# 1.76 Million Dollar Bluefin



## Duckfat (Jan 7, 2013)

http://www2.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/01/05/bluefin-tuna-sells-record-176m-tokyo.html


That's some expensive Sushi! :hungry:


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## bieniek (Jan 7, 2013)

People are just mad beyond mad. And its getting worse.

Same with truffles.


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## mhlee (Jan 7, 2013)

It's a publicity stunt for Sushi Zanmai. They're EVERYWHERE in Tokyo. I saw a couple of locations within blocks of one another outside of Tsukiji.


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## ecchef (Jan 7, 2013)

1.7 million. For a friggin fish. :disdain:


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## mpukas (Jan 7, 2013)

I think I've heard/read that it has to do with publicity more than anything else - it's the first fish bought at the new year. Another fish of the same size and quality that would sell right after the first one would never sell at such a high price.


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## Duckfat (Jan 7, 2013)

Publicity stunt or not you really have to wonder where it all ends. To me it seems more like negative publicity then any thing positive. Any one know what Kindai is selling for now? Here's a nice video breaking one down.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/09/hideo-kuribara-kindai_n_1194830.html


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## quantumcloud509 (Jan 7, 2013)

Some people....


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## jayhay (Jan 7, 2013)

Totally freaking outrageous, in every negative respect.


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## Crothcipt (Jan 7, 2013)

I know I would be in line to have some of that. Not saying it would be worth it, but I would totally have people wishing they got one next year.


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## El Pescador (Jan 7, 2013)

I've got some Bluefin in my freezer that I'll sell to forum members for the low cost of $200/lb. (not including shipping)


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## Duckfat (Jan 7, 2013)

I like Bluefin as much as the next person but even when I charter a 60' sportfisjerman just for two of us and drive to the OBX, including all incidentals and have a lousy catch I still don't think I go over $60 a pound for Yellowfin and Bigeye. A good trip is more like $15 #. Plus it's a lot more fun catching your own fish.


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## Crothcipt (Jan 7, 2013)

um..... um.... I can get some down the street just the same. Thx tho. Honestly something like this would be like being at times square for the ball drop. Doesn't sound fun, but when you tell people about it people will be in awe.


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## mpukas (Jan 9, 2013)

Duckfat said:


> Publicity stunt or not you really have to wonder where it all ends. To me it seems more like negative publicity then any thing positive.



I should have said tradition (if that's even the right word) - it happens every year with the first fish sold at market. It's not really about the value of the actual fish. Can't remeber where I read that tho...


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## The hekler (Jan 9, 2013)

mpukas said:


> I should have said tradition (if that's even the right word) - it happens every year with the first fish sold at market. It's not really about the value of the actual fish. Can't remeber where I read that tho...



The article linked did not put it so bluntly but eluded to exactly that. The price does not necessarily reflect the quality of the fish and the winning bidder said he wanted to help boast Japan's economy. I'm sure it's small drops in the bucket but it is publicity for his stores and I'm sure the fisherman are happy. Said he did the same thing last year at the years first fish market so I'm sure we can expect more of it.


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## Mike L. (Jan 9, 2013)

What is that the fellow is holding? Some sort of spatulate-bladed fish opener? Anybody know?


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## bieniek (Jan 10, 2013)

The hekler said:


> the winning bidder said he wanted to help boast Japan's economy.



Propably one could find 10 better ways of helping people in his country than spending over 8000 dollars per kilo of fish[so if you count waste that price could double].

But makes me wonder actually, cant see recession in the industry?


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## jmforge (Jan 10, 2013)

I'm not sure how the fish are bought when they are caught near home waters, but the ones that are caught in places like Cape Cod are bought pretty much on the dock by Japanese buyers based on the quality of the fish meat. They have a tool that looks like a giant hypodermic needle that is used to take core samples of the fish so they can tell what the fat content is. They are then flash frozen and flown to Tokyo. A number of years ago, our former captain and his buddy got a 23 foot center console boat licensed up as a tuna boat and towed it up north to fish the Stellweggen Bank. They caught a fish that had a dockside weight of over 500 pounds and they Japanese buyer handed them $13,000 in cash. The expectation was that the fish would bring around triple that, $40k or so at the auction. Of course, at the time, the absolute auction record for a fish was somewhere around $100K for a 900 plus pounder Ior around $100 a pound carcass weight IRC. That fish supposedly sold for $300 a pound for the meat and about the same for a 3 oz portion of the good belly meat at a sushi joint in Tokyo. This "million dollar first fish" fad is apparently just that and fairly recent. The really scary part is that these last few super pricey fish have all been Pacific bluefin caught close to the home market and MUCH smaller than some of the Atlantic giants. Of course, being Japanese, they would probably tell you that the Japanese fish are better than the American, Canadian, French, Italian or Spanish Fish. :whistling:


The hekler said:


> The article linked did not put it so bluntly but eluded to exactly that. The price does not necessarily reflect the quality of the fish and the winning bidder said he wanted to help boast Japan's economy. I'm sure it's small drops in the bucket but it is publicity for his stores and I'm sure the fisherman are happy. Said he did the same thing last year at the years first fish market so I'm sure we can expect more of it.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 10, 2013)

Duckfat said:


> I like Bluefin as much as the next person but even when I charter a 60' sportfisjerman just for two of us and drive to the OBX, including all incidentals and have a lousy catch I still don't think I go over $60 a pound for Yellowfin and Bigeye. A good trip is more like $15 #. Plus it's a lot more fun catching your own fish.



Thanks for the thread & video,This sale made the local Hawaii news,probably was aired in many other places as well.I saw on a show,think it was Nat. Geo. Wild, that because of the Japanese demand for Bluefin,they have been under pressure.Bluefin are mating with yellowfin & producing offspring.

Charter boats have gotten very expensive,many have gone out of business on Oahu.The Kona coast on the big Island is still the main fleet in Hawaii.When the yellowfin run,many small trailered boats(we call them puddlejumpers)head out to sea,looking for piles of birds & a hookup.Dragging lures wt. Pen Senator or International reels.Rock & Roll seas in a small boat,high adventure:jumping2:


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## jmforge (Jan 10, 2013)

Keith, Kona has the advantage of not only all of the fish that people want to catch, but t is also one of the few places in the US along with South Florida where you can actually run a first rate charter operation with something as small as say a Bertram 31 or Merritt 37 because the fishing ground are so close in.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 10, 2013)

Yeh the days of the 50-60 foot wooden hulls is past.In Kona as you said deep water right off shore,Mauna Loa is so huge blocks alot of the tradewinds & can be realatively calm. at sea.

Off the Waianae coast on Oahu,launching out of Pokai bay,more often than not you can be in rough seas.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 10, 2013)

Yeh the days of the 50-60 foot wooden hulls is past.In Kona as you said deep water right off shore,Mauna Loa is so huge blocks alot of the tradewinds & can be realatively calm. at sea.

Off the Waianae coast on Oahu,launching out of Pokai bay,at times you can be in rough seas.


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## Duckfat (Jan 10, 2013)

keithsaltydog said:


> Charter boats have gotten very expensive,many have gone out of business on Oahu.The Kona coast on the big Island is still the main fleet in Hawaii.When the yellowfin run,many small trailered boats(we call them puddlejumpers)head out to sea,looking for piles of birds & a hookup.Dragging lures wt. Pen Senator or International reels.Rock & Roll seas in a small boat,high adventure:jumping2:



Even on larger boats it can be an adventure. We had a 58' Jarret Bay that got drilled by lightning on the humps off Islamorada going after Black fin and another day we went from calm seas to massive swells in less than an hour and had to dodge a water spout on the way in. Twin 1100 HP Detroits kickin tires and lighten fires on that one. We finally gave up on the keys when our hotel got hit by a tornado. I figured the big guy was trying to me something. :eyebrow: I've got old hi-8mm video of that I need to get transferred to DVD.
I've never fished out of Kona. We tried to hook up with Norm Issacs there in the past but got stuck in a AA non strike or sick out or what ever they called it.
As much as I like the OBX the Tuna catch there has really changed over the last few years. 
I'm not sure what to make of a Bluefin-Yellowfin hybrid but we have some strange hybrids here as well like Splake.


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## jmforge (Jan 10, 2013)

You are correct. Now is it the time of 75-85 foot wooden hulls. Google Rybovich, Whiticar, Merritt, Bayliss, etc.. :biggrin: When peopel talk about fishing in Hawaii, they talk about how quickly the bottom drops out from under you pretty close offshore.


keithsaltydog said:


> Yeh the days of the 50-60 foot wooden hulls is past.In Kona as you said deep water right off shore,Mauna Loa is so huge blocks alot of the tradewinds & can be realatively calm. at sea.
> 
> Off the Waianae coast on Oahu,launching out of Pokai bay,more often than not you can be in rough seas.


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## jmforge (Jan 10, 2013)

Dave the Hump can be a funny place. When the seas are a bit frisky as they are want to be in the winter, you can have a line of breakers on the downcurrent side that do not move. i think they call it the "backflip". Also, anytime the wind is clwoing agdsint the current, take whatever NOAA is prdictig for regular seas and mutliply that by at least 1.5 and that is what you are likely to see in the stream. With that said, the Florida Straits are a lot more friendly and easy to get home from that 100 miles off shore in the northern Gulf of Mexico or, I suspect 40-50 miles off of Oregon Inlet.


Duckfat said:


> Even on larger boats it can be an adventure. We had a 58' Jarret Bay that got drilled by lightning on the humps off Islamorada going after Black fin and another day we went from calm seas to massive swells in less than an hour and had to dodge a water spout on the way in. Twin 1100 HP Detroits kickin tires and lighten fires on that one. We finally gave up on the keys when our hotel got hit by a tornado. I figured the big guy was trying to me something. :eyebrow: I've got old hi-8mm video of that I need to get transferred to DVD.
> I've never fished out of Kona. We tried to hook up with Norm Issacs there in the past but got stuck in a AA non strike or sick out or what ever they called it.
> As much as I like the OBX the Tuna catch there has really changed over the last few years.
> I'm not sure what to make of a Bluefin-Yellowfin hybrid but we have some strange hybrids here as well like Splake.


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## Duckfat (Jan 10, 2013)

I've no experience to speak of in the Gulf but this far my luck has held for the OBX. The worst part on that run on a rough day that I've seen is getting in Oregon inlet. It's been several years since we've fished Fl and we've started to talk about it again. No more Feb trips though! LOL
Don't you guys have some good grouper/snapper fishing over your way?


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 10, 2013)

You spend enough time in the ocean,you can run into some heavy seas & storms.Islamorada that's in the Florida Keys.There is alot of History in those waters.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 11, 2013)

OBX Oregon Inlet.is that outer banks North Carolina?We do not have Bluefin or blackfin here,too warm for blues,& blkfin only in Atlantic.You have Mahi Mahi out there yes.Good eating fish fun to catch & beautiful colors when just out of the water.

We have great tasting snappers.Onaga & Opakapaka.We used to bottom fish for them on the penquin banks off Molokai at night.1970-73 worked charter boat Kamome 53 ft. Haole Sampan.Had high bow sampan hull & cabin cruiser top wt below & topside controls.Great Hawaiian water boat twin GM diesels,two props.Went to Kona every yr. for billfish tour.Fished Kaula rock off Niihau,mostly Oahu and Molokai.

After that Line cook at Nick's Fish Market at night,started my kitchen career,later when I started working Hotels,met a couple cooks over the yrs. who like fishing & had trailered boats.That's good fun too.

Do you guys go on shared charters on your trips?Are you out there more than one day?What type fishing,bait,catch.Shoots you got me thinking about fishing,it's cool yeh off topic threads.fftopic:


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## jmforge (Jan 11, 2013)

Keith, Oregon is an inlet that was formed by a hurricane a good while back and it is rather treacherous from what we are told. The good news is that it is the closest inlet to the drop in the Outer Banks. You are right about blackfin. They are a warm water Altantic, Gulf and Caribbean only fish that is very tasty when fresh but it does not travel AT ALL, so it has no real commercial value. We have some big yellowfin in the Gulf and offshore in Florida, etc, but you have to go WAY offshore to find them. They tend to be found around the oil rigs in the Gulf and on the other side of the Gulf Stream north of the Bahama Bank. The bluefin spawn in the Gulf, but they cannot be targeted there. Tradtionally, they were fished when they came up into the shallows around Bimini and Cat Cay in the Bahamas on their way north. Of late, they have been targeted up in the Outer Banks, but closer in that you would look for marlin. You can keep one trophy sized bluefin per boat per year in the Gulf, but that assumes you can prevent the fish from stripping all of the line from your 80-13- pound reel as it sounds for the bottom. That is supposedly the problem with them off of the Keys. They migrate between Cuba and the Keys, but we never see them and only see the odd yellowfin. They aprraprently move fast and deep and the only time you see a bluefin caught in that part of the world is when one get hooked by a "buoy boat" or longliner. Traditionally, you needed to try to catch bluefin in shallow places like Bimini/Cat Cay, Cape Cod or Nova Scotia when they came up into shallower water to feed. That way you could chase them sideways with your boat instead of watching them dive to 2000 feet and strip all of the line from your reel. Some of those old boats that were made to chase bluefin tuna on the flats of Bimini and Cat Cay are now used to chased BIG marlin and other pelagics in Kona. The world famous 42 Merritt Black Bart, now the Huntress, the 37 Rybovich Sassy Lady, now Humdinger and the 37 Merritt Northern Lights were originally designed in the 50's and 60's to chase tuna in the Bahamas and have been fishing Kona for a LONG time, going on 40 years in the case of Huntress.


keithsaltydog said:


> OBX Oregon Inlet.is that outer banks North Carolina?We do not have Bluefin or blackfin here,too warm for blues,& blkfin only in Atlantic.You have Mahi Mahi out there yes.Good eating fish fun to catch & beautiful colors when just out of the water.
> 
> We have great tasting snappers.Onaga & Opakapaka.We used to bottom fish for them on the penquin banks off Molokai at night.1970-73 worked charter boat Kamome 53 ft. Haole Sampan.Had high bow sampan hull & cabin cruiser top wt below & topside controls.Great Hawaiian water boat twin GM diesels,two props.Went to Kona every yr. for billfish tour.Fished Kaula rock off Niihau,mostly Oahu and Molokai.
> 
> ...


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## Duckfat (Jan 11, 2013)

Keith, Onaga and Opakapaka are delicous. I like Ono a lot as well although I've never manged to boat one. We have shared charters with friends/family in the past but I've never booked a make up charter. In the OBX we usually do a full day. Charters are a lot less $$$ in the keys so there we used to do multiple days. I have to say I do love the keys but it has a lot more to do with nostalgia than fishing. I think we saw what was left of the authentic keys in the 80's and 90's. My favorite places there have all been bought out and taken over by chains. Speaking of snappers fried Yellowtail snapper is delicous as well. Add a slice of Key lime pie and I'm a happy camper.
OBX is indeed the Outer Banks. In the summer Mahi schoolies are plentiful and it's fairly easy to limit out. They are good eating. Mahi picks up the flavor of just about any seasoning or marinade but on that charter it's more of a by-catch. When we go there I'm after Big eye. We did hook up a Marlin this year that was estimated @ 400#. 
You guys have Big eye in Hawaii don't you? I like the fat content better than Yellowfin. Seared Big Eye belly to me tasts like prine steak.
******* Don't you have some good snapper/grouper fishing in your area? I lived in Fl several years but never got very familiar with that side of the state. I did go Tarpon fishing once off Sanibel but that was a long time ago.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 11, 2013)

Ono we used steel liter they bite thru the mono.Used to catch alot at Kaula Rock.Yes Hi. has Bigeye,it is similar to Yellowfin in looks & size.Bigeye has larger head & bigeye.And The fat content is more to the expert who can tell the difference.

Snappers I like steamed Chinese style,like to fry up fish as well,thats good on camping trips.Janice & I both like Salmon.I cook the fish in a Skillet on high to brown & crust the outside,then turn down heat,remove asa the middle is done.Use diff sauces for salmon,she likes my roasted garlic lemon butter caper sauce.

The Kamome was a good Ahi boat,On charters we used 300# test on outriggers,80# on courner poles,50# stern poles.The best strike I saw was crusing thru a pile of high flyers & diving birds off Waianae Oahu,both outriggers & both courner poles went off within seconds of each other all with 180-200+ lb. yellowfin tuna.


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## Duckfat (Jan 11, 2013)

Wire line for Ono here as well. I think the biggest Yellowfin I've caught was around 80# but we do have taken multiple big eyes over 100#. One thing I've always wanted to do was see the HNL fish Market but we've never done that. This thread is making me want Loco Moco and spam misubi. :cheffry:


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 11, 2013)

Dave if you can't get Loco Moco or spam musibe in NC easy to make your own:lol2:


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## jmforge (Jan 11, 2013)

Wahoo (ono) do have some pointy teeth, although not the little razor blades like kingfish or Spanish mackerel. If you are someplace like Hawaii, Louisiana or the "Badlands" in the Bahamas where there are enough of them to actually target, then wire is good. With that said, we have caught them by "accident" a number of times on fluorocarbon leaders. Bigeye are more closely related to yellowfin, I do belive, but I think that in some places, people have actually confused them with "schoolie" bluefin and that can cause you some problems if bluefin are off the menu at the time, so to speak and you think that you have a bigeye.  By the way, my understanding is that the term ahi in Hawaiian is used to describe both yellowfin and bigeye.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 11, 2013)

Dave you mentioned Yellowtail is not that the same fish as Japanese Hamachi?It is farmed in Japan,the meat esp.belly is very rich & oily.At Kahala we would bring in Hamachi,frozen,wt.out head or tail.Used it VIP Sushi & Ahi- Hamachi combo sashimi.

I'm with you,like that belly meat.When I would clean & cut Salmon filets for service would always save the salmon belly either to fry up on the flatop or use in soup.

Jim you are right most people don't know the diff. between yellowfin & bigeye both are called Ahi


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## jmforge (Jan 11, 2013)

Japanese yellowtail is a member of the jack family also known as the Japanese amberjack, whereas our south Florida yellowtail is a small member of the snapper family. We smoke great amberjack in parts of Florida, but I would say that our best tasting jacks are probably the two pompano species and smaller permit.


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## Duckfat (Jan 12, 2013)

I'va had smoked Jack but I have to admidt I never knew any one ate permit. I used to surf cast for Jacks and bluefish in Fl. The larger Permit are a lot of fun on the flats in the Keys or if you can hit the tide right by the Seven Mile Bridge.
Keith I remember for a while there it seemed like every place on the Kohala Coast on the BI was serving the Kampachi they were raising in the deep water pens right off Kona. Did they end up shutting that operation down?


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## jmforge (Jan 12, 2013)

Dave, I have heard that most of the permit that get eaten are the small ones that people sometimes mistake for (or sell as) a pompano.


Duckfat said:


> I'va had smoked Jack but I have to admidt I never knew any one ate permit. I used to surf cast for Jacks and bluefish in Fl. The larger Permit are a lot of fun on the flats in the Keys or if you can hit the tide right by the Seven Mile Bridge.
> Keith I remember for a while there it seemed like every place on the Kohala Coast on the BI was serving the Kampachi they were raising in the deep water pens right off Kona. Did they end up shutting that operation down?


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 13, 2013)

I'm not sure,as far as I know they are using those open ocean cages.On Oahu Moi farming was going on in cages off Wainaie.The Hawaiians cultivated Moi in fishponds.there has been an effort to get some of these fishponds functional.Moi is good eating as well tender white meat fish.

With the word demand for seafood,farming is an alternative,it's not problem free though.Sometimes I'm willing to pay a little more for wild caught Alaska Salmon.


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## Duckfat (Jan 13, 2013)

Has any one been watching the Geographic channel series Wicked Tuna? Second season starts tonight.


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