Giant bluefin tuna do not come up easily, and that certainly proved true Tuesday for a group of anglers off San Diego.
The Mad Max Sportfishing charter teamed to land a 345-pound bluefin, but the two-hour fight left the anglers exhausted and the captain with a separated shoulder.
“It was a group effort to land this monster fish and everyone took a turn fighting it,” Capt. Max Dennemeyer told For The Win Outdoors. “I ended up taking over toward the end to get this fish to leader, as the clients were out of energy and it required my experience to apply enough pressure to bring the fish to leader, where I could grab the leader with one hand and gaff the fish with the other.”
During this process, Dennemeyer’s right shoulder became separated.
“It was excruciatingly painful, but luckily I was able to stay focused enough to order one of my clients to grab my arm and yank on it as hard as possible to pop it back in, which ended up working on the second try.”
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While bluefin tuna can be enormous, it’s rare to catch the true giants on rod and reel because they possess so much power and determination. The 345-pounder was a personal best for Dennemeyer and his passengers.
The accompanying Instagram video shows the weigh-in at the San Diego Marlin Club.
Dennemeyer said the group was fishing 80 miles west of San Diego and was trolling frozen flying fish “that we rig up to look as natural as possible” to entice the massive bluefin.
The fish was delivered to a local processing company and the sashimi-grade flesh was divided equally among the anglers.
–Images and video courtesy of Mad Max Sportfishing