Weight crushes previous state record
BY Merit McCrea
SAN DIEGO – Captain Ryan Stahl tells the story.
“Well, we were skipping a Delta Flyer at 8 knots with a Seeker 4x with a 70vsx spooled with 1,000yrds of 130-pound hollow-core Izorline. The wind on was 200-pound Izorline and the leader was 400-pound Izorline Frst String. The fish launched itself from about 12 feet away onto the bait and entered the water vertical with its tail showing how big it was all in slow motion. Time seemed to stand still because Kayden’s eyes were as big as dinner plates when he looked up at me wondering if what he saw was real or make believe. When I pulled them out of gear the fish proceeded to dump a 70vsx from full to an 1/8 of a spool before it stopped. almost chased it down but I put a frozen flyer out and a 208# bit eagerly. So after the initial run it pretty much came in with no fuss, and on the last circle before gaff we got a good look at it and I will never forget how big it was. Once it was on gaff with three people, we put two more in it and struggled to pull it into the boat. Once it was in, we pulled it over to take pictures and there was a 150 pounder next to it that looked like a 30 pounder. That’s when we knew it was big. It taped at 89 x 63 inches.”
While the huge bluefin tapped to 441 pounds it hit the certified scale at the dock at 420 pounds, this was after being drained of blood.
At this writing one of the boat’s strongest groups, Larry Brown’s, was headed out for a 3.5-day.
