Cool old BFT pics!

[Capt. Jon Tennant]

I found these pics the other night. I thought everyone would get a kick out of them. We sure arn't the first to play this game.

[fish-n-kid]

Vintage!! Nice pics!!

[rockfisher1055]

Could you imagine catching that many giants in one day???? Awesome

[Caveman Sportfishing]

I have seen this same pictures in one of local fishing magazines up in NJ. I believe the article discussed the giant bluefin fishing off NJ in the 30's or sometime in that time frame. It was a couple of years ago when I read the article but I'm almost certain these fish were caught off NJ in past. There used to be a very good GBT bite in the Mud Hole off northern NJ in years gone by and that is where these may have been caught if my memory is correct. The picture looks more like New England in days gone by than NJ but if the article was correct I'm almost certain these Bluefin were caught very close to where we fish these days. We still have a great summer fishery for smaller Bluefin down south of Cape May on the 20-30 fathom lumps some years and last year we had a few days where we got up to 30 bluefin from 60 to 170 lbs and possibly a few fish up to close to 200 lbs. I did have a 126 lb bluefin trolling in the ealry summer but almost all our caught with jigs or chunking. One boat at our marina had a 173 lb Bluefin trolling inshore in Sept also. Back in the mid-70's I personally saw two GBT over 1000 lbs weighed in at Pt Judith, RI and then towed back out the next day and dumped as there was no market for them at that time. This all changed after the Japanese factory ships started working the Gulf of Mexico for Bluefin and pretty much wiped out the stock sometime in the 70's and 80's. Anyways great pictures and in our area in the summer a number of charter boats I know avoid fishing for these smaller bluefin because they beat up their equipment and anglers so much stand-up fishing. One of the funniest things for me is watching our charters in absolute pain fighting these tuna stand-up and hearing their buddies yelling things like " act like a man you wimp and let's get that fish to the boat". Of course this is just good natured teasing but the charters just love seeing their buddies getting the crap beat out of them when fighting a relatively small bluefin compared to the ones caught off Canada, New England and the winter fishery down in your area. It must be a man thing is how my wife describes it. I cannot imagine most of our charter customers doing a 300 lb plus bluefin like you guys do stand-up. Good luck

[flatbottom]

.........one more to add to the folder

Nice to see the older pics

[Capt. Jon Tennant]

Capt John,

I really would like to go on one of those trips this summer. Jigging for them has really sparked my intrest

[Fishwagon]

I read "Song for a Blue Ocean-Carl Safina." The book opened my eyes to how fragile the fishery is. They cant even reproduce until they are at least 300 pounds.

The Japanese wont stop until the breeding stock collapses.

[John Rogers]

Wow, cool pics. Guess they were the good old days.

[capbob66]

Wow, cool pics. Guess they were the good old days.

I believe those pictures are from Canada. P.E.I. perhaps or Aulds Cove Nova Scotia.

[whitey]

They took this pic in Nova Scotia in 1935. The men in the pic from left to right are Captain Tommy Gifford, Dick LeBlanc, Michael Lerner,IGFA Founding Chairman, Evee LeBlanc and Sam LeBlanc.

I won 3 different pics from this set framed with certificate of authenticity numbered 7 out of 100 a few years ago in a tournament.