"...my least favorite hated fish would have to be sole...sole have no eyes..."

"I'd like to be home with my monkey and my dog."

Don't ask people in the south about spelling  Apparently in the south we don't get the feminine/masculine spelling difference.  Your wife is probably bonita.  you may be bonito.  Cats and catfish are both animals but I'd rather eat catfish.

What I'm talking about are "Bonito" or Little Tunny or False Albacore.  Not the Atlantic Bonito.  Some people (especially in FL, AL and MS) call them Bonita.  The problem is they're related to tuna, mackeral and skipjacks- genus is Sarda.  There seems to be a lot of confusion here- especially on boats and docks and other institutions of higher learning.  I wouldn't give you a dollar for a trash can full of mackeral.  They are of no use to me as I can't filet them, freeze them, haul them 6 hours home then enjoy them later.

Mackeral and Bonito are both oily fish with blood lines down their middles, and need to be prepped the same, except the Bonito need the extra step of soaking in ice water for hours to bleed out the filets.  Both are good within hours of being caught.  Neither is good prepped poorly or frozen and cooked later.

In TN a skipjack is bait.  Nothing more.  Again, the family of fish are comprised of 8 species from 4 different genuses.  It is all a bit confusing.  In the Gulf we catch mostly Little Tunny Bonito (False Albacore) and occasionally some Atlantic Bonito.

All us rednecks call anything in the Sardini tribe a "BONITA".  Should make things simple but actually has the opposite effect- we are referring to eight different fish by the incorrectly spelled name of bonita.

Does that help clear it up?

And anybody that refers to Little Tunny (Bonito, False Albacore) as "trash fish" probably has a 3 legged dog named Lucky, a fat ugly wife and chews tobacco.  Most likely they live in a trailer and their entire wardrobe consists of cheap pocket T-shirts and shorts from Wal Mart.  Usually they live in boat shoes, smoke Marlboro cigarettes and make their living off gratuities and swiping perfectly edible sushi grade fish from uninformed tourists on charter docks and selling them to sushi restaurants.

Most live in FL and post on arfcom.  Most say they've fished the Gulf all their lives.

Yes, we are talking about the same fish

Skip Jacks (bonito) are delicious I prefer blackfin, bonita (little tunny) are bait. Although I can't tell you how many times I've had requests for bonita. I've loined them out bagged them up and handed them over. They are great stone crab bait.

So you think a skipjack is a Bonito, but a Little Tunny is a Bonita?  Really?

Maybe do a little research and get back to us with some facts to back that up.  There's this inconvenient fact that every species has a specific scientific classification.  I think if you check you will find that we are talking about different fish.

All this talk about bait is bullshit.  I know Bonito make great bait, as do a ton of other fish.  Being good bait has nothing to do with a fish being good to eat.  A cut mackerel, grouper, pompano or dolphin would be fine bait.  I love using cut skipjacks in deep freshwater lakes here for bait.  Never thought of eating one but the ones here are about 5 or 6 inches long.  Good for striper fishing but not so good for eating.

SKIPJACK

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scombridae
Subfamily: Scombrinae
Tribe: Thunnini
Genus: Katsuwonus
Kishinouye, 1915
Species: K. pelamis

Bonito

Atlantic bonito, Sarda sarda

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scombridae
Subfamily: Scombrinae
Tribe: Sardini


Sorry, there is no fish with the scientific name Bonita.

I came here to tell that exact story, as told to me by my dad.

Little Tunny


Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scombridae
Genus: Euthynnus
Species: E. alletteratus


But enough facts.  I'd eat a Bonito properly prepared WAY before I'd eat a skate.

Yep, and I don't care about scientific names. Been fishing in Florida for 40 years. I've spent nearly as many hours on the water as I have on land. Every fish has several names. I still call goliath groper (gasp) jewfish. Skippy's will always be Bonito and Bonita will aiways be Little Tunny. It's what we locals have always called them.

And for your educational reference


I've never caught or eaten an Atlantic Bonito. I don't know anyone personally whose ever caught one even though it's in our waters. But if I happen to catch one, it'll get bled, and go straight on ice.

Don't think they were Skipjack type. I caught them at Redondo Bch Cali. growing up in the mid 60s- 70s good times