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.
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