OT: cutting Frozen Meat

I guess that was an old wives tale then, but I had heard that said several times. That mouth full of teeth was probably what got it started. A pack of Ono coming inshore and tearing through schools of smaller fish at a high speed would get the snorkelers out of the water pretty quick.

I used to troll a monofilament line (100 pound breaking strength) with a big rubber hula head lure (major garish looking things) off the transom of my Columbia 22 when I sailed off Pearl Harbor. It was rigged with a surgical tubing snubber and intended for handlining. And would occasionally get a fish like an Ono or even a Mahi-Mahi. But a couple of times it went tight and broke before I could put the boat in irons.

One time it went tight, the humming ascended to about high "C" and it broke about mid length (50 yards). After that I used to rig a short

50 pound tippet in the interest of not having it break too close to the boat. People that fished that way that also knew that they had to have a broom handle or small bat handy to dispatch the fish before they brought it on board. Hell has no fury like a lively medium sized fish in the cockpit of a smaller boat.

Hilarious! She sounds like she would have fit right in with those lovely old Kaamaina ladies in Hawaii. Very pleasant to know and be around but don't get caught between them and the food source.

Great story!

Wow.

The fish we got - swam in schools - trolling for them - The one dad took a picture with must be about 5.5 or 6' - 2M for some.

The water around the island was very very deep - I want to say 6000 feet on the bottom - ocean side - and up to 400 in the center.

It was a mountain that (volcano) that got so heavy it sank as the ocean spread - the coral started growing around the sides and the current atoll is 70 miles across the crescent shape. Big Atoll.

I'd often go diving with schools of fish - and often they would swim around me as I was headed down or coming up.

Sharks were around all the time but most were so full they didn't think of trying me. The blue water was clear enough to see 35 to 40 feet deep - which forced me to dive that deep from the beach - shelling.

Martin

one told me it was the 2nd

I dunno, I suspect boats are more expensive than planes. I have a friend who has a partnership in a Cessna and he fly's on the cheap. My employer has an old Chris Craft that is the proverbial hole in the water that you throw money into.

-- Roger Shoaf If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

no, would have liked to, tho. i never attended an an actual "shoot" there and never practiced skeet. my first real trap shoot was after we moved from Santa Clara to Alamogordo, NM. great hobby. --Loren

yeah, reminds me of the line in Jaws, ....if it's a Barracuda, people say, 'what, huh?'. you say, 'shark' and we have a panic....

what happens when it breaks, can it smack you in the face? we once found about 80' of 5/8 rubber tubing on an Okinawa beach and had some close calls using it to tow a Honda 50cc motorcycle.

again, from Jaws, ....he ate the seat cushions, turned an inboard into an outboard, and i swam to shore...

--Loren

I was troubled by it until I was 14, but I took my father's advice and just kept eating tomatoes and vomiting over the side until I got over it. Now I appear to be sea-sickness proof. That's the New Jersey cure.

-- Ed Huntress (remove "3" from email address for email reply)

'Cuda's can be very scary when you're snokling and they come up behind you. In my teens I used to snorkel over the first and second reefs off the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, and I'd sometimes turn around to see two or three big ones about two feet from my face, just finning and staring at me.

But the only attack I've heard confirmed was from up the beach somewhere on Florida's east coast, back in the early '60s. A guy was taking crawfish out of season, twisting off the tails, and stuffing them in his bathing suit. 'Cuda's damned near cut him in half.

Ed Huntress

That never happened, it usually breaks at the knot at the leader or lure because the line strength is always less that 100 percent at a knot. I suppose on a bad day...

The surgical tubing (I have also used bungee cord) was only about a

4-5 foot piece to soften the shock of a hit because there was no rod involved.

Now that you say it - yes they were fighters.

They only went out there in a J-boat class - Dual inboard Torpedo boat to some! It was converted into a fishing boat and a fast dash if there was something that needed attention and the Coast Guard wasn't near (most of the time) [they ran a local Loran station and those poor suckers were stuck on that island until the fleet came in. - that was tough duty].

Anyway - Dad had two for that day - the first was used for bait - since it only had a head left.

A shark tracked the beauty up near the boat and then chopped off all but the head. The loss of drag was instant! Like hitting a brick wall backwards so I hear.

Martin

I thought the New Joisy Cure was to encase them in concrete and toss em over the side?

Gunner

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" -- Ben Franklin

One thing my uncle told me about his Mexican island trip was that getting a tuna over the side intact was a real chore. If you let him run when he was getting tired or if you didn't work him to the boat as fast as you could when he started slowing down, you'd wind up with nothing but a head.

Ed Huntress

That's for a different illness. Besides, we usually just encase the feet.

Ed Huntress

If you want simple - you can buy a set of Miracle Blade Knives.

I saw these on an infomercial and was skeptical (plus they stick it to you on shipping) but ran across them at a home show and was impressed. We bought a set and I have cut frozen chicken, roast and salt pork with little effort. I hate to promote a line and I have no affiliation with them but I have to admit they have been the best knives I have ever owned so far and they will cut frozen meat easily (and they are a lot easier to clean than a band saw - yep - I tried that once). Good luck.

they must be proud of them, they give almost no details on the site, just tiny lo-res pic. --Loren

You know, since this thread began and people were mentioning things like peeling potatoes with the mill I just got this image of turning a frozen ham or fish in the lathe..........

Dave

I always wondered how they got those spiral cut hams!!!

You're right - I guess they rely mostly on the infomercial to sell them. They also demo them at some home shows - that's where I bought mine because I could actually use it (I never trust the infomercial guys) and they don't charge the outrageous freight. They do cut through most everything with ease. I especially like it for salt pork

- always keep some in the freezer for beans and you can just whack off whatever you need and rewrap the rest for later.