Angler John Petruescu landed a monster yellowfin tuna while fishing aboard the San Diego-based Excel last week. The tuna was weighed at Fisherman’s Landing on Sunday, December 9, and scaled out to 445 pounds, making it the largest recorded yellowfin ever landed on rod and reel.
What’s more is that the fish was undoudtedly even heavier when first landed. Estimates on the boat recorded a “taped out” weight of 459 pounds. No matter how much the tuna was packed in ice, there was bound to be some weight loss before the boat made it back to port for an official weight.
Petruescu_ _was fishing at Hurricane Bank, about 960 miles southwest of San Diego off the Mexican Coast when the fight took place. He was on a long-range, multi-day fishing trip, which are popular out of Southern California and known to produce exceptional yellowfin tuna and wahoo catches.
Because Petruescu had help manuevering the fish and rod while landing the tuna, it’s not eligible to be sent to the International Game Fish Association for record submission. From the IGFA rules disqualifying a catch: “The act of persons other than the angler in touching any part of the rod, reel, or line (including the double line) either bodily or with any device, from the time a fish strikes or takes the bait or lure, until the fish is either landed or released.”
The current IGFA world record stands at 405 pounds. But even that’s likely to be broken soon. In September, the IGFA received angler Guy Yocom’s record application for his 427-pound yellowfin tuna caught on September 18 while fishing off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Yocom needed only 50 minutes to land the massive tuna after it ate chunked bait. Once the fish was boated, Capt. Greg DiStefano measured the fish and decided it might be a world record. Back at the docks in Cabo, Yocom’s fish was officially weighed on an IWS Scalemaster confirming an accurate reading of 427 pounds.
