Charter Captain & Commercial Fisherman; Member of Mass Bay Guides
An Awesome Score for the Labrador and Mass Bay Guides – a Giant Blue Fin Tuna
My client Jay just loves to fight big fish on stand up gear. He came out with me twice last year, his only wish was to catch a giant blue fin tuna on a 50. An hour or so into one of our trips we hooked a fish – a big-ass fish – and it beat Jay up pretty good, it was painful for all of us on the boat to watch. Worst of all, after a hard fight he lost the fish – it pulled the hook. After the initial shock and disappointment were over Jay looked at me and said “I feel like a truck ran over me, but I want to do it again next year.” I thought he was nuts, but I told him I’d look forward to getting him out on the Labrador next year.
23 September 2011 0500 EST - It was a dark and stormy morning….. Jay, his dad, his brother, and his friend Shane (who’s a charter captain in Panama) came out on the Labrador to try to catch a giant in stand up gear all over again. We left Scituate Harbor at five in the morning and headed straight out to Race Point. After stopping to catch some live whiting for bait, we found a good spot to set up and begin chumming with the hopes of stirring up a monster. By noon, we had a big one on the hook and Jay and Shane were off on what was to be over a three and a half hour fight. My mate Naz and I were on our A-game and the rest of the guys on board settled in to watch one strong-ass blue fin tuna inflict a great deal of pain on Jay and Shane.
About ninety minutes into the fight, Jay thought he had had enough, but I was able to talk him into taking another thirty minutes of abuse. Finally, before his legs gave out completely, he passed the torch to Shane. Since Jay had tired the fish out for ninety minutes already, Shane thought that there wouldn’t be much fight left it - WRONG. In order to stir him up and get his fight on, I warned him of quite the contrary… “We don’t fight sissy fish up here in these waters like you do down in Panama… marlin and sail fish aren’t in the same league as a giant blue fin tuna.” It worked – the gauntlet was down. There was no way he was losing to this fish.
What a fight.
Over an hour into Shane’s fight, the fish was finally up close and personal with the boat and I (the always brilliant captain), much against my mate Naz’z advice, decided that it would be a perfect time to throw the harpoon at it. NOT. I missed… idiot.
What a mistake… the fish went straight down and under the boat. Shane, with one hand on the pole stretched out as far as he could shy of launching himself into the water, the other hand jammed against the gunnels, was dragged from the port side, all along the stern, to the starboard side of the boat while screaming in agony. Don’t think I’ve ever heard someone scream that loud… I was amazed that he didn’t lose the fish! After that mishap, I sheepishly returned to my proper place at the helm and let Naz direct the back of the boat…. (thank-you all for not keel hauling me).
At this point the fish was, once again, up close and personal with the Labrador, I was back where I belonged at the helm, Jay was still recovering his legs, and Shane, just about dead, was holding on to the rod for dear life. Thank God for Naz – now was the right time to come in and harpoon the fish, and that’s exactly what he did. Pandemonium broke out once we had him tail roped… we would have been hoopin’ and holerin’ a lot louder except that we had drunk all of the water and every other beverage on board the boat during the fight and no one had much of a voice left to cheer with… Thank you to the Susan B. and John Preti out of Plymouth for coming over and re-hydrating the Labrador! We owe you case of water.
By 1800 our fish was dressed, iced and on it’s way to auction! Awesome day for the Labrador and Mass Bay Guides!!
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