Ron Roland of Plano, Texas, caught a 1,152-pound giant bluefin tuna while trolling in the Gulf about 30 miles south of Louisiana’s South Pass. Roland was fishing from the Miss Cathy, a 50-foot Hatteras out of New Orleans owned by brothers Paul, Frank and Michael Ippolito. The boat was captained by Michael, and crew included Paul and friend Patrick Fitzmorris. Roland hooked the fish on a pink-and-yellow Cajun Yap trolling lure rigged on a Shimano Tiagra 80W spooled with 100-pound Sufix line and mounted on a Stuart Custom rod. He fought the fish for 5 1/4 hours. The fish was dead when it came to boatside, and the crew struggled in vain for more than an hour to bring the fish aboard. They towed the fish for 7 1/2 hours to Port Eads, Louisiana, where the fish was weighed at the New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club. The bluefin measured 130 1/2 inches total length and had a girth of 98 inches.
