ANGLER LANDS 280-POUND TUNA
ABOARD THE CABO CHARTER BOAT FLY HOOKER

June 23, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Mark Austin of Glendale, Arizona, and his best fishing buddy Steve Smith entered the 3rd annual Cabo San Lucas "Lucas Billfish Challenge," a nonprofit charity tournament to raise money for the Sudden Infant Death Foundation of Southern California. Of course it is a billfish tournament, but there are also categories for other species.

Fishing out of Cabo San Lucas on Saturday the 18th of June as a pre-fish day aboard the 31‚ Bertram charter boat "Fly Hooker" they were able to catch and release three Striped Marlin, a good warm up for the tournament.

The next day, Sunday the 19th of June, they decided to go for a Tuna, knowing there was a separate category for them and wanting a little meat for the group. Manuel, captain of the "Fly Hooker" said that at 11 a.m. they were in among a pod of black porpoise. The porpoise were not feeding, just slowly cruising the area with their fins out of the water occasionally. Mark had put out one of his new lures, a scoop-head metal jet from Melton's that was skirted with "oil colored" skirts.

The strike was in the blind with no fish boiling or showing on the screen. The guys at first thought they may have hooked a Wahoo because after the first run the fish came to the boat fairly easily. The second run was longer than the first, and at the end of it, when working the fish back to the boat it started doing large counterclockwise circles and they knew it was a big Tuna, but not just how large it really was.

Mark was hung over after hard partying the night before and was beginning to cramp up. Steve kept up the moral support and supplied Mark with bottled water and leg massages, telling him not to give up.

After 2 hours and 40 minutes, on 40-pound test line, the fish came within range of the gaff and Steve stuck the fish with the stick gaff the put on a tail rope. Upon returning to the Cabo San Lucas marina a large crowd gathered when the fish was raised on the scale and the weight, a whopping 280 pounds, was called out. Congratulations to Mark and Steve for a team effort that really produced. By the way, the fish was supposed to be Steve's catch, but thinking it was a Wahoo he let Mark take the rod!