Teenage Fishermen Reel In 317kg Bluefin Tuna After Seven Hour Fight

Three teen fishermen gave a new meaning to the term catch of the day when they reeled in a 317kg bluefine tuna.

The group of pals, from Portland, Maine, spent seven hours battling with the powerful creature, which managed to drag them 16km further out to sea before they were able to get it on board.

But so big was the fish that one of the lads, Wyatt Morse, had to call out his dad to come and pick it up.

Speaking to CNN, Morse said they were about 64km off the coast when they caught the fish.

The 17-year-old said: "We didn't see the fish until six hours into the fight. He just stayed deep - 300 feet [91 metres] of water - and he didn't want to come up.

"They just... they're so strong. It's incredible."

YouTube

And the teen said the group knew from the get-go that they were onto something big, even before it emerged from the water.

He added: "I've hooked a lot of fish in my life and I knew right away, I was like 'this is going to be a long one boys'."

Morse, who spends the summer working as a tuna fisherman, and his mates caught the fish on 1 July.

He and Martin Scanlan, 16, were in charge of reeling in the fish and became so tired they had to keep taking turns so that the other one had time to rest before going back.

Fellow fisherman Griffin Buckwalter posted the clip of their catch on YouTube.

He told the publication: "It was just like seven hours of chaos.

Griffin Buckwalter/YouTube

"The fish was always trying to snap us off in the motor, trying to run into other people's boats, and it was just doing everything he could to try to snap off [the line]. So we really didn't have any time to rest or just kind of relax."

Adding: "When the fish came out of the water, it was just kind of insane. I didn't expect it to be that big."

Following the catch, the group of mates sold the monster tuna to a fish processing company for $2,000 (£1,500).

Last year, a Brit caught the biggest carp in the world; that's to say, he has broken the record for the biggest carp ever caught - who knows if there's an even bigger monster lurking in the waters somewhere.

It would have to be absolutely massive though, as John Harvey's catch weighed in at a whopping 232lbs, or 16-and-a-half stone, or 105kg... or one really big bloke.

Topics: US News

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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