A first-time angler on an overnight trip out of San Diego has landed a potential world-record opah.
Beau Leaman of Santa Clarita, Ca., caught the 188.6-pound opah, or moonfish, after a 45-minute battle while fishing Monday aboard the Horizon.
Capt. William Wilkerson told FTW Outdoors that Leaman was using a rental rod on a 1.5-day tuna excursion with friends. “He was fishing pretty deep and at first he thought he was stuck on the bottom,” Wilkerson said.
The opah, caught on a jig, was reeled from 300-plus feet and the crew knew by its movements that it was not a tuna. They used four gaffs to hoist the fish through a gate near the stern (see video below).
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The wounds on its side, visible in the images, were caused by cookie-cutter sharks as the brightly colored fish was reeled toward the surface.
Leaman, 37, implied that the experience was as bittersweet as it was surreal, saying:
“Once it was on the boat, I think most of us were in dismay. From the shark bites on its side, to its blend of orange and red, its tail fin slapping the deck, its massive eyes and fins that don’t seem to do much work… It did not look real.”
Opah catches are rare because the fish do not typically swim in schools and their whereabouts are unpredictable. Because of this, there is no directed commercial fishery for opah and catches almost always are incidental.
The world record stands at 180 pounds, 12 ounces, for a 2014 catch south of San Diego.
Wilkerson said the International Game Fish Assn. has been contacted about Leaman’s catch and that a world-record application will be submitted.
–Images and video courtesy of Horizon Charters and H&M Landing