New Hampshire Fisherman Lands 1,116-Pound Bluefin Tuna, Smashing State Record
RYE, N.H. — A New Hampshire fisherman has caught a 1,116-pound bluefin tuna off the state's Seacoast, smashing a state record that had stood for more than a decade and landing what veteran anglers call the catch of a lifetime, WMUR reported.
Brandon McGirl boarded the Out of Line, a Savage Charters NH boat captained by Jamie Savage, on Saturday for an overnight trip out of Rye Harbor, hoping to reel in anything that would bite. Conditions were rough, and after hours on the water with almost nothing to show for it, the crew was preparing to call it a night when McGirl's reel suddenly began clicking. "They never come when you expect them to come," McGirl said.
What followed was a grueling battle. The crew chased the fish for about a mile before getting it alongside the boat, taking turns on the rod as the giant tuna dove and ran. With no way to get the massive fish on deck, they towed it back toward the harbor and lifted it from the water with a hoist. "We lifted it out of the water and immediately knew it was way bigger than what we thought and bigger than anything either of us had seen before," Savage said.
The scale read 1,116 pounds — more than 150 pounds heavier than the previous New Hampshire record, set in 2013. "If you tuna fish for long time, to catch a 1,000-pound fish, is, I mean, it's something that you dream of," McGirl said.
The tuna is headed to market, where bluefin of this size command premium prices and could be shipped as far as Japan, home of the world's most lucrative tuna auctions. Its tail will remain at the harbor as a trophy of the record catch. A photo of the catch shows the tuna nearly as long as both men are tall, so big it barely fits in the boat, according to the New York Post.
Atlantic bluefin tuna are among the most powerful fish in the ocean, capable of crossing the Atlantic in weeks, and New England's late-season fishery regularly produces giants — but few the size of McGirl's record-breaker.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：水中游动的蓝鳍金枪鱼。摄影：Jean Ogden Just Chaos Photography，CC BY 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
