World Record Could Change - Yellowfin Tuna

I will be down at the docks Sunday morning and give a full report once it is weighed in.. Stay Tuned..


Petruescu's estimated 459-pound tuna biggest of all-time?


John Petruescu of La Mesa may have landed the heaviest yellowfin ever on rod and reel while fishing on the Excel sport boat out of San Diego on Monday. — Excel Sportfishing
Written by
Ed Zieralski
11:46 a.m., Dec. 8, 2012

Angler John Petruescu of La Mesa caught a tuna Monday aboard the sport boat Excel out of San Diego that has been estimated by a formula at 459 pounds. At that weight, or anything over 427.9 pounds, it will be the biggest tuna ever landed on rod and reel.

But it won’t be submitted as a world record to the International Game Fish Association because a deckhand on the Excel took Petruescu’s rod and helped him get around the boat’s anchor two times, according to Excel Capt. Justin Fleck in an interview with Phil Friedman on his radio show on Thursday. Petruescu fought the giant for 1 hour and 50 minutes, according to Fleck.

“Our crew members are programmed to keep an angler out of danger,” Fleck told Friedman in the interview via satellite phone from the wheelhouse of the Excel. “When a guy goes under the anchor, the crewman has to grab the rod. We do that for insurance purposes. That’s not to take anything away from John, because he fought his butt off on this fish. But it was done to make sure he got the fish.”

All week long the tuna was reported as a 400-pounder, but Fleck told Friedman it was the biggest tuna he ever saw in person and that it taped, based on a formula that takes into account length and girth, at 459 pounds. He said he taped it three times and had a deckhand tape it once to be sure.

He said they reported it light because they didn’t want to jinx the catch and didn’t want to suffer the embarrassment many have felt at the dock when such a catch tapes at one weight and weighs far less on the beach.

The Excel was fishing at the Hurricane Bank, about 960 miles southwest of San Diego when Petruescu caught the tuna on a live skipjack. Petruescu was fishing on his first 16-day trip. His longest previous trip was an 8-day when he landed a slug of 40-pound tuna. But this time, in addition to his estimated 400-pound plus tuna, he also has four tuna over 200 pounds and many others in the 150- to 200-puond range. Fleck said it may be the best trip the Excel has ever had for tuna over 200 pounds and expects to weigh in 40 to 50 fish over 200 pounds.

At 459 pounds, Petruescu’s catch would shatter the IGFA all-tackle world-record of c05 pounds set by Mike Livingston on the Vagabond in December of 2010. But there’s also another catch, the 427.5-pound yellowfin landed by Guy Yocom of Dana Point back in September that has yet to be approved by the IGFA as the new all-tackle record for yellowfin tuna.

But Petruescu’s catch could top the 427.9-pounder landed by Robert Pedigo last April as the heaviest ever caught on rod and reel. Pedigo’s catch also was marred and disqualified as a world record when a crewman touched the angler’s rod as he fought the fish.

Since 2010 when Livingston landed that 405-pounder, there has been an incredible run on big yellowfin. Curt Wiesenhutter set the record at 388.75 pounds back in 1977 on the Royal Polaris, which was owned by the late Bill Poole at the time. Poole also built and owned the Excel, the largest long-range boat in the fleet. Wiesenhutter’s record tuna, which was a kamikaze and attacked the boat after it was hooked, stood as the standard until Livingston’s celebrated catch in 2010.

Meantime, Petruescu’s catch has caused the usual stir in the fishing community.

The Excel is even sponsoring a contest where folks can try and guess the weight of the huge yellowfin. The Excel will award 10 percent off any trip in the 2013 season to the person who comes closest to guessing the weight of the tuna at the dock when it’s weighed in Sunday morning. The boat is due in at 4 a.m., but the tuna isn’t expected to be weighed until around 7 a.m., an Excel spokesman said. The 10 percent coupon can only be used on Open trips in 2013.

The cutoff is 11:59 Dec. 8. Your guess must be to the 10th decimal, for example, 400.4 pounds.

Email your guess to info@excelsportfishing.com. Your guess must be in the title of your email. It’s limited to one entry per person.

Click Here

Support Local Companies - 5 Star Fish Processing

Fish processors raising a stink at Point Loma

Sarah Saraspe of Five Star Fish Processing loads up fish brought in by one of her few remaining clients. She filed a lawsuit against Frank LoPreste and other captains, claiming their fish processing plant is running her out of business. — Ed Zieralski

Written by

Ed Zieralski

2:05 a.m., Oct. 19, 2012
Updated 2:06 a.m.

Also see »

• 

  Fish processors raising a stink at Point Loma

• U.S. politicos ask Mexico for relief on sportfishing regs, fees

• October, when seasons collide for fishermen, hunters

POINT LOMA — Back when Sarah and Andy Saraspe opened their Five Star Fish Processing plant on May 15, 2003 in Point Loma at the urging of their friends Tim Ekstrom and Randy Toussaint of the Royal Star sport boat, they figured they had a business that couldn’t fail.

Andy’s background as a commercial fisherman taught him how to care for fish and present his catch of the day in the best possible way for sale at the market. Ekstrom and Toussaint were the first sport captains to use refrigerated saltwater, or RSW, in fish holds to keep fish ocean-fresh on long-range trips. Saraspe was a perfect match for the Royal Star duo because he already was using RSW in his totes that held his commercial catch. Saraspe began processing sport-caught fish that came out of the Royal Star’s RSW wells, even though it had been caught days prior, looking more like it had just been gaffed from the sea and taken off a sport angler’s hook.

Soon, Frank LoPreste, owner-captain of the Royal Polaris, asked to be let in on the process for his boats, the Royal Polaris and the Shogun. That meant the Saraspes were set with three of the top long-range sportfishing boats in the fleet delivering their tuna, wahoo and other exotic fish to them after every long-range fishing trip.

But seven years later, after a series of events that has left Sarah Saraspe deeply hurt and betrayed, it all started tumbling down to a trickle of fish business for the Saraspes at the dock in 2010. That’s when LoPreste, Ekstrom and even the Saraspes’ one-time great friend, Toussaint, along with partner Sean Sebring decided to open their own sport-caught fish processing plant, Fisherman’s Processing, at Liberty Station in April of 2010. Today they not only are making thousands of dollars from each angler on their boat, but they also are making hundreds of dollars from every angler by charging them to process their sport-caught fish. They take the whole fish, process it and then sell it back to their anglers in the form of fillets, smoked fish or in cans. Instead of just getting a percentage from the processors like they did in the past, LoPreste, Ekstrom and Toussaint have, in many instances, eliminated the middle man, the Saraspes and Ghio.

It all has led to a lengthy lawsuit filed by Sarah Saraspe that names, LoPreste, Ekstrom, Toussaint and Sebring, with a long manifest of allegations that include violations of civil rights, sex discrimination, unlawful business practices, fraudulent business practices, defamation and slander, breach of contract and more. Sarah Saraspe claims in her lawsuit that Five Star lost 95 percent of its Royal Star clients, 60 percent of her Royal Polaris customers, 50 percent of her anglers from the Shogun and 40 percent of the Excel fishermen who used Five Star. She figures her business is down more than $100,000 this year alone.

Calls placed by U-T San Diego to the defendants, LoPreste, Ekstrom and Toussaint, and a lawyer representing LoPreste, were not returned.

“It’s really been an emotional battle, these last two years,” Sarah Saraspe said. “It has hurt my family. It hurts my soul. This business has been my life for 10 years. These people here who I service are my family and to not be able to have that connection with them down at Fisherman’s Landing anymore, it’s tough for me.

“They went into business. They cut me and Mario out and their goal is to make sure fishermen won’t have any choice where to go. One processor. And they’ll charge anything they want. It will be a complete monopoly because they own the boats, the landings, the fish processing, the parking lot, the fuel and part of the bait.

“With the economy the way it is, why would the big guy who is making all the money, cut out the little guy who is working so damn hard for such a little amount. The answer is LoPreste wants to be powerful and control everything. He just wants to win, win at any cost.”

Sarah Saraspe’s attorney, Scott Toothacre, said he soon will file for injunctive relief and damages for the money Sarah Saraspe has lost. Sarah has been banned from taking fish from Fisherman’s Landing’s end of the dock. Toothacre wants to change that immediately.

Ghio said he has had his own discussions with LoPreste about how unfair it is for the captains on three long-range boats to have control over so many returning fishermen. Saraspe’s lawsuit claims LoPreste, because of his stature and multiple holdings in the fishing industry, has used that influence on anglers and other captains to steer them away from Saraspe and Ghio and to use his Fisherman’s Processing.

“I still have some loyal customers who still come by, but they shanghaied a lot of my old customers,” said Ghio, who has been processing sport-caught fish for nearly 20 years. “Frank tells me he didn’t put a gun to these guys’ heads, but the whole thing over there is a racket. All those years I took care of them over there, and this is how they treat me.”

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Possible New World Record Tuna - 421LB.

There maybe a new record Yellowfin Tuna catch on the way.  Here is the picture of the Current Record by Mike Livingston on the Vagabond Sportfishing Boat. 402LB.

Click Here to read the UT - San Diego Story

Keep up with all the latest fishing issues at Keep America Fishing.org http://www.keepamericafishing.org/action/region/california_and_pacific_region