Typically you only ever gaff a fish after you’ve hooked it, fought it, and reeled it up next to the boat. However, the rednecks in this video manage to free gaff a species that shouldn’t have been there in the first place, and pull a 90lb fish out of the water with just their hands and a hook.
The tuna is a known as a pelagic fish, which grossly oversimplified means that it typically covers very large distances and sticks to extremely deep water. So to see one swimming down this canal in Islamorada in the Florida Keys is in and of itself a pretty marvelous thing.
Next, we tack on some narration where the redneck who gaffs this incredible fish actually utters the words “hold my beer” before sticking the 90lb tuna with a free gaff and pulling it up on to the dock. A massively dick move, the fish didn’t stand a chance, and there was no sport in this whatsoever.
They didn’t stalk the fish, they just waited for a disoriented tuna to swim by and stab it. Awesome? Yes. Despicable? Also yes. Here’s the video:
SOURCE: r/fishing
I’m not able to speak to the legality of this, but my hunch is that this is outlawed in Florida. Anyone know the legal nuances of this situation? Answers down below in the comments. According to the comments on Reddit they would have needed an HMS permit for this to be legal.
RELATED:
Goliath Grouper tries to eat Florida Man, settles for swallowing a fish whole
These are the 10 most WTF news stories from the Sunshine State this week (WTFlorida)