New Hampshire Angler’s 1,116-Pound Bluefin Tuna Smashes State Fishing Record By 150+ Pounds

A fisherman in New Hampshire just destroyed the state’s fishing record for Bluefin Tuna which has stood since August 2013, smashing the previous record by over 150 pounds. Brandon McGirl was fishing with Captain Jamie Savage out of Rye, NH on an overnight charter when they hooked up to the fish of a lifetime.

The fishing was slow for hours with seas rougher than they would have liked but in the end, they made it back to Rye Harbor with a new record Bluefin Tuna.

Record-Setting 1,116-Pound Bluefin Tuna Caught In New Hampshire

Catching a ‘grander’ some day is every diehard angler’s dream. In order to do so, there is a very small set of species to chase: Blue Marlin, Black Marlin, Swordfish, Bluefin Tuna, Sturgeon, and a handful of shark species.

The Northern Atlantic offers the best fishing of anywhere on earth for a shot at a grander Bluefin Tuna. Nova Scotia is as good as it gets but anglers still have plenty of chances at rare fish down through New England and into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.

The state of New Hampshire doesn’t have a ton of coastline but there’s still enough to support a thriving fishing industry, particularly in Rye where Savage Charters is based. For this special charter, Brandon McGirl boarded for an overnight fishing adventure, later telling WMUR-TV “It was very difficult conditions to try and fish. It was a little bit rougher than we were hoping for.” He added these massive tuna “never come when you expect them to come.”

Once they hooked up to the fish they knew it was special. Captain Jamie Savage said “We lifted it out of the water and immediately knew it was way bigger than what we thought and bigger than anything neither of us had seen before.”

Bluefin Tuna is among the most highly-prized fish on earth at the dinner table. Earlier this year, the ‘Tuna King’ of Japan spent a record $3.2 million on a single fish at the Toyosu Fish Market.

What happened this fish? Well, once they got it back to Rye Harbor and weighed it on a certified scale it clocked in at 1,116 pounds. That smashed the previous state fishing record of 962 pounds set by angler Richard Green on August 10, 2013 who was fishing in the Gulf of Maine.

After that, the fish was harvested. The massive tuna tail will remain at Rye Harbor as a totem to the incredible catch. The rest of the fish was sliced up and sent to market.

Angler Brandon McGirl said “If you tuna fish for long time, to catch a 1,000-pound fish, is, I mean, it’s something that you dream of. Similar to how you would pick out a steak, you are looking for marbling in the meat, so all the marbling like a wagyu or a ribeye, and this has marbling all over it.”

Correct. The marbling on a perfect Bluefin Tuna is out of this world. I’ve had multiple omakase meals where the Bluefin Tuna was so perfect I ordered it again for dessert.

As for the IGFA fishing world record for Bluefin Tuna, that record is safe for now. The largest Bluefin Tuna ever caught is a 1496-pound fish landed in Nova Scotia back in 1979.