1,116-pound bluefin tuna catch sets New Hampshire record
By Kelly O’Brien
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RYE, New Hampshire (WMUR) — A New Hampshire fisherman broke a state record when he caught a massive blue fin tuna.
“We lifted it out of the water and immediately knew it was way bigger than what we thought and bigger than anything neither of us had seen before,” Capt. Jamie Savage, of Savage Charters, said.
On Saturday night, fisherman Brandon McGirl joined Savage on board the “Out of Line” fishing boat for an overnight charter.
“It was very difficult conditions to try and fish. It was a little bit rougher than we were hoping for,” McGirl said.
The pair spent hours at sea. Initially, they said it seemed like the fish were finding every line but theirs.
“They never come when you expect them to come,” McGirl said.
They were ready to call it for the night when the sound they had been waiting for came. The reels started clicking, and they chased the fish for about a mile.
“But when it does happen, it’s you almost feel like your heart kind of skip a beat just a little bit,” McGirl said.
The monster of a fish put up little fight until it was time to bring it on board. They ended up dragging the fish back at a slow pace, still unaware just how big of a catch they were dealing with.
It was bigger than any tuna ever caught in New Hampshire waters, coming in at 1,116 pounds, which is 154 pounds larger than the last record-breaker 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.
“Similar to how you would pick out a steak, you are looking for marbling in the meat, so all the marbling like a wagyu or a ribeye, and this has marbling all over it,”
The fish will now head to market, where it could be sent as far as Japan.
Staying at the harbor is the tuna’s tail, which will serve as a trophy to remind them of their record-breaking catch.
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