikake here, and we have some ginger.
18:21You can kind of, you can really get creative however you want to lay out the ingredients.
18:25I like to kind of just put them all in little sections like this, right?
18:30Star of the show.
18:32A beautiful seared bonita that you can see how it's just seared just a little bit on the outside.
18:38Nice and raw in the middle.
18:40And me personally, I like to get a little bit of fresh lemon juice on it.
18:43We're going to add a little bit of spicy mayo to this.
18:47A little bit of our homemade ponzu.
18:50And then we're going to finish it with the ultimate katsurobushi, which is the smoked dried fish bonita.
18:57And there you have it.
19:00All right, Nick.
19:01Here we go.
19:02Here's the final product.
19:03Spring Lake seafood style.
19:05What is up, man?
19:06Bonita sushi done or otherwise people call the Hawaiian style poke.
19:11Wow.
19:12Well, I mean, I'll grab one of these forks right over here and get some of the nice little bonita steak there.
19:21A little bit of the rice, avocado.
19:27Now, when people say bonita is not good eating.
19:31Tell them to bring them all here.
19:34Totally wrong.
19:35That is totally wrong, man.
19:38Wow.
19:39These are like little mini tuna steaks, brother.
19:41Beautiful.
19:42Nice fat in there.
19:43This is so delicious.
19:44And you can taste, you know, the smokiness of the meat when you seared it out there.
19:50And Japanese hardwood.
19:52But, man, all these combinations just runs together perfectly.
19:56And you've changed my mind on Bonita, man.
20:00This is like delicious eating.
20:01This is really, truly good.
20:03This is great, man.
20:04I can't wait to eat all of this.
20:06All right.
20:07Glad to enjoy it.
20:08All right, brother.
20:09Thanks a ton, man.
20:11Yeah.
20:12All right.
20:13Woo-hoo.
20:14Each summer, anglers look forward with sheer anticipation for the Bonita run in Jersey waters.
20:19And who can blame them?
20:21With bone jarring strikes, zipping drags, and tons of action all day long, Bonita show their
20:27true colors as a spirited game fish.
20:30And who knew they are a fantastic table fare to boot?
20:33We accomplished our mission, catching bones.
20:36But the smile on Austin's son, James' face, catching his first Bonita?
20:40Well, that says it all.
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