Texas angler’s 9-hour battle with a bluefin tuna nets huge reward: an epic 876-pounder
.jpeg "Troy Lancaster might have broken a Texas record with his whopper of a bluefin tuna.")
An epic battle between a giant bluefin tuna and an angler from Port Aransas, Texas lasted nine hours — and the fish almost won.
“She nearly spooled us. Not completely but got us down to the backing three different times,” Troy Lancaster said, according to Meateater. “She had complete control the first three or four hours. It was anything she wanted to do, she did.”
The 876-pound fish appears to be a state record, officials said.
Lancaster, aboard the sportfisher “Quantified” that was manned by Capt. Justin Drummond, said they caught the fish more than 100 miles off the Texas coast.
Lancaster told Maneater that he and the Quantified crew were on the hunt for swordfish the night before but came up luckless. They hit gold after 9am the following morning and many started betting on the massive species of the fish that was on the end of one of their rods. They figured it was between a blue marlin and a yellowfin.
“We had a suspicion as to what we had on, of course it never showed itself. It never came up.”
“With a blue marlin, a lot of times you get an opportunity to gain a lot on them because when they come up to the surface to run, you can back the boat down on them and chase them,” Lancaster said to Meateater. “But when the fish is straight up and down, you can’t back the boat or do anything. You’re completely helpless. And all you can do is try to pull back against them and gain some line.”
After several hours — which included the fish dragging the boat eight miles — the battle was won by the anglers and the ginormous bluefin tuna was brought in.
The Center of Sportfish Science and Conservation was on hand to weigh and measure the massive fish.
“Initial measurements show the fish is 114 inches at the fork and 876 pounds. This information still needs to be verified before it is officially a record breaking fish,” their Facebook post said.
The current Texas record is 808 pounds, set in 1985.
“Congratulations to Capt. Justin Drummond and the crew of the Quantified on their great catch! It’s one thing to hook into one of these behemoths, but it’s an entirely different thing to LAND one,” In The Bite said. “It takes skill and lots of preparation to catch a fish of this caliber.”
While it took nine hours to land the fish, cleaning it was no easy task, either. It took another three hours to clean her up, a post on Port Aransas Fisherman’s Wharf said.
This story was originally published April 23, 2021 at 2:55 PM with the headline "Texas angler’s 9-hour battle with a bluefin tuna nets huge reward: an epic 876-pounder."