Tom Bare Lands Giant Bluefin Tuna (pic) on Day 1

[auguste]

On the first day of the NC commercial GBF our buddy Tom Bare and his buddys caught this GBT which weighed in at over 200 lbs, fully dressed.

It was caught on a home made sea witch (colour not revealed) on the planer.**It was caught*in 59 feet of water and water temp.*59 degrees.

I read elsewhere that few fish were caught and that the weather was a bit on the rough side.



CONGRATULATIONS TOM

[Shorty]

Love to see those Giant Tuna photos......Could only imagine being in on that action.....

[auguste]

Only problem is Tom washed all the blood off before he took the pic . . . marti will not be happy*

[marti]

Auguste you sa(I)d it, where is the blood , no without kidding that is my size of fish
50 pound gear(LOL)
Let's hear it Tom, congrats

[auguste]

marti - 12/11/2004 5:32 PM Auguste you sa(I)d it, where is the blood , no without kidding that is my size of fish 50 pound gear(LOL) Let's hear it Tom, congrats

Marti, your sharp

[TunaBomber]

Glad to see pics like that, congratulations are in order!! Us yankees (i'm really a red sock, but anyway) can breathe a sigh of relief knowing there are still fish in the ocean after the fall fishery we had.. It's great to read about you guys learning a new (to your waters) fishery.. These are some awesome animals and i will always fish for them whether they are worth $20/lb. or catch and release only, the power they have is silly.. I wasn't going to post anymore on this subject (it would appear that when the fish show up down there a few kooks show up here gloating over nothing special) but i had to say "job well done" to someone who seems to be genuinely cool.

[Hawkeye]

Great catch Tom. Its not that new a fishery its just people started fishing for them. 30 years ago there were just a few boats fishing that time of year in those waters and a few were caught way back then. There are a few old pics in scrap books from the carolina's with big BFT. Now you have 100's of people fishing for them and I bet if they fished them hard 30 years ago they would of caught them then.

[East Coast Trailers]

WTG Tom!

Did you sell it or are you keeping it?

[glacierbaze]

There was a time not too long ago when the term 'giant', or granders, was reserved for BFT's over 1000 pounds. I'm curious how many true GBFT's are caught per year now.

[TunaBomber]

fish pictured is a Large Medium (not to take anything away) Alot of people categorize bluefin two ways: either football or giant. There's actually a few size categories, and for regulations sake people should have an idea of what is what:
Size Class Categories of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

CURVED PECTORAL FIN APPROX.
SIZE FORK CURVED ROUND
CLASS LENGTH FORK LENGTH WEIGHT

Young school

[Dantilu]

Hey Glacierbaze,
A friend of mine took a 1025lbs tuna outta the cape this fall and returned the next day to the same spot for a 600lbs fish not bad for two days......
"O" and Tom..... here is a huge "ATTABOY" for you nice job....!!!

[Semi]

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=local&Story=6731105



Bluefin tuna brings big money off Carolina coast

MOREHEAD CITY - In the darkness of 5 a.m., fishing boats glowing with red and white lights cut through Bogue Sound like airplanes taxiing down a runway.

Capt. Bobby Edwards steered his 46-foot vessel among them, heading toward rough waters off the coast of Morehead City. The ocean's horizon on this Wednesday morning already glimmered with scores of other boats, all racing toward the same deep-sea prize.

"Everybody you see today is going for bluefin," Edwards said from behind the wheel of the Atlantis IV, sipping a diet soda.

After weeks of uncertainty, the bluefin tuna season had opened just hours earlier. Commercial fishermen from up and down the East Coast were among the crews setting out to land one of these huge, powerful fish. These days, a bluefin is nothing short of a jackpot - the demand from Japanese sushi markets means one 300-pound tuna can sell at the dock for thousands of dollars.

But the windfall brought by migrating bluefin over the past few years has raised questions about the future of the fish. Some scientists say the Atlantic's once plentiful stocks are threatened by overfishing. What has helped North Carolina fishermen earn precious income during slow winter months could disappear, either by nature or by regulations aimed at preserving the silvery, warm-blooded fish.

Tuna catches are restricted by international treaties and complex quota systems. Each boat is allowed to catch only one fish per day in a season that will last less than two weeks. And the total amount of tuna caught is monitored daily, so the season could end if the quota is met early.

[glacierbaze]

I hope no one thought that I was downplaying Tom's fish. Hell, I doubt that I caught 200 pounds all year. I just remember a few years ago, when the Georges Bank fishery crashed, someone did a documemtary on the BFT fishery from the 'good ole days', which I believe were primarily a harpoon fishery, and granders were fairly common. I'm just curious about catch numbers and average size over time.

[woodville]

I think I saw the same show, old black and white footage of large schools of giants 900+ lbs the bay. What was amazing is the market was for fertilizer no one was eating them. Nice going Tom.

[wahoonbox]

PRETTY WORK TOM!!!! GLAD TO SEE YOU MADE A CONNECTION.

I HOPE IT IS ONE OF MANY FOR YA!

[74Formula233]

I'm drooling....I'll never "down" a 200# fish, wish there were more of them!

If you did keep it, that's a whole lot of steaks & sushi!! (And a LONG, DRUNK night of cutting, lol)

[Yellow Fin]

Guys, this is commerical season. Noone is keeping a fish that will bring $15-25 dollars a lb.