712lb - 101" Giant on Tiagra 50 & 90lb. Fluorocarbon!!!

[Agitated88]

Yes, it is the LRSA and I love this shot! Gotta love the 30 to 1 mechanical advantage of our block and tackle!!

That last picture is just crazy!!!

[canyonjunkie]

nice fish! good thing nobody waked you when that brute was coming over the gunnel

[MarkP]

That's the epitome of great teamwork...

MarkP

[First Light]

Well, it was certainly a day to remember. One of those stars aligned lucky ones where it couldn't have gone better. Ron wanted to tag only, but I brought Ice anyway. The night before I decided to put on some new top-shots just for the hell of it. We put a new leader on that rod because it had already caught a couple fish that morning. Derek and I decided last week to put the harpoon, tailrope and block and tackle on board, just in case. I'm thankful for a lot of these, but also for an incredible effort By Ron the angler, who had already fought two fish and stepped up and straight killed the big one. I'd also like to thank Mark Kooskalis who gave me the last bait out of his tank because his clients couldn't catch another one, and hung around while we fought it. Without him and one of his clients we would never have gotten that fish in the boat.
She flew yesterday and we'll see what it does at saturdays auction in tokyo. Thanks again to everyone who was a part of it and for all your kind words. Back at it tomorrow! Thanks - Nat

[amarshall]

How long of a fight was it on a 50?

Awesome story

[kitebuz]

Wow - congrats! Great fish. Sounds like you guys were as ready as you could be to land a big one. It would be great to hear some details on how you fought a giant on a 50 to get it to the boat that quickly - did you have to chase, and what was the water depth? Also interested to hear about the end game - was the fish boatside & done on the leader, or did you stick it quick at the first chance it came close?

I'd also be interested to hear what rod you were using.

Thanks for any other details that could help others in future battles to bring fish in more quickly.

Good luck to you on Sat.

[aloop]

nice fish, did you have to plug the scuppers before lifting the fish?

[oldmud]

WELL now, so much for not getting bit on a full moon !!!!!!!

Well Done !!

[First Light]

The rod was one of our custom 50-130 standup rods with 130 jerry brown to a 150yd topshot of 130 Diamond (Thanks Basil). 12' of 90 seaguar, 11/0 saltwater hook. The first run was 400yds we ran up on her and got half the mono back and she bolted another 300. First run was at strike 28 lbs second was halfway between strike and full so probably 36lbs. After the second run we stopped her and got her to circle and that was 30 or so minutes. I couldn't wait and the angler was getting tired so I took a throw at 20 feet away and 10 feet down and hit perfectly just under the pec fin. Three circles on the dart line and we tail roped her. Couldn't have gone any smoother.

[doglover]

good fish