It seems like a large amount of people have come to the conception that Bonito are no good to eat and even though they are not exactly Yellowfin or Bluefin Tuna they are still int he Tuna family. With proper care and preperation these fish are good table fare and can fill a box when other species fail to cooperate to bite.
Most Captains tell clients that Bonito are no good as table fare, however they will use them as strip baits for other species of fish and the smaller ones can be drug for Marlin or wahoo baits being trolled by bridle. This all works, however these fish also go well with a smoker, a BBQ grill and other ways of preparing them.
The 2 MOST important things to remember when taking Bonito for the table is to 1) immediately bleed the fish out after he comes on the boat. While the fish is still flopping and heart pumping you need to cut them at the bottom of the gill plates to get that blood out of them. 2) When fileting you need to remove the blood strip that runs down the center of the filet. This is approx 1" wide and can make the difference between good eating and fish that you had wished to turn into a strip. This method also leaves 2 nice filets off of each side. Further north on the East Coast charter captains used to come in with trash cans full of Bonito to take to processers to be made into tuna fish or smoked fish dip. Remember folks, these fish are in the Tuna family, however they are just the lower grade and bloodier version. But with proper care can be served as a meal, dip, or put on a sandwhich. Another method that can be used to make the fish more appealing is to soak the fish in buttermilk or an orange marinade to remove more of the blood out of the meat.