Anglers Land Would-Be Record 900-Pound Tuna In NC After Battling Through Obstacles

A group of anglers led by Captain John Cruise of Pelagic Hunter Sportfishing caught a would-be record 900-pound Bluefin Tuna fishing out of New River Inlet, North Carolina.

In order for a state record or fishing world record to be certified, the fish must be battled and reeled in by only one angler. The group of Capt. John Cruise, Zack Foster, and Aaron Barr each took turns battling the 900-pound tuna over the course of 5-and-a-half hours through unforeseen obstacles.

So even though this 900-pound tuna would have bested the existing North Carolina state fishing record for Bluefin Tuna by 23 pounds, it will not be certified as there were 3 anglers involved. That, however, does not diminish this once-in-a-lifetime catch that nearly escaped them.

Bob McNally of Sport Fishing magazine caught up with Capt. John Cruise to discuss the record-sized catch. Cruise says he “knew it was a giant of a fish and we were headed for an epic battle when the tuna made a sizzling run of about 600-yards.”

They were fishing only 4 miles offshore at a depth of just 50 feet when the 900-pound Bluefin Tuna ate an 8-inch bluefish live bait. The crew was battling the fish on 130-pound test braided line which is considerably stronger than typical monofilament line.

But they had to be very careful battling a 900-pound tuna, especially when a massive school of dolphins showed up. McNally shared these two major obstacles from the battle that almost led to them losing the record-sized fish:

“At one point, a pod of dolphin came close to the fish and the Contender and Cruise was concerned that one of the dolphin would rub against the tight 130-poud test braided line and break it. But the dolphin moved away, and Cruise was able to get the tuna near the surface where the reel drag was tightened and the tuna was pulled to 15 feet away from the boat.”

“We got a good harpoon shot into the tuna’s shoulder, and got a gaff in him, but things went bad,” says Cruise. “The gaff pulled out, and another gaff got knocked away by the fish. Then the fishing line broke and the only thing keeping us tied to the tuna was the 1,500-pound harpoon line.”

Capt. John Cruise told Sport Fishing that at this point the harpoon line was around 75% frayed “and was going to break.” This was caused by the massive Bluefin Tuna ‘chaffing it against the boat hull.’ When it looked like all ways lost, Cruise was able to get ahold of the line below where it was frayed and ‘cleat the tuna off to his Contender with the harpoon line,’ essentially locking it into place.

The battle to get the 900-pound Bluefin Tuna into the boat wasn’t over

At this point they probably thought the hardest part was behind them. But there was still the conundrum of getting a 900-pound tuna into a 35-foot Contender boat.

Cruise told Sport Fishing “we broke two hoists getting the fish inside the Contender. But we finally dragged it in headfirst, so only about a quarter of the fish was hanging off the stern.”

David Strege of For The Win writes that the current North Carolina state record for Bluefin Tuna is an 877-pound fish caught in March, 2018 by retired Army General Scott Chambers of Townsend, Delaware.

This 900-pound Bluefin Tuna bested the existing state fishing record in North Carolina by over 23 pounds. But as mentioned above, fish are not eligible for state fishing records or fishing world records when multiple anglers touch the rod to reel in the fish.

Capt. Cruise is no stranger to catching big fish. He previously won the 62nd annual Big Rock Tournament. Fishing onboard his Pelagic Hunter II 35-foot Contender boat, they caught a 495.2-pound Blue Marlin which was was the biggest in the field.

That fish was worth a whopping $223,263.

The report in Sport Fishing says that just two days after catching the 900-pound Bluefin Tuna above, Capt. Cruise caught a second Bluefin Tuna weighing 733 pounds.