Yellowfin Tuna Pending World Record

[Jon54]

For 16 years,I took a long range fishing trip out of San Diego on the Excel Sport Fishing boat. My trips were 10 days long and would go as much as1,000 miles south of San Diego.

I quit going 3 years ago, mostly due to finances but have continued to follow this world class fishing boat. Well, last week they landed the new pending world record yellowfin tuna, 443#.

This beast was caught on a boat with upwards of 25 other anglers on standup gear. My biggest was around 100# and I'll admit I'm not man enough to handle a fish of this size.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Wow! Thats a giant!

 

[Bgoodman30]

Nice! Love YF. Caught one around 350# in Mehico long time ago..

 

[Kevin Snook]

I have a friend that used to be a deck hand on one of those boats back in the 80s…
Was insane the stories he'd tell of when they got on them.

 

[Dbllunger]

Woof! That's a lot of good eating.

 

[BLC]

What, pray tell, is holding that fish upright and rigid?

 

[Jon54]

What, pray tell, is holding that fish upright and rigid?

The crew puts a towel under the nose to keep it from sliding and then they stand it vertically so the angler just has to hold it upright for the instant to take a photo. At least 4 crew are just outside of the photo to jump in should the fish start to tilt

These fish are rigid even when just caught. Normally, after being brought on board, they gut and gill the fish to release as much blood. But they weighed it on the ship and realized it was close to a record.

They snapped a quick photo and then put the fish in a refrigerated seawater hold until they got back to the dock.

 

[Lt.Dan]

That beast would feed my tuna fish habit for a couple years!

 

[CATCHDAWG]

Some might think I'm weird but my 52 year old 160 pound self has zero interest in trying to land a fish a size. Congrats to the angler though!

 

[Bad habit]

I have been on a few out of San Diego when my girlfriend lived there 14 years ago. The last trip 17 of us caught 270 yellowfin and probably an equal number of skipjack tuna. Everyone's arms were jello by the end of the day!

 

[Jon54]

I have been on a few out of San Diego when my girlfriend lived there 14 years ago. The last trip 17 of us caught 270 yellowfin and probably an equal number of skipjack tuna. Everyone's arms were jello by the end of the day!

One of my most memorable trips, we were fishing off an area called the Ridge. We were fishing for yellowtail, which is a cousin to amberjack. 25 of us caught 375 20-30# fish in two hours. Th3 limited was 15 fish each. When we left the bite was just as hot as when we started.