ahi ~~~ shibi ~~~ yellowfin tuna ~~~ (thunnus albacares)
considered to be the most prized sportfish in Hawaii... the name “ahi” is Hawaiian for “fire” because when knifing through the deep blue water their bodies shimmer like flames... smaller ahi are sometimes called by the japanese name “shibi” as some only consider a true ahi to be over 100 lbs... schools of ahi begin to become more prevalent in Hawaiian waters during the summer months known as “ahi fever”, and are often found swimming with pods of dolphins... large ahi are a trophy catch for anglers and fetch top dollar at the fishmarket... it is best eaten fresh as raw “sashimi” or as sushi...

the story... since i don’t normally go trolling, when i was asked to make a special gyotaku from some small ahis i gave my friend roy a call... i asked him to hook me up with some “small shibi”... the next week i get a phone call saying that he has two shibis for me and i can pick them up... i was excited because the weather had been really rough and i wasn’t expecting to get my order that soon... out of curiosity, i asked “how big are the fish???” “small shibis, about 20lbs”, was the reply... “whoa, too big!!! i only wanted 3 to 5 lb kine’!!!” try again... i waited another week to get my order, 5 small shibi in the 2 to 5 lb range... according to the guys that caught the fish these were just the “scraps”... i traded a case of green bottles for the “scrap shibi”...

(the picture shown is an "old school" shot with a pretty good catch from my friend Jared C.'s boat...)