Huge Yellowfin Tuna Caught on a Deep Sea Fishing Charter
Capt. Paul Roydhouse
August 8, 2019
Fort Lauderdale - Saltwater Fishing Report
I took the boys from Fishing Headquarters on a fishing vacation trip. Obviously this fish was not caught fishing in Fort Lauderdale. But the Fort Lauderdale boys did the fishing charter and the catching. Yellowfin are very rare in south Florida. We've caught a few of them over the years but they are very rare. And this particular fish was bigger than all the yellowfins I have ever seen caught in south Florida in over 25 years of fishing.
We spent the better part of 8 hours trolling around and looking for the tunas busting. We had caught a blue marlin early in the morning. What a beauty, a blue marlin is always a rare catch and they are a super exciting catch. But tuna was what we were after and we kept looking for the tuna for the rest of the trip. The captain heard of a school of tuna busting about 10 miles away, so we decided to pick up and run the distance to find the tuna.
When we got to where the tunas were busting, we saw them from a mile away. The birds were working the school hard and the ocean was exploding on the surface. A big school of porpoises were also there, feeding on the busting tunas. The porpoises were actually kinda small, so I don't know how they ate these big giant tunas that were busting, but they were. We put out our live bait spread and slow trolled them in front of the busting tunas.
First few passes, we didn't get a bite. After about an hour of trying, we hooked into a sailfish and caught it. I did not expect to catch a sailfish among all the tunas and porpoises, but that's what happened. We still wanted a tuna, bad, so we put the baits back out and kept trying. Another hour went by and no bites. We were beginning to get discouraged and call it a day when we had the biggest explosion on the bait I have ever seen. It looked like a depth charge went off when the tuna hit.
We fought the tuna for an hour and fifteen minutes. I was the angler on this fish and let me tell you, it was a brutal fight. These fish are pure muscle and they don't give up. After an hour and 10 minutes of fighting the fish, we finally had him close to the boat and the gaffs were at the ready. Mate grabbed the leader and brought him close enough into gaff range. We stuck the fish with 2 gaffs and began trying to haul him over the side. The fish was too big to lift.
We got her into the boat and man, what a beast of a fish. The fish weighed approximately 240 pounds and there was so much meat, we fed the entire marina. It was sushi for days for the next few days and we cooked a ton of it for everyone at the hotel too. There is nothing better than super fresh yellowfin tuna with some soy and wasabi.
It was a great trip for the Fort Lauderdale boys of Fishing Headquarters and one that I'll never forget. That's how fun fishing is. We do it ever day of they year and when it comes time to do a vacation, we go fishing! Good luck to everyone fishing this week. I'll sea ya on the water.
Capt. Andy Roydhouse
www.FishHeadquarters.com
754-214-7863 cell
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