Angler battles ‘rare’ 364-pound bluefin tuna in a showdown off California coast
An angler on a charter boat off the coast of sunny Newport Beach in California made the catch of a lifetime after reeling in a bluefin tuna weighing over 364 pounds late last month, multiple news outlets reported.
Adonis Soriano, a passenger aboard the “Thunderbird” on a Newport Landing’s two-day charter trip, wrestled in a 364.5 pound, bluefin tuna in only 45 minutes, the Stu News Newport said. The fish was the largest tuna ever caught by the Newport Landing & Davey’s Locker boats in its 62 years in business, the outlet reported.
“Big Cow Bluefin Tuna fishing opportunities are few and far between, but late Summer and early Fall seem to be the best times of the year to get a chance at these monsters,” a Newport Landing Facebook post reads.
A “big cow” or super cow is a tuna that tips the scale at over 300 pounds, according to Lahaina News.
“The 364.5-pound bluefin took just under one hour to land,” charter master Jeff Price told USA Today. “The fight was intense. He peeled off hundreds of feet of line on his first run. The large fishing reel was actually very warm from all of the tension.”
Soriano told USA Today that the tuna took “long runs that almost took all the line off my reel.”
The world record for a “super cow” is held by Mike Livingston of Sunland, California, who pulled in a massive, 405.2 pound bluefin whose girth was 61 inches and measured 86 inches in length in 2010, Lahaina News said. The fish was the largest tuna ever pulled in on a rod and reel, but the largest caught without assistance from the crew or back-up reels, according to the news outlet.
This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 3:28 PM with the headline "Angler battles ‘rare’ 364-pound bluefin tuna in a showdown off California coast."