Monster catching the hard way....337# BFT

[captdom]

Today was a good day.

I was lucky enough to be a part of something that will be a part of me, burned into my memory never to fade.....

I witnessed one of the most violent, explosive strikes on a lure I have ever seen, by an absolute demon of a fish. 3 men then engaged in a whacked out, pure adrenaline type primal war against an animal of a different kind than most encounter, considering the weapon we chose.....

We all had a pretty good feeling about today, considering the early streak, I figured no way would the math let me down with that many successes and then 3 absolute stinkers in a row...the numbers were stacked in our favor....but the weather and conditions sure weren't.

Met my crew, and good friends Adrian and Alex for a special trip, both experienced anglers ready to tango with the devil. Alex is going in for surgery tommorrow, and will be out for the rest of the tuna season recuperating(heal up fast Alex) We carefully planned the trip around busy schedules, and needed to get it done in one shot, all or nothing. We prepped the boat and shoved off into the lovely New England morning, 30 yard visibility at best, and a slow trip out to the grounds. Once we arrived, we were greeted to pea soup and swells, with greasy water all around. Not the best of situations, we opted to put two soft plastics out on spinners, and hunt blind with little of our senses to go on. We covered around 2 miles, at 2 knots or so, and ended up in the middle of my numbers from a few days back. We then began to hear a few petrels and terns calling and flitting about, and saw a few sooty gulls and shearwaters milling about as if something had just happened, or was certainly looking like it was about to. I was on the phone, the guys were relaxed and casting a bit blindly from time to time. Adrian was up in the bow, and I was fiddling with the lines trying to entice an unseen detonation.

After an hour plus of this, the guys had grown a bit frustrated with not being able to run and hunt, and the cap was feeling their pain. I took a phone call around 8am, and had just mentioned to the guys I felt a little jumpy and had that feeling I get when I am hunting, whether land or water that just comes when things are set up right on your grounds. I always get these charges of nervous energy before things happen, and find that more often than not it was all those small little things you sense rather than think when it all comes together. I have been saying for some time now, I stopped fishing for tuna, and started hunting them. I was looking out into nothing minutes later, when all of a sudden a BIG boil and then an airborne critter had me yelling into the phone and at my guys, TUNA, TUNA, TUNA!!!!! This was not your garden variety fish, but looked to be head, shoulders, and not much else for the next 5 feet when his tail rolled over in his boil again a split second later. I quickly dropped the call, stopped the engines cold, and furiously began jigging the slowly halting tuna candys way out behind the boat. Adrians first cast was all adrenaline, off to the side, and Alex was just finishing putting on a new lure when the melee began. Just the single, and we drifted a bit with the tide into shallower water away from the buster. I spun the boat back towards the mark with the boat now in full combat mode, and slow trolled a figure eight twice with an expanding circle trying desperately to peer into the mist and spot another sign.....it was right about then when all hell broke loose around the Dusky. Just off the bow about 10 feet, a huge fish showed us his back, while at the same time the finder lit up, and two more bruisers cleared the water. I brought in the first plastic, and got a boil right at the boat, from an unseen predatory lurker, and quickly pulled the bubblegum colored one out of the holder, and twitched it feverishly back to the transom, hoping it got intercepted before reaching safe haven. Alex was casting off the starboard to 3 different fish up and slashing, while Adrian was out off the port side. I startd to see the hot pink jelly slithering my way, when all of a sudden a submarine appeared behind it, tracking it like it had sonar locked on. Two more twitches, and a quick swipe resulted in a wake that carried the intended tuna slayer up and over the back of the beast, and it sounded right at my feet. My heart was pounding in my chest, actually maybe in my head, or both, when I turned to cast it right back out, I looked to see the money shot.....Adrian had cast his Orion Bigfoot, monster of an alien looking hot pink and white lure perfectly into the wheelhouse of 2 fish trying to halt this epic sand eel bloom in one bite. He twitched it just as I loaded my rod, and a largemouth bass of jurassic proportions committed a seriously poor choice of meals. This fish took the plug from the side, slashing up and over it at mach 1, and then inhaled the entire plug before both the angler and captains eyes. Age set the hook like a UFC heavyweight, drilling the thing 6 or 7 times. The fish exploded left, shaking its head and trying to cough up the offending mosquito. It then tail walked across the surface the exact opposite way, and yanked the dead boat to the east like it had been hitched to a tractor....The initial run was impressive, a good 270-290 yards, and then it raced back to the boat, Age keeping up with it the whole way. We knew the size we were into, and the decision was immediately made to not engage in solo combatm rather to turtle up and fight as a unit, keeping a fresh angler on the rod at all times....that is until an hour in when we finally got it near the boat, and the magnified air and water let us know it was time to stop it or pop it. We spun the drag up hard(between 29-31 after the fight with a bit of slippage) and proceeded to pit every ounce of energy we had into getting the stubborn pig boatside. We each took a few turnsa after Age and Alex initially had it going for 45 minutes, when I jumped in and began also putting the wood to this beast. It was up and down for 25 minutes with insane drag and palming the spool, keeping the circles close, until the creature finally started to come up in his spirals. The leader was wrapped around his port pec, keeping him counter clockwise, until he suddenly spun, reversed directions, and the line was free... We all at that point were taking shorter and shorter turns, until we were all cooked and fatigued. Alex was absolutely done with anything other than holding the fish in its circles, already having a pre surgey session a week before. I was complete jelly, laying every ounce of my being into horsing the brute to its death, and didnt know if I could take too many more turns either. Age hung in for a good ten minutes, then needed me to jump on it, with the hot pink lure now circling so teasingly close yet sooooo far from our shot. I frantically hailed Capt. Rich on Black Rose, and he sped at our numbers at warp speed to try and get on the boat to work the helm while I launched the poon....He was 20 minutes out at that point, and we were sitting at 1 hour and 9 minutes on this fish, and at that point the dread started kicking in. I cant even imagine what I sounded like, I just know it took 3 times for Rich to use his decipher ring to make out my gibberish. I think knowing we had a very experienced captain heading out way to lend an asisst. Age handed over the rod, and the fish went to the engines during the exchange, with no time to manuever for Alex, I dumped all the drag off, worked iot under and then ove the engine legs, and just as quickly locked it back down. We got the head turned, and rather than let it get away, we decided to take or chance then and there. Communication was amazing durning the whole fight, and I talked Age through my leadering and he slipped the big 8 inch hook under its chin, and I quickly added the second. Game over.

We got the fish in the boat quickly, as the blood slick grew thicker and deeper red by the second and we feared perhaps just maybe there might be something that would love a sushi dinner. When it hit the deck, it was pure elation, exhaustion, awe, and exhilaration all at once. The feeling of that moment, shared with two good comrades who had just bested a majestic warrior of an animal. The intensity and lucidity of this experience is like nothing else I can relate to in my fishing career as of yet, and will be impossible to duplicate or best, as it is beyond the normal parameters of what my tough to impress standard of greatness is.

The fish taped out officially at 80 and 7/8 inches, and weighed 337 pounds back in Green Harbor. The guys will add pictures as they have the majority of them.

Gear used was a HOTS Gipang 97XH, a Stella 20K, and 100 pound leader. The lucky lure was an Orion BigFoot, in hot pink and white. Fight time was 1 hour 37 minutes.

Thanks to Age, Alex, and that corker of a fish for handing me one of the best feelings Ive had in a long, long while.

Back at again, same place, same time, same method, with hopefully the same results in the am.....

[paul708]

fantastic report.
that is a great cartch.
congrats guys.

[clt_capt]

Great report. One fine fish. Well Done

[idigitu88]

Well put! Nice job

[BlueH20Boss]

tell us about that spinning outfit you caught it on.

[C-Duck]

Great job...AWESOME Catch CaptDon!!!!


As a secondary shoutout...nice avitar idigity88!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Curtis Campbell
Reel Estate Sportfishing
Ocean City, MD

[JD5652]

Thanks for the awesome report Capt. Dom!

[Capt Josh]

Gluttons for punishment! Felicidades amigos!!!!!

[scattered_grass]

great story, very well written, amazing fish!

[Tuna Meltdown]

Way to go Dom! I had my $ on you pulling off a 300 pounder sooner or later. Awsome Fish!