SAN DIEGO — The largest bluefin of the season, a magnificent 370 pounder taped out, was decked last week by angler Sophie Gail. She was fishing aboard the Constitution, Capt. Chase, on a 1.5-day, and was first up on the kite rotation. Twenty-five minutes later a fish crashed the frozen flyer on the end of her line and she was hooked to a monster.
“I didn’t know it was that big,” said the angler who credited excellent coaching from Capt. Chase and deckhand Steve. After an intense 45 minutes battling, her tools an Okuma PCH 4X rail rod coupled with a Makaira 50W, some topnotch boat gear, Gail had her fish at color and the gaffs swooped down to end the fight.
WON caught up with Gail a day after the catch. “I felt so ecstatic,” she said, “I had to have some time to collect my thoughts. It’s a shock, like winning the lottery. It felt like a dream waking up this morning.”
Gail said the big bluefin tested her. “It was a hard fight with a gruesomely hard head shake, like a fish I’ve never felt before,” she said.
She had a premonition something special was going to happen when she stepped foot aboard the Constitution the night prior. “I felt it in my bones,” she said. “It’s everything I ever wanted in my life, the sense of satisfaction is overwhelming.”
For Gail, the catch is a realization of a dream. “I thought I’d hit it at 35, I’m 28,” the young angler said. “Now I don’t know what I want to do.” She’ll have to find a new goal, because this fish will be hard to top.
She shared some advice for anglers chasing a similar dream. “I would say never give up hope and always focus on the dream. As long as you have the dream and the will to accomplish it, it will always be there.”
