Was wondering if you by chance went and saw that 77" bluefin that was caught in Archers Creek either yesterday or the day before? Quite a site to see a fish that big in the sound, up a creek, in 3' of water.
Greg Dennis and Hugh Sutton (neighbor across the creek) witnessed something rather large swimming around the creek and both hopped in our 16 ft. Carolina Skiff to check it out. They were unsure of what exactly it was at first, and after casting towards the fish with light tackle, they eventually foul-hooked the tuna, and once they got close to the tuna, they gaffed it thinking it was a yellow-fin tuna. Since they were in 3 ft. of water, the tuna was unable to swim quick enough and so it was relatively easy to pull right up to the fish. There were several of us watching from the our docks less than 50 yards away in complete disbelief. After Greg almost fell out of the boat while gaffing the tuna, they brought the fish to the dock so we could all take several pictures. The pictures are linked below. They then took the fish to Island Harbor Marina where the Marine Fisheries and Federal guys met up with them. They had no intentions of selling this fish or they obviously wouldn't have split his stomach at the dock.
And yes, Greg has his commercial license and tuna permit but the tuna permit was for his 25 ft. parker, not his 16 ft. skiff. Therefore, the tuna was confiscated. Fines at this point, were unsure of, hopefully none... but it was worth every second!
Greg knew it wasn't the right thing to do by gaffing this fish but he also had no idea at the time that it was a bluefin tuna. How often does a 77 inch bluefin tuna end up in Archer's Creek? So just out of curiousity, what would you have done??
LOL I said the same thing, Marty. How many 77" yellowfins do we realistically have swimming around down here? Not to mention the HMS permit would be needed even if it was a yellowfin.
Reguardless the legal or moral ramifications........it is still a cool story.
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