A San Diego woman’s catch Wednesday of a 370-pound bluefin tuna placed her among a small group of anglers who have landed ‘super cow’ tuna weighing at least 300 pounds.
“Skipped a cow and went straight to a super cow,” Sophie Gail wrote on Instagram, in reference to the “cow” label anglers place on 200-pound tuna. “So overfilled with happiness.”
Gail was aboard the Constitution out of H&M Landing when the charter encountered a school of giant bluefin. Hers was hooked with a dead flying fish dangled beneath a kite, and landed after a grueling 90-minute battle.
“It was a rough, hard fight with gruesomely hard head shakes,” Gail told For The Win Outdoors. “Like a fish I never felt before.”
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Giant bluefin tuna are highly prized and incredibly powerful; difficult to land even with heavy tackle. In all, Constitution anglers boated eight bluefin. Besides Gail’s, they ranged from 122 to 257 pounds.
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“They had some heartbreaks that go along with this kind of trip, with a couple in that super cow range managing to get away,” Constitution Sportfishing wrote on Instagram.
Gail, who used an Okuma PCH 4X rail rod and a Makaira 50W reel, said the experience left her humbled but overjoyed.
“I need to have some time to myself and recollect my thoughts after everyone saying their congratulations,” she said. “It was such an experience. It felt like a dream, waking up [the next morning].”
Neither Gail nor Constitution Sportfishing would pinpoint where they encountered the bluefin tuna school.
–Image showing Sophie Gail and her 370-pound bluefin tuna is courtesy of Constitution Sportfishing