Tuna Wars

BLUEFIN TUNA
Order - Perciformes
Family - Scombridae
Genus - Thunnus
Species - thynnus

Obviously, we were successful this morning in our quest to rid our waters of the BlueFin Tuna. ~
We might have to grill and eat this one to drive our point home.
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I'll give you more details, but I'm too damn tired from getting up at 3:00AM to meet this 150+ lb. behemoth out on the NorthWest Corner of Stellwagen Bank.
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Ryan Nestor and Chris Crawford did the heavy lifting. Mike Nestor drove the boat, and I stayed out of the way. A true team effort.
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We initially caught a respectable stripped bass, who rost to the trolling squid spread. Federal regs require that stripers be released on Stellwagen and we unhooked him as soon as possible. By 6:30AM, Ryan's trolling rod bent violently and unmistakenly.
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After about 1/2, the fish was close to the boat, and Ryan tried to muscle him over the gunwale. Mike grabbed him before he was pulled overboard, and Chris got a gaff into the tuna. We all humped him in, bled it, then deadheaded for Salem Harbor, arriving at the Richard Rockett Landing around 8:15.
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By 3:00PM, 12 hours later, the adrenalin was completely gone and I was completely spent. Couldn't even rally to Blog until now!!!