105 lb Halibut

[ThEoRy]

Could've abridged it a bit more maybe to make it a bit shorter but hey what do you want, that thing was a monster!

[JohnnyChance]

I wish I had one of the flexible globals. Nice workhorse blade for just this type of thing. Any reason you prefer the yanagi to a sujihiki for portioning the filets?

[PierreRodrigue]

Nice work! My brother caught a 425 pound halibut a couple years back, The guys who "butchered it" had a lot of seagull feed. You could teach those guys a thing or two. Thanks for the video.

[Line cooked]

Worth every minute

[Eamon Burke]

Well done.

[apicius9]

Nice work. I had no idea these beasts would get that large, and Pierre's brother catching a 425pounder sounds crazy.

Stefan

[ThEoRy]

I wish I had one of the flexible globals. Nice workhorse blade for just this type of thing. Any reason you prefer the yanagi to a sujihiki for portioning the filets?

Well, the global feels a bit light when portioning. I can do it and have used it for such a hundred times or more but the yanagi just gives a more true slice. It's like with the global you have to press harder and this distorts the fish because it pulls the flesh as you are cutting, creating almost an angled cut giving the portion a parallelogram shape. It's minor, but I know it's there and I can feel and see it. With the yanagi the fish just stays there and doesn't slide while draw cutting.

As for why I prefer the Tanaka over a sujihiki it's simply a matter of not owning one yet. Yet. Any recommendations? I've been looking at Hiromoto or kikiuchi tkc.

[JohnnyChance]

The yanagi doesn't want to pull to one side either? Or does the softness of the fish and drawing action on the slice help it make a straight up and down cut? I only have a small yanagi and haven't used it that much, and not to portion any fish yet.

I have a 300mm Hiro suji with a Dave handle. I like it a lot, but it's the only one I have so I don't have much to compare it to. Nice having the aogami super and stainless cladding though.

[Jim]

Nice Job, thanks for sharing that, I enjoyed it.

[Eamon Burke]

The yanagi doesn't want to pull to one side either? Or does the softness of the fish and drawing action on the slice help it make a straight up and down cut?

A yanagi is designed for just this task, and it performs it flawlessly. The weight and balance of the knife is as assymetrical as it looks like it would be, so the result is you that you just pay attention to where the knife is going and the fish just gets out of it's way. I noticed when I switched from a suji at the sushi bar to my Yanagi, I dealt with what felt like steering. Then I started watching my knife instead of the fish, and no more problems.