Tag: Bluefin Tuna

Tuna sells for $789,000, thanks to its freshness and vibrant color

In light of the recent earthquake, the buyer had mixed emotions about participating in the auction, a popular tourist attraction in Japan.

A bluefin tuna weighing 524.7 pounds sold for a whopping $789,000 at an annual New Year’s auction Friday in Tokyo, Japan. At 114.24 million yen, it was the fourth-highest price paid for a bluefin at the auction since record-keeping began in 1999.

The fish was caught off the coast of Oma in the Aomori Prefecture in northeastern Japan, and was jointly purchased by wholesaler Yamayuki and the company that operates the Sushi Ginza Onodera restaurant, Kyodo News reported.

“I’d been feeling that the economy was getting better, so I thought the bidding would reach 100 million yen,” Yamayuki president Yukitaka Yamaguchi told Kyodo News.

“The decisive factor was the tuna’s freshness and vibrant color. We are thankful to the fishermen who braved the cold to catch it.”

Yamaguchi stated that they had mixed emotions about participating in the auction in light of the devastating earthquake that struck central Japan on New Year’s Day, “but we decided to go for it in the belief that we also need positive news.”

Besides the restaurant, the fish will be sold at food stores in Tokyo.

Last year, the top-selling bluefin tuna weighed 467 pounds and fetched $273,000. The auction record was a 612-pound bluefin tuna that sold for $3 million in 2019.

This year’s auction, a popular tourist attraction each year, was held at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market for the first time, the event having been moved from Tokyo’s main fish market in nearby Tsukiji.

Photo courtesy of Bloomberg Economics.  

Anglers land record-size, 900-pound tuna despite adversities

A trio of fishermen battled the behemoth bluefin tuna for 5½ hours with several things going wrong in the ‘down and dirty brawl.’

A trio of fishermen overcame an interfering pod of dolphins, a broken fishing line, a harpoon line that was about to break and two broken hoists to land a 900.1-pound bluefin tuna off North Carolina earlier this month.

Capt. John Cruise, fishing out of New River Marina with Zach Foster and Aaron Barr, took 5½ hours to land the behemoth bluefin tuna that would have eclipsed the current state record had only one fisherman reeled it in, but all three contributed, according to Sport Fishing Magazine.

They were fishing only four miles offshore in 50 feet of water when the tuna ate an 8-inch bluefish around noon.

“I knew it was a giant of a fish and we were headed for an epic battle when the tuna made a sizzling run of about 600 yards,” Cruise told Sport Fishing Magazine. “We slowly closed the gap to the tuna, but it was a long, tough fight.

“There was almost nothing we could do except stay in the fight, a down and dirty brawl with an immense fish. The fish went real deep, and I figured the only way I could get it up and near the boat was to sort of ‘plane’ it toward the surface using the boat.”

When a pod of dolphins showed up close to the boat and fish, the anglers were concerned one of the dolphins would rub against the 130-pound-test braided line and break it. The dolphins avoided the line, but that was only the start of the adversities the fishermen faced.

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“We got a good harpoon shot into the tuna’s shoulder, and got a gaff in him, but things went bad,” Cruise told Sport Fishing Magazine. “The gaff pulled out, and another gaff got knocked away by the fish. Then the fishing line broke and the only thing keeping us tied to the tuna was the 1,500-pound harpoon line.”

But the harpoon line became frayed about 75 percent through by rubbing against the hull of the boat. Fortunately, Cruise managed to grab the line below the fray. That wasn’t the end to their misfortunes, however.

“We broke two hoists getting the fish inside the Contender,” Cruise told Sport Fishing Magazine. “But we finally dragged it in headfirst, so only about a quarter of the fish was hanging off the stern.”

They returned to the marina in the dark where the bluefin tuna was weighed on a certified scale. It was an impressive catch, of course, but the current North Carolina record of 877 pounds still stands. It was caught by retired Army General Scott Chambers of Townsend, Delaware, on March 17, 2018. It took him 2½ hours to land the fish off Oregon Inlet.

Photo courtesy of John Cruise.

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Broken reel doesn’t prevent catch of 1,000-pound tuna

A father and son, with help from others, landed what might have been a record-size bluefin tuna, despite a reel handle that wouldn’t turn.

A father and young son, with help from others, reeled in what might have been a North Carolina record for bluefin tuna had it been a qualifying catch and weighed properly, but it was impressive nonetheless, considering the reel broke during the 2½-hour battle.

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Josiah VanFleet of Virginia was fishing with his 9-year-old son Zeke on his 22-foot Grady-White boat about 45 miles out on the Outer Banks of North Carolina last week when they hooked up at around 8:15 a.m. while trolling, according to The Virginia-Pilot and WAVY-TV.

VanFleet and four others took turns reeling with the rod firmly planted in a rod holder.

“That went on for quite a while,” VanFleet told the Pilot. Until the reel malfunctioned three-quarters into the fight.

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The handle would no longer turn. So the crew had to take a second reel, quickly strip a bunch of line off and then attach the line with the fish onto the line from the new reel to finish the job.

“We’re literally holding a 1,000-pound fish with our hands on the line while [crimping] the lines together,” VanFleet told the Pilot. “We finally got the fish to the surface, where we pretty much harpooned him.”

It took nearly as much time to get the bluefin tuna into the boat as it did to catch it, as reported by The News&Observer. It took two hours to haul the fish aboard, thanks to some help from friends who accompanied them on the trip to the Outer Banks in another boat.

Back at Oregon Inlet, the scale was broken, but the U.S. Coast Guard helped measure the bluefin tuna and estimated its weight as 1,000 pounds. It was 9½-feet long with an 83-inch girth.

North Carolina’s current state record for a bluefin tuna is 877 pounds caught in 2017. But since multiple anglers participated, it wouldn’t have qualified as a record even had it been weighed on a certified scale.

Still, it was an impressive catch for the fishermen who reeled it in, the others identified as Steve Hux, Steven Griggs and Frank Amato by Carolina Sportsman.

“I was absolutely in awe,” VanFleet told WAVY-TV. “I had no idea; I was not expecting on catching, like, an almost 10-foot-long fish. I mean, I just never dreamed of it. I knew we’d catch a big one. I was thinking maybe [300] or 400 pounds. You know, because when you’re watching ‘Wicked Tuna,’ I mean those inches that size fish is, like, very rare on that show. And I’m like there’s no way we’re gonna get something like that. And lo and behold.”

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They had packed the fish with 200 pounds of ice and later spent two hours filleting the fish.

“We gave it to lots of friends, because what are you going to do with that much fish?” he told the Pilot. “We just kind of spread the love around Virginia.”

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Photos courtesy of Josiah VanFleet. 

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Fisherman catches rare ‘super cow’ using a balloon

A fisherman caught a rare and record-size 364.5-pound bluefin tuna off Southern California on a charter boat using a unique technique.

Fishermen seeking to catch a fish of a lifetime or personal best on a charter boat off Orange County, Calif., appeared to hit the jackpot last week, especially Adonis Soriano, who landed a record-size 364.5-pound bluefin tuna—known as a super cow in sportfishing lingo.

Adonis Soriano, right, with his 364.5-pound bluefin tuna, along with deckhand.

A super cow is one that weighs 300 pounds or more, and it is rare to catch one off Southern California as fishermen there typically take long-range trips from San Diego well into Mexican waters to catch these behemoths.

Soriano’s catch would have shattered the California state record had he not used the rail for leverage. Also, it wasn’t weighed on a certified scale but taped out at 81 inches in length with a 61-inch girth, thus producing the estimated weight.

The state record is 245 pounds caught in 2016, or about when big bluefin tuna started showing up in Southern California waters. As it was, Soriano’s catch was a record among the Newport Beach sportfishing fleet.

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Soriano was one of 18 anglers aboard the Thunderbird out of Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach that fished on a two-day trip behind San Clemente Island, and they caught loads of big bluefin tuna.

Charter master Jeff Price told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors that all the anglers were going after the fish of a lifetime or personal record, and several succeeded. They totaled 65 bluefin tuna with seven of them weighing over 100 pounds, four over 200 pounds (known as a cow), and the one over 300.

Adonis Soriano with his 364.5-pound bluefin tuna.

“We use 200-pound test and dangle a flying fish from a helium balloon to catch these monsters,” Price told For The Win Outdoors, describing a method that gets a bait dangling on the surface away from the boat. “On this trip, we saw literally thousands of fish jumping out of the water feeding on small anchovies, although there are so many fish, they’re not easy to get to bite your bait. When they’re feeding on the small anchovies and Shelbys that’s usually all they want so you need to be very lucky for them to bite your bait.”

Then there were several lucky anglers, Soriano among the luckiest.

“The 364.5-pound bluefin took just under one hour to land,” Price said. “The fight was intense. He peeled off hundreds of feet of line on his first run. The large fishing reel was actually very warm from all of the tension.

“He laid the rod on the rail and put one knee down on the deck and started cranking the handle as hard as he could. It gets to be exhausting, but the longer you have the fish on, the higher the chance you will lose it. He did an excellent job landing this fish.”

Soriano told For The Win Outdoors the fight was “intense” and “like no other fight I had fought before.”

“[The fish took] long runs that almost took all the line off my reel,” Soriano said.

It wasn’t the only fish he caught; he landed another in the 35-40-pound range. The other was his biggest ever, surpassing a 90-pounder he had caught previously.”

Photos courtesy of Davey’s Locker and Adonis Soriano.

 

‘Monster’ tuna leaves anglers exhausted, captain injured

Giant bluefin tuna do not come up easily, and that certainly proved true Tuesday for a group of anglers off San Diego.

Giant bluefin tuna do not come up easily, and that certainly proved true Tuesday for a group of anglers off San Diego.

The Mad Max Sportfishing charter teamed to land a 345-pound bluefin, but the two-hour fight left the anglers exhausted and the captain with a separated shoulder.

“It was a group effort to land this monster fish and everyone took a turn fighting it,” Capt. Max Dennemeyer told For The Win Outdoors. “I ended up taking over toward the end to get this fish to leader, as the clients were out of energy and it required my experience to apply enough pressure to bring the  fish to leader, where I could grab the leader with one hand and gaff the fish with the other.”

During this process, Dennemeyer’s right shoulder became separated.

“It was excruciatingly painful, but luckily I was able to stay focused enough to order one of my clients to grab my arm and yank on it as hard as possible to pop it back in, which ended up working on the second try.”

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While bluefin tuna can be enormous, it’s rare to catch the true giants on rod and reel because they possess so much power and determination. The 345-pounder was a personal best for Dennemeyer and his passengers.

The accompanying Instagram video shows the weigh-in at the San Diego Marlin Club.

Dennemeyer said the group was fishing 80 miles west of San Diego and was trolling frozen flying fish “that we rig up to look as natural as possible” to entice the massive bluefin.

The fish was delivered to a local processing company and the sashimi-grade flesh was divided equally among the anglers.

–Images and video courtesy of Mad Max Sportfishing

Angler overjoyed after rare ‘super cow’ tuna catch

A San Diego woman’s catch Wednesday of a 370-pound bluefin tuna placed her among a small group of anglers who have landed ’super cow’ tuna.

A San Diego woman’s catch Wednesday of a 370-pound bluefin tuna placed her among a small group of anglers who have landed ‘super cow’ tuna weighing at least 300 pounds.

“Skipped a cow and went straight to a super cow,” Sophie Gail wrote on Instagram, in reference to the “cow” label anglers place on 200-pound tuna. “So overfilled with happiness.”

Gail was aboard the Constitution out of H&M Landing when the charter encountered a school of giant bluefin. Hers was hooked with a dead flying fish dangled beneath a kite, and landed after a grueling 90-minute battle.

“It was a rough, hard fight with gruesomely hard head shakes,” Gail told For The Win Outdoors. “Like a fish I never felt before.”

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Giant bluefin tuna are highly prized and incredibly powerful; difficult to land even with heavy tackle. In all, Constitution anglers boated eight bluefin. Besides Gail’s, they ranged from 122 to 257 pounds.

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“They had some heartbreaks that go along with this kind of trip, with a couple in that super cow range managing to get away,” Constitution Sportfishing wrote on Instagram.

Gail, who used an Okuma PCH 4X rail rod and a Makaira 50W reel, said the experience left her humbled but overjoyed.

“I need to have some time to myself and recollect my thoughts after everyone saying their congratulations,” she said. “It was such an experience. It felt like a dream, waking up [the next morning].”

Neither Gail nor Constitution Sportfishing would pinpoint where they encountered the bluefin tuna school.

–Image showing Sophie Gail and her 370-pound bluefin tuna is courtesy of Constitution Sportfishing

Angler catches record tuna, as predicted, then gives it away

After a week of predicting he would catch a state-record bluefin tuna, Jake Hiles went out and did it, and then made a surprising gesture.

After predicting he was going to catch a state-record bluefin tuna and asking several others to join him, Jake Hiles finally found someone to accompany him fishing off the Virginia coast, and went out and caught the record, landing a 708-pounder.

Then he gave away his fish of a lifetime.

Hiles, who operates Matador Sport Fishing Charters out of Virginia Beach, took the day off from work last Saturday and went fishing with a friend, Jeff Landis, in a place known as the “tuna hole” some 80 miles offshore.

“I spent about a week contacting people, telling them that we would go catch the record and no one could go,” Hiles told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors.

Until Landis came forward.

Then Hiles made good on his prediction, catching a behemoth bluefin that beat the previous record by more than 100 pounds.

Field and Stream called it the fishing equivalent of Babe Ruth standing at the plate and pointing his bat toward the fence then smacking a home run, adding that Hiles had texted one friend, “I’m gonna go catch the new Virginia state record this weekend.”

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Hiles bested the record set by his friend Chase Robinson in April 2015. That was a 606-pounder, and Hiles was on the boat that day.

“I always thought since Chase’s passing that it would be fitting if one of Chase’s friends broke his record,” Hiles told The Virginia-Pilot, pointing out that his friend died a short time after the catch.

Hiles told For The Win Outdoors that this was biggest tuna he’s caught recreationally, adding that it was “verified by the state and is pending.”

The tuna, which took an hour to bring in, measured 9 1/2 feet with a girth nearly 6 1/2 feet, according to Field and Stream. There was plenty of precious meat. So Hiles posted an invitation to those who follow him on Facebook to come down to the Virginia Beach Fishing Center to get a hunk of tuna. And they did, lining up with coolers to fill.

“I had 708 pounds of tuna that is best eaten fresh and I can’t eat it all myself,” Hiles told Fish and Stream “It’s nice to be able to share this with the community.”

Hiles told For The Win, “I probably gave fish to 300 people or more.” He said not an ounce of the fish was wasted. He kept less than two pounds for himself.

“No amount of money, or charters, or publicity is worth to me the sentimental value of this record,” Hiles wrote on Facebook. “Chase’s record meant a lot to me. I know records get broken, but I wanted to honor Chase by breaking his record. I did that and no amount of criticism or jealousy can take that away from me…

“Setting this record was a personal goal of mine. I achieved my goal. But I have received some criticism.”

The critics apparently questioned his keeping the fish, alleged it was caught in North Carolina waters, and claimed bluefin tuna are endangered. Hiles refuted it all, saying he had a legal right to keep the fish, that bluefin aren’t endangered and that it was caught according to the rules of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament (the state’s record keeper) in federal waters off the coast of North Carolina.

Hiles also pointed out the financial boom to the local fishing industry, with the record generating publicity for the entire area’s bluefin tuna fishery, and it clearly is doing just that.

As a memory, Hiles kept the tail and will have it mounted.

Photos courtesy of Jake Hiles and Buzz Hayes.

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