# Open market prices?



## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

The fresh fish sellers on the road side seem fishy about their pricing. First time i bought a whole fish there was about 100peso a kilo and it was a full kilo fish, assuming the scales aren't fishy.
That seemed fair considering that i paid for a restaurant meal of a whole prepped and cooked fish with rice and veggies. Add the table and service, all for 100peso. Maybe the restaurant fish was half a kilo size.
Anyway i go back another day and the road side fresh fish sellers refuse to sell for less than 120 a kilo and seems they won't sell any type of fish for less than 100 a kilo. I got some kind of junk fish from one table last week for 50 a kilo but they are fishy about pricing.
They quote me 120 on a decent looking fish and then start cutting it after weighing 1.5 kilos and tell me 195 pesos which is 130pesos a kilo. THEN POINT TO ANOTHER FISH WITH A HEAD AND SAY THE HEAD IS 120 A KILO. I would not buy the head if it was 50 a kilo.
I bought the 130 a kilo they lured me into and told them its why i do not like to buy fish, but i look at the over all quanity and it looks ok by my budget. BUT.... they are road side sellers with an open table full of flies and road dust kicked up by cars. They literally take up road way. The water they rinse in is always thick as soup with fish muck.
So thats the main reason i get a fishy feeling about their pricing. No quality hygeine or overhead, but i give them credit for cutting to order and the fish is always fresh and not gone bad in the open sun and air.
I guess i should try Walmart fish section some time to get an honest gauge for fish pricing. The road side sellers are walking distance from the fishing boats and have no shop or market stalls. So it should be fair to compare them to Walmart prices.

I stay away from buying fish now because of this, but i look and ask everytime i pass by. The chicken is great and all over the place. Fish sellers are just a few in one area. 
I have bought fish 5 times and tried 4 different kinds at different prices. One seller gave me El Dorado fish for 90 a kilo while the other refused anything less than 120 a kilo for the same fish. The 120 a kilo people have more fish and more variety but fishier pricing. 

They seem to try to sell me the idea that there is no fish for less than 100peso a kilo even though all over town restaurants cook up and serve with sides, a whole fish hanging off a large plate, all for 100 pesos. A sink to wash hands, restroom, tables, service and all for 100 pesos.

So i am buying chicken from now om at the indoor facilities with better hygeine and no fishy pricing.

I want to know more about fish pricing so i can know for sure if to stay away from the road side sellers or if i am wrong about the road side fish sellers being fishy.


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

120 or even 100 per kilo sounds high for whole fish when fillets can be had for 75 or so in any supermarket. I don't know the area that well, but it seems like they're playing you for the fish. I've occasionally purchased whole fish being peddled by guys on the street near the docks in Manzanillo. Looks and smells not more than an hour or two out of the water and for 100 pesos I'd expect a whole fish, perhaps a snapper, to weigh 4 kilos. At the market even chunks of smoked marlin fillets don't cost a lot more than 120 a kilo.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Prices at road side stands are flexible. They will ask for what they think they can get from you. I would talk to some locals and see what they pay. Then refuse to pay any more than that.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

...and that's why I go to the indoor markets where the prices are posted. Too many roadside stands see a foreigner coming and go for the gold.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

At this point i even have doubts that their scales are making a real kilo at the 1kg mark.
Thanks for the replies.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lagoloo said:


> ...and that's why I go to the indoor markets where the prices are posted. Too many roadside stands see a foreigner coming and go for the gold.


I find that, as long as I have an idea about what the price should be, I enjoy negotiating. I don't shop all that much but when I do it is fun to go back and forth on the price. I end up feeling like I have more of a connection to the seller if we have had some conversation about the value of his or her merchandise.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

The veggies and fruit seem to be the same pricing any where i go. Road side or the market stalls. All the the other meats like chicken and others, seem to only sell at indoor stalls or butcher shops with the setup for clean surfaces and area.
Only whole fresh fish seems to sell on the street side.

I was going to try the snapper cause i hear its a good fish, but next thing you know they priced everything at 130 a kilo. 
At US$2.99/lbs, on the road side and a few blocks from the commercial fishing boat docks, i think is bad when i saw US prices showing some types of fish at $3/lbs. But of course most of the USA fish is between $6.99 and up to over $20/lbs.

I got a barber charge me 20pesos. I gave him 30 pesos because i thought his price was low. I would pay more at the fish table if it seemed too cheap. But now i am turned to buy zero fish because it is too "cheat".
Gives me a bit of paranoia knowing sellers in town can conspire to never allow me to purchase food unless i pay USA prices for slop they scrape up off a dusty road side plank covered in flies. Literally try to starve you into destitution.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

what type of fish is it?


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

Having had the joy of buying fish at the dock fresh off the boat, I learned a bit about red snapper, a delicious fish. Hereabouts, they don't hesitate to call Vietnamese catfish or farm raised tilapia "snapper" or "sea bass". Ain't no truth in advertising to speak of when it comes to fish at the market or on the menu, sad to say.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

We eat fish at least 3 times a wek and I always buy a whole fish and this way I have zero problem knowing what I am buying , I also can tell how fresh it is. Huachinango is one of my least favorite and I usually bake it but I will eat anything from the sea and almost nothing from farms or fresh water fish.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

We enjoy street-side tacos but we don't buy fish/poultry or meat on the street. For fish we visit a fish market which has some stuff - like lobster tails or tuna steak - in a freezer. On ice they have dorado (dolphin), schnook, snapper, shelled shrimp etc. We buy whole fish and they de-scale / de-bone the fish for us. They get fresh deliveries twice a week.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lagoloo said:


> Having had the joy of buying fish at the dock fresh off the boat, I learned a bit about red snapper, a delicious fish. Hereabouts, they don't hesitate to call Vietnamese catfish or farm raised tilapia "snapper" or "sea bass". Ain't no truth in advertising to speak of when it comes to fish at the market or on the menu, sad to say.


I have read that that is also true of restaurant fish in the US. It often is not as advertised.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

TundraGreen said:


> I have read that that is also true of restaurant fish in the US. It often is not as advertised.


One particular pricey sushi restaurant in south florida comes to mind. They got caught...


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

citlali said:


> what type of fish is it?


Not sure what the last fish was but it was huge and i took the tail end if it at 130 a kilo. 1.5kg for the tail end and it was less than the mid way length of the original whole. 
They often have one other type of fish that is the biggest. The one i got has a bit of an orange or lite red hue to it.
El Dorado is a long slim fish but tall in the Keel sense of its shape. Looks huge from the side but barley 2 inches wide from gill to gill on a large one. Got it for 90 a kilo one day and 120 a kilo from the other seller. 
I want to try the snapper and i know what it looks like. Has a bit of an orange or lite red hue to it. But i am not eager enough to go back to the fish tables until i figure out whats going on with the prices.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Huachinango is red snapper.. 
OP are you not close enough to the Marina / Harbor to buy direct off one of the smaller boats ? Fish spoils fast .. We spearfish... Once back on the boat , the fish is , most often immediately gutted and put into a fish hold which is full of Ice and seawater making the slurry VERY COLD! Lots of fishermen don't immediately gut and have little to zero ice on board.. NO THANKS!
Crooks Cheats and Thieves? They are everywhere and yes, many sold _BASA_ / Vietnam Catfish .. as Grouper all along the US Sea Board and everywhere else a tourist might spend a buck.... .. Once its cooked Basa is very hard to tell from Grouper and often its nicer than Grouper..( _Its The Origin that concerns me. That said its always been very good_) I would be VERY Hesitant about buying fish in Mexico far from the sea..(( Far from the sea in Mexico is can you see the sea within an hours walk? Well unless you shop at Mega or Chedraui )) BTW I would suspect that fish brought in twice a week is at least 2 to 6 days old when you eat it .. hummm


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Thursday evening, a couple departed a New England airport, bound for our house in Tucson. They arrived at mid-afternoon on Friday, amazingly energetic after their long flight and the trip from the airport. We poured some spiked eggnog and toasted their arrival, as they were a truly welcome sight; not having seen such old familiar friends for the many years we were in Mexico. We had prepared for their arrival ahead of time, and were very ready for them. So, we plunged them into a bath of boiling, salted water for 25 minutes, before sitting down at the table to enjoy them. They had turned the appropriate red and white of the holiday season, and were delicious when dipped into drawn butter with lemon juice. Lobsters are pretty scarce here in the desert. What a treat! We are going to save up to do it again in another 15 years. 
It was a couple of days early, I know, but we called it Christmas anyway. Delicious Christmas.
May you all have a happy holiday season !


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

I don't know - I think it is very easy to get fresh fish delivered from Acapulco and driven four hours to a Mexico City fish market - say. The fish we get here in Mexico is every bit as fresh as the fish we used to buy at the market in Florida which was a mile or two from the fishing fleet. To each his own I guess - but the fish at Mega doesn't look all that fresh to me.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

The few times I looked at Mega or Ched ( _and that was a few years ago_) I might have just been lucky.. When in Mexico ( Cozumel) we bought off the dock or often got it for free.. Right this moment in SWF Grouper is, in or around $18 LB and better fish is even more.. Say Triple Tail or Cobia.. Flash Frozen individually packed fillets are actually Pretty Dang Good.. Some better than others but generally pretty dang good.. Some suppliers are better than others as well. Seems most big populations in Mexico has a Sams.. Costco is even better but Sams is pretty decent at least here in the USA .. 


Gatos said:


> I don't know - I think it is very easy to get fresh fish delivered from Acapulco and driven four hours to a Mexico City fish market - say. The fish we get here in Mexico is every bit as fresh as the fish we used to buy at the market in Florida which was a mile or two from the fishing fleet. To each his own I guess - but the fish at Mega doesn't look all that fresh to me.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

DiverSailor123 said:


> The few times I looked at Mega or Ched ( _and that was a few years ago_) I might have just been lucky.. When in Mexico ( Cozumel) we bought off the dock or often got it for free.. Right this moment in SWF Grouper is, in or around $18 LB and better fish is even more.. Say Triple Tail or Cobia.. Flash Frozen individually packed fillets are actually Pretty Dang Good.. Some better than others but generally pretty dang good.. Some suppliers are better than others as well. Seems most big populations in Mexico has a Sams.. Costco is even better but Sams is pretty decent at least here in the USA ..


I agree - in Florida, a town South of ours had a 'sea-food market' every Saturday morning and we had a lot of good luck with kyro-packed fillets. I have known people who can cook a very tasty cobia but not me. My preference is dolphin - or yellowtail - or fresh tuna steak with wasabi/soy sauce.

In Mexico - Costco has some decent (and reasonably priced) red snapper.


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## lagoloo (Apr 12, 2011)

RVGRINGO said:


> Thursday evening, a couple departed a New England airport, bound for our house in Tucson. They arrived at mid-afternoon on Friday, amazingly energetic after their long flight and the trip from the airport. We poured some spiked eggnog and toasted their arrival, as they were a truly welcome sight; not having seen such old familiar friends for the many years we were in Mexico. We had prepared for their arrival ahead of time, and were very ready for them. So, we plunged them into a bath of boiling, salted water for 25 minutes, before sitting down at the table to enjoy them. They had turned the appropriate red and white of the holiday season, and were delicious when dipped into drawn butter with lemon juice. Lobsters are pretty scarce here in the desert. What a treat! We are going to save up to do it again in another 15 years.
> It was a couple of days early, I know, but we called it Christmas anyway. Delicious Christmas.
> May you all have a happy holiday season !


If I were to take your post literally, it looks like you plunged your GUESTS into a bath of boiling salted water for 25 minutes...........
I spilled my coffee laughing over that. Thanks RV, and may you and yours have a great holiday season!


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

lagoloo said:


> If I were to take your post literally, it looks like you plunged your GUESTS into a bath of boiling salted water for 25 minutes...........
> I spilled my coffee laughing over that. Thanks RV, and may you and yours have a great holiday season!


I think you missed the joke. He -DID- plunge his guests into boiling water. 

When I was growing up I had relatives in Maine. We rarely visited them, it was a long ways from Alaska in those days. But when we did, Maine Lobster was always on the menu at my aunt's house. Once I went out on a distant cousin's boat to pull lobster traps. Then he and his wife would sit in the kitchen for hours picking lobster meat to be sold to local restaurants.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

We hate cold weather - but on our short 'bucket list' is a trip to Nova Scotia - to eat lobster on the beach.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Gatos said:


> We hate cold weather - but on our short 'bucket list' is a trip to Nova Scotia - to eat lobster on the beach.


If you go a bit further, to Prince Edward Island, the fresh oysters are the best I have ever had. Of course, they also have excellent lobster and no shortage of potatoes, of course. Often, all can be found along with strawberry shortcake in many church basements during tourist season.

Enjoy !!!!!!!


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

DiverSailor123 said:


> Huachinango is red snapper..
> OP are you not close enough to the Marina / Harbor to buy direct off one of the smaller boats ? Fish spoils fast .. We spearfish... Once back on the boat , the fish is , most often immediately gutted and put into a fish hold which is full of Ice and seawater making the slurry VERY COLD! Lots of fishermen don't immediately gut and have little to zero ice on board.. NO THANKS!
> Crooks Cheats and Thieves? They are everywhere and yes, many sold _BASA_ / Vietnam Catfish .. as Grouper all along the US Sea Board and everywhere else a tourist might spend a buck.... .. Once its cooked Basa is very hard to tell from Grouper and often its nicer than Grouper..( _Its The Origin that concerns me. That said its always been very good_) I would be VERY Hesitant about buying fish in Mexico far from the sea..(( Far from the sea in Mexico is can you see the sea within an hours walk? Well unless you shop at Mega or Chedraui )) BTW I would suspect that fish brought in twice a week is at least 2 to 6 days old when you eat it .. hummm


I stay a couple blocks from the beach and maybe a 10 minute walk to the fishing pier. I need to find out which street to get there. The fishing pier is up along an inlet or lagoon of some sort that opens to sea right where my street meets the beach. 

I just got back fron the city today. Drove my neighbors there for the start of their trip back to USA.
Went to walmart to check fish prices and seems 100peso a kilo is normal and they had some fish for much less but maybe was tilapia. Also saw one fish listed at 200 pesio a kilo. All the large fish are filleted so i cannot see what they originally looked like. 
So walmart barely helped and their selection is slim compared to the street vendors.
I did find a shop in town and walking distance from the boats, a shop with freezers that sells whole frozen fish. And they quoted 100 a kilo on any of the large fish.
So i may try that some day, but thoughts already running in my head of thawing them out only to find a rancid smell of bad fish.
Will try at least once. I am not equipped to cut them and thats one thing about the fresh fish vendors i like, they cut/prep the fish for me- where all i have to do at home is rinse and drop in the pot.

I guess my last option is to do what you said. Go visit the boat dock and find a boat that will sell catch to me.
Or buy a rod and line to eat fish whenever i get lucky.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Orfin: Can I ask where your staying? West Coast.. East Coast... Gulf Coast.. Sea of Cortez? What town your in would help a lot to ID what fish would be available what times of year.. 
Fishing in Mexico can be as simple as a pop can ( for a rod and reel ) a hook, some line, a piece of bait or even piece of chicken .. Just remember..... we call it FISHING cause we ain't always CATCHING


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

DiverSailor123 said:


> Orfin: Can I ask where your staying? West Coast.. East Coast... Gulf Coast.. Sea of Cortez? What town your in would help a lot to ID what fish would be available what times of year..
> Fishing in Mexico can be as simple as a pop can ( for a rod and reel ) a hook, some line, a piece of bait or even piece of chicken .. Just remember..... we call it FISHING cause we ain't always CATCHING


Took a christmas day drive to the fisherman boat docks and it is lined up and down the streets with fish shops with freezers. I assume i could just walk in and ask whats available, look and buy.
Also watched some fishermen hand lining at the head of the inlet along the beach today. Fish were just jumping all around but only a few taking the shrimp bait being used.
I am along the pacific coast.

I will start touring the fishing boat docks after the holiday season to see whats available and the price. A lot of fishing activity and a whole union or syndicate arrangement in the community. Its like the fishermen-town area. I will have a lot of small boats to ask from. At least a hundred lining the dock.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

Just got done with home cooked fish from the fishermans pier and i approve the price and quality.
Not sure what kind of fish but it was big enough to make fillets that hang off a large plate.
Across the street from the boats, they offered the whole uncut fish for 30pesos a kilo and then charged me 60pesos for the nicely filleted meat with no head or spine to deal with.
Has my hopes up that i can get some decent fish for 100peso a kilo. I like the large ones but hard to buy parts and peices of just one fish there. Have to buy the whole thing even with a 15kilo or larger fish.
Another thing is the fishermen docks sell only whats available after the daily catch is spoken for by those whose business runs on fish. 

Found a very cheap option and thanks for the advice here


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Glad to read you have had success : )


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Orfin said:


> Just got done with home cooked fish from the fishermans pier and i approve the price and quality.
> Not sure what kind of fish but it was big enough to make fillets that hang off a large plate.
> Across the street from the boats, they offered the whole uncut fish for 30pesos a kilo and then charged me 60pesos for the nicely filleted meat with no head or spine to deal with.
> Has my hopes up that i can get some decent fish for 100peso a kilo. I like the large ones but hard to buy parts and peices of just one fish there. Have to buy the whole thing even with a 15kilo or larger fish.
> ...


Actually - that is the way it works even in South Florida- depending. The only thing you might give up buying from the boat is the variety. But if you know what you are looking for...

There were many times when we would be standing in front of the typical refrigerated glass things at the fish store - when they had the back door open unloading that day's catch - from which we selected.

Interesting side note : there is a chain of restaurants in South Florida which has been around for at least 30 years. If you go fishing and have a catch - you can bring it back to the restaurant and they will cook it for you. In today's changing times...


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Its pretty common in tourist areas to see signs saying " We Will Cook Your Catch " in front of Restaurants.. By my house no, down by Matlacha or up near Englewood or Venice Yes.. Cozumel and Playa del Carmen and Progresso Beach area? Absolutely..


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

DiverSailor123 said:


> Its pretty common in tourist areas to see signs saying " We Will Cook Your Catch " in front of Restaurants.. By my house no, down by Matlacha or up near Englewood or Venice Yes.. Cozumel and Playa del Carmen and Progresso Beach area? Absolutely..


The only problem these days is you need to go to the Bahamas to do some decent fishing. 

Even with the Pompano Beach Rodeo - they first go all the way to Jupiter in hopes of a catch.

It can't be any better on the west coast.


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

It is amazing how much fish they have going to waste at the pier. Some is from the boats but most from the fish buyer shops that line the road along the pier.
I saw a barrel full of fish scraps being fed to the Albatross and Pelicans and other barrels of fish scraps just sitting there. 
I was told sometimes they will give fish away when catch comes in at a rate beyond the storage capacity. No such luck for me yet.
The big sea birds are fed daily feasts. An Albatross actually dropped a foot long fish on my shoulder as i stood under them where they were being fed fish from a scrap barrel.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

I am surprised to read that so much fish goes to waste.. Carcasses, I understand that to some extent, but not whole edible desirable fish..
I am surprised to read as well that Gatos feels there's no good fishing left along the shores of Florida.. I am even more surprised to read he feels the fishing is better in the Bahamas.. I have friends on both of our coast who fish and I haven't heard that.. Are Fish Numbers down? Yes they are and that's just about everywhere.. We are taking a lot of food from the sea.. But the difference I hear about , from my friends here is .... It used too be Any Idiot could catch fish and now its taking some skill and persistence. Not Catching Fish? Hire A Guide and learn what it is your doing wrong.
I doubt there will be much fish caught today with this cold front but tomorrow we are back up into the low 80's.. 



Orfin said:


> It is amazing how much fish they have going to waste at the pier. Some is from the boats but most from the fish buyer shops that line the road along the pier.
> I saw a barrel full of fish scraps being fed to the Albatross and Pelicans and other barrels of fish scraps just sitting there.
> I was told sometimes they will give fish away when catch comes in at a rate beyond the storage capacity. No such luck for me yet.
> The big sea birds are fed daily feasts. An Albatross actually dropped a foot long fish on my shoulder as i stood under them where they were being fed fish from a scrap barrel.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Just curious - how far off the west coast do you have to go to spear a fish ? And is that going to be off a wreck or a reef ?

As I remember it - the dive boats on the east coast were packed with divers from the west coast. We never had even a thought to go to the west coast - and we dove a lot.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time - honest - just trying to understand a little better.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Not a problem.. I will gladly answer any question I can.. Diving on the West Coast of Florida , IMHO sucks.. But its all relative to the fact , that I first learned and later Taught and Lived P/T on The Island of Cozumel ... Cozumel has 80 to over 100 foot viz.. every day and the water is always between 79-83... The Fla. Keys and much of the East Coast of Fla. has 30-70 foot Viz changes everyday sometimes every hour.. The West Coast / The Gulf Coast.... has even less viz.. We have less current and in our Harbor we have Mangroves. Mangroves stain our water to look like tea.. yet that tea provides for fish habitat and there by, an abundance of fish, but that stain eliminates sport diving in the Harbor.. You can catch the rare day and get 20-40 viz on this coast , less than 5 miles out but most often your 30-50 miles out to get those numbers.. I / we didn't come for the diving or even the fishing...#1.. we came for the weather.. If diving was our #1 concern we would be back on Cozumel.. My home with the added viz would be worth 3 times or more , than what I have in it and I then couldn't afford it then or the taxes... OOOpppsss *spear fishing*? That was the Question.. You can spear fish keepers , right off the beach... but its too hit or miss so we head out at least 10 miles and have gone 50 miles just because...... we could hahaahaa...... A Great day on the water is hard to beat and doing it with your brother is harder yet , and if your brother is one of your best friends hahhahhaha it's Un-beatable!



Gatos said:


> Just curious - how far off the west coast do you have to go to spear a fish ? And is that going to be off a wreck or a reef ?
> 
> As I remember it - the dive boats on the east coast were packed with divers from the west coast. We never had even a thought to go to the west coast - and we dove a lot.
> 
> I'm not trying to give you a hard time - honest - just trying to understand a little better.


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## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Happy diving, brother.


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## DiverSailor123 (Sep 17, 2016)

Right Back At Ya and a Happy New Year!! :tea:


Gatos said:


> Happy diving, brother.


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