Sports

650-Pound Pacific Bluefin Tuna Demolished Record For Largest Ever Caught In California

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a new Bluefin Tuna fishing record was caught off Catalina Island, California during Super El NiƱo conditions

iStockphoto / Whitepointer/ackyardProduction

a new Bluefin Tuna fishing record was caught off Catalina Island, California during Super El NiƱo conditions


In a span of barely a month, the California state fishing record for Pacific Bluefin Tuna has been demolished not once but twice. The latest record-setting Bluefin Tuna is a whole 150% the size of the record that was set last month! Aboard the Rail Time fishing near Catalina Island, a 650-pounder was landed.

For a species as highly sought after as the Pacific Bluefin Tuna, it seems almost unfathomable that a rare fish would be caught weighing 230 POUNDS over the existing fishing record for The Golden State.

650-Pound Pacific Bluefin Tuna Demolishes California State Fishing Record

Prior to September, the state fishing record for Pacific Bluefin Tuna was 395 pounds and 6 ounces. It is a ‘Super El NiƱo’ year. In fact, we are experiencing the strongest El NiƱo ever recorded by A LOT. This has led to anomalous fishing with warmer water off the coast of Southern California pushing bigger fish in closer to the coast.

In September, a 420-pound Pacific Bluefin Tuna was landed by a group fishing out of San Diego. That was a HOG of a fish and broke the previous record by 25 pounds. The crew aboard the Game Changer were fishing a Delta Flyer at 8 knots when the 420-pound Pacific Bluefin Tuna hooked up on the Seeker 4x rod with 1,000 yards of 130-pound hollow-core Izorline.

Flash forward to last weekend and a group fishing with Captain Gary Adams aboard the Rail Time landed this 650-pound fish that was weighed an IGFA-certified weigh station on Catalina Island. There are seven anglers listed on the IGFA weigh station sheet which presumably means the rod was passed around and thus no individual angler will be eligible for the record, but this is still the biggest Pacific Bluefin Tuna in California history by a country mile.

It really is hard to wrap one’s mind around this fish. The previous record for this species in California was just 64% the size of the new California record. Within the fishing world, especially in a state like California where records are long-standing and established, it is unheard of to see a fishing record broken by such a wide margin.

But anything can happen in a Super El NiƱo year! The warm water has also led to anomalous catches in the PWN like this state record Striped Marlin caught in Washington.

How Big Do They Really Get?!

In terms of total possible weight, the Pacific Bluefin Tuna pales in comparison to the East Coast subspecies. The all-tackle IGFA Fishing World Record for Bluefin Tuna is a 1,496-pound fish caught by angler Ken Fraser in Aulds Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada back in 1979.

Any fish weighing over 1,000-pounds is considered a ‘grander’ and while they are quite rare granders are still caught in Nova Scotia and on the East Coast each year. The same cannot be said for the West Coast and Pacific Ocean.

The IGFA fishing world record for Pacific Bluefin Tuna is still massive. It was a 907 lb 6 oz fish caught by angler Donna Pascoe in Three Kings, New Zealand back in February 2014. A true fish-of-a-lifetime.

With the current Super El NiƱo and the best PBF Tuna fishing being the best in years, one has to wonder if a fish of 900+ pounds is lurking somewhere off the California coast right now. Check this incredible fish out one more time:

What do you think, will this record stand for decades to come? Or will it fall again during the current Super El NiƱo that is also smashing records with anomalous warm water?