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.
