No baby killed on the Tammy Rose

[Blood Slick]

that things hhhhuuuggggeeee! congrats, it must have been awesome.

[lowlands]

I'm pretty sure you guys have the regs backwards. Federal law actually prohibits commercial fishing with a charter aboard. Sorry guys, but that's how the tuna regs read. A charter/headboat permit holder can be one or the other (rec or commercial) on any given trip, but cannot be both on a single trip, and they can't switch at the end.

I know it's common practice. But the regs don't seem to support that.

Unless there is an a supersceding reg around, which I'd love to hear about. If it exists, please post it. I'd love to be proven wrong.

And I'm not saying I have a problem with it, just that I could never quite square the practice with the regs.

Oh, and congrats to the crew and boat. It certainly is the catch of a lifetime.

[gmoney]

you can catch commercial fish with a charter aboard, however, you may not posess both a recreational fish (less than 73) and a commercial fish at the same time.

[rirockhound]

I'm not passing judgment here, and laws are laws, but that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Nice way to shit on this.

great fish!

[BuddyNick]

Oh dawn thirty you head out with charter on board..make the run out east...birds everywhere...halfbeaks launching and the biggest bubble-feed since anna nicole was last at Bob's country buffet...you go tight on the far left rear...it's a sweet slot fish, 65". catch of a lifetime for the charter! High fives, fish is bled out, pictures, and the first Budweiser of the day. Lines back in...all of a sudden...it's a double up! Charters buddy and brother-in-law do yeomans work and bring two beautiful fish to the boat for a healthy tag and release. Even better! Now it's 9am...the bite simmers down...but birds are still visible and working to the south..in the direction of the Sword. We know what happens in the Fall. Suddenly, it's like a hole appears in the water behind the boat. This crash is Rosie O'Donnell size, only with less armpit hair. Charter is back on the rod, and this time the game is different...fast forward two hours of back and forth...line-draining runs followed by heroic boat handling and rod work. Fish is boatside...a fat 94" fish........what happens next?

[rirockhound]

Fish has to be released.
First fish LANDED dictates the day. Keeping a rec sized fish makes them a charter boat.

If he had released all 3 in that scenario, the giant could have been pooned as a commercial boat.

Rules are very tricky, but thats how I read em.

[Cpt Dave]

Fish has to be released.
First fish LANDED dictates the day. Keeping a rec sized fish makes them a charter boat.

If he had released all 3 in that scenario, the giant could have been pooned as a commercial boat.

Rules are very tricky, but thats how I read em.

Or if the boat hasn't taken its (1) trophy fish allowed per year, it can be taken for the rec.

[JD5652]

Great story...great fish!...can't wait for the finale!

[stew]

Part 2
So now we are all watching this amazingly huge animal tailroped, all lit up with neon blue, it looked awesome. The realization that we had finally got this fish after an epic battle, and that everyone on the boat shared in the fight and end game, made it even more special for all of us. The sun was now gone and darkness started to envelope the boat. We turned on the deck flood lights and stood back in awe of the fish. Earlier in the fight when we knew we couldn’t possibly make the weigh in station in time there was a huge emotional swing on the boat. We were all so disappointed that it almost ended our desire to beat this fish. But it only lasted for a few minutes because the fish wouldn’t let us dwell on the negative and he was still there, on our line, and after the time we had already spent our prize would be the knowledge and the experience of landing such a beast. We kicked it into gear and we got the job done. The feelings that I have for the other men on my boat that I shared this with can not be put into words. Two of them our family and the others are now going to be my friends. We have a bond that no one else could ever understand unless you were there on the decks of the “Tammy Rose” that night. It truly was a special feeling that we will all not soon forget. To me, catching a giant bluefin tuna has always been an unbelievable experience, with every fish and battle so uniquely different and special but this fish will be at the top of the list for along time, burned into my memory as so many other lifetime achievements, always there to recall and relive and re-tell.
Now we had to get the fish cooled down, bleed and on the boat. I reminded everyone that we still had tomorrow and that the tourney is not done for us. We needed to make the best plans for the rest of the night to get as much rest as we could because we needed to get back out there as early as possible for the second day of the tournament. We got the fish up on deck and it taped out at 110 inches and it was fat! One of the bigger fish I have had on the deck. I called it around 800 lbs. Corey and I got it gutted and gilled and he iced it and got it in the body bag. We headed for Stage Harbor and at 9:00 pm I finally got cell phone service and had 8 voicemails. I called my wife, Tammy, who I knew was going to be very worried because she had not heard from me all day. I explained what had happened and how we had been on the fish for 5 hours and I knew she would be upset. She told me she would give me a pass this time since we got the fish. I told her we would be in Stage at 10:15pm. I next called my good friend Capt. Bob DeCosta on Nantucket and told him that we got it and I next spoke with the tournament director and owner of “Slip 14” Restaurant, Jonas Baker, and asked him if it was OK for us to leave from Chatham for the next day. He told me he was sorry that we didn’t make the time but glad we hung in there and got the fish and that it was no problem to leave from Chatham. Corey and I then made another 10 calls to family and friends, the kind of calls you love to make. We got into Stage at 10:10pm and to my surprise we were greeted by my wife and twin daughters. Tammy never comes down to see our fish, but this was a different night. She understood what it meant to us to land such a big fish on light tackle and to have all three of the Stewart boys on the boat together made it even more special. The fish weighed 730lbs with no guts or gills so I would put the fish at 775lbs. I finally left the pier at 11:20 and the guys slept on the boat.
After a quick 3 hour nap I hit the boat around 4:15am with coffee in hand and away we went. We had another 40 mile ride out and the fog was thick as ever. After yesterday’s adventure my crew was running at maybe 50% strength. Everyone was physically exhausted and mentally whopped, but our spirits were high. After re-reading part one I noticed that I forgot to mention how rough it was yesterday and how fighting that fish in 3to5 foot seas on top of some bigger swells was incredible. Everyone who fought that fish got thrown around that cockpit like a rag doll both from the fish dragging them and the seas tossing them. I had one goal for today and that was to catch a fish that could get us on the board and into the money. There was no way we could go through today what we went through yesterday, we were all just too beat up. I was over the fact that we had caught the biggest fish in the tournament and it wasn’t going to count, today was a new day and we could still place in the money. Yesterday we had 9 bites and lots of shots so we could do it again.
We hit the grounds and went lines in and the fog was thick. A few fish in the mid 60in range had been caught so the bar was set. We fished hard and had the same 5 rod spread out like we had the day before with only one exception, we had all Penn 130’s out. When I went home last night I grabbed an extra 130 to add to the spread. So with 2 Hoo’s and three splash bars out we went to work. During the morning we missed a couple on the Hoo’s and one on the splash bar and my crew was getting antsy. We needed a fish. The bite was much slower than yesterday so we just needed something decent to have a shot. Around noontime Matt was up on the bridge with me and we were discussing the fishing when a nice tuna exploded on the center rigger, “Chameleon” again. Corey was on it fast and worked his magic and he got it to come back twice and hooked him good. WE ARE ON!!!! The fish looked good to me and we got Richie on the rod. He battled for awhile and then everyone took a turn. We got the fish to the boat and he made another run. Corey was on the leader and he said it was a good fish and Matt was on the gaff. The second run at the boat he was ours, gaffed and roped. We were on the board. It is so hard to judge the size of the fish from the flybridge and I had told Corey to make the call as he was on the leader. He firmly said the fish was in the low to mid 60’s and that is what we needed. We dragged the fish for awhile and got him up on deck and measured him at 65 ½ inches. It would be close at the dock but when we announced the length over the radio I knew we had a shot. With the fish in the bag and on ice we decided that we had done our job and I wanted to be the first boat to weigh in so at 2:45pm we pulled the plug and headed to Nantucket for the scales. The boys rested as I steamed for Great Round Shoal Channel and as I sat there drinking my iced tea I couldn’t help but feel a little bummed. I have been here before and so close so many times to winning a tuna tournament and I have had the winning fish on only to lose him in two different tournaments. At least this time we caught him and no one can take that away from us. We had caught the largest fish in the tournament, but we did not win. It was a little bitter sweet.
When we pulled the “Tammy Rose” into Nantucket and backed down towards the weigh station, we got some ohs and ahs as we had the tuna tail from the big fish hanging from the flybridge, our trophy from the night before, on display to prove our story. We weighed in the 65 incher and she hit the scale at 151.0 lbs and put us tied in weight with “Fatal Attraction’s” fish and 4th place for the tourney. We waited for the last boat to come in and no one had beaten our fish. We ended up winning the daily Calcutta for the largest fish of the day which paid $3000 and 4th place overall which got our crew a nice set of custom stand-up rods. Not too bad after all. A little pay back. The boat the “A1A” won the tourney with 164.4lb tuna and they took home all the other prize money. 29 boats and only two boats took the money and we were one of them. Maybe we had some good luck after all, aye? The party light was lit on the “Tammy Rose” and stayed well stoked for the remainder of the evening and since my crew missed the Saturday night party we had a little catching up to do. The awards were a blast and the food and drink and staff at “Slip 14” restaurant were awesome. I want to thank Jonas Baker and his staff for putting on such a great tournament and my crew for working their tails off and catching a fish of a lifetime. We will be back next year for sure. Capt. Eric

[LeeG]

Great story Eric,
Congratulations!

Lee