8 hour battle

[CaptainAlex]

Fall of 2009, East of Chatham NE of the Figs. We boat a fish one day 114" 800+. That night we steam way to the East outside the fleet and try to get some sleep. We put 2 baits out and hit the bunk. I get up about 1am to check the radar and have a piss. Everything is fine no boats within 2 1/2 miles. Just as I turn to head back to my bunk...... we go off! I'm yelling to my buddy that we are on as I clear the other rod. The 130 is bent over in the holder and we are losing line at a steady pace. Capt awakes and sees how far this fish has us stretched out. Fire up and begin to back down to try gain some line. 45 minutes later and we are still in reverse very slow. We pulled the hook shortly after that. Now the real story. We hear on the radio another boat goes off about the same time. They fight their fish for almost 14 hours! This fish brings them WAYYYY East, about 8-10 miles. The entire fleet is listening to this unflod as the day goes on. 2 guys on board with no other help. They fight the fish without ever seeing it. They decide to cut it off because they were running low on fuel and the weather forcast was not pretty. What a shame. It wasn't a whale because it never surfaced. Maybe a White, I doubt it. Keep in mind that these guys catch fish, alot of tuna over the season. I can't remember the name of the boat, but am sure someone will.

I remember that day, Al ... they fought that fish through the night and into the next morning ... heartbreaker ... must have been a slug of true sluggo 1200+ giants come through ...

[chumslicker27]

8 hour battle to a loss is a bittersweet end. Happy to battle, sad to loose. But hopefully some relief can be found in knowing the fish won another shot at life and swam away. All too appropriate cause we just had a heartbreaker yesterday.
Have had a slow start to this BFT season compared to last year for us.. Before the start of yesterday, we were 0-5.
Started the AM up around the 280 out of HI... Caught 2 in the AM about 50 #s we threw back looking for the bigger one. Hooked one on a jig but got feelings hurt real quick. We finally got our shot around 3pm near the 270... Troll bite.. Blue head islander daisy chain.. Small Ballyhoo. Tiny, the hook was almost in the tail. Fought her for 2+ hours, got her next to the boat and lost her in the endgame, had leader in hand, getting ready to poon it, thought it was a done deal, then she darts under the boat and the line got hung in the prop, happened so fast. Heros to zeros. Heart breaker. She was real nice. definitely an over over. Looked bigger than one we got last year that went 85" for 348... Sucks we lost it but I got no problem watching em win the battle and swim away. when it snapped she looked up right at us and then swam off.. I wanted to dive in and harpoon it still. Shouldve wouldve couldve.. Thats fishing.. and Another image to haunt my thoughts.. It was a beautiful day out there, fish were a bonus. And that was definitely one of the biggest tunas we have ever hooked.

[BlueH20Boss]

Damn guys...some great stories in there! I really captured the feel of the experience through your words...pretty cool stories to recount! Keep em coming if you got one!

Kevin-

[aloop]

Fall of 2009, East of Chatham NE of the Figs. We boat a fish one day 114" 800+. That night we steam way to the East outside the fleet and try to get some sleep. We put 2 baits out and hit the bunk. I get up about 1am to check the radar and have a piss. Everything is fine no boats within 2 1/2 miles. Just as I turn to head back to my bunk...... we go off! I'm yelling to my buddy that we are on as I clear the other rod. The 130 is bent over in the holder and we are losing line at a steady pace. Capt awakes and sees how far this fish has us stretched out. Fire up and begin to back down to try gain some line. 45 minutes later and we are still in reverse very slow. We pulled the hook shortly after that. Now the real story. We hear on the radio another boat goes off about the same time. They fight their fish for almost 14 hours! This fish brings them WAYYYY East, about 8-10 miles. The entire fleet is listening to this unflod as the day goes on. 2 guys on board with no other help. They fight the fish without ever seeing it. They decide to cut it off because they were running low on fuel and the weather forcast was not pretty. What a shame. It wasn't a whale because it never surfaced. Maybe a White, I doubt it. Keep in mind that these guys catch fish, alot of tuna over the season. I can't remember the name of the boat, but am sure someone will.

I heard the story and know the boat, it was a basking shark that I assumes was snagged