A Massachusetts fisherman pulled in an 881-pound tuna this week only to have the federal authorities take it away. It sounds like a libertarian twist on the classic novella by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, but for Carlos Rafael, the saga is completely true.

Rafael and his crew were using nets to catch bottom-dwellers when they inadvertently snagged the giant tuna. However, federal fishery enforcement agents took control of the behemoth when the boat returned to port. The reason for the seizure was procedural: While Rafael had the appropriate permits, fishermen are only allowed to catch tuna with a rod and reel. 

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Gibbs new Tuna Candy lures where specifically designed for the run and gun excitement of casting to Bluefin Tuna. The lures come in 3 sizes 2 oz., 3 oz. and 4 oz. The through wire is is 800 lbs. and rigged with a 350 lbs. Spro swivel with the connection made with Owner split ring and offshore big game hook. Now that it's Tuna season here in the north east Captain Al will be putting these babies to the test and report back on their effectiveness.  

Tim C. Smith

www.gibbslures.com

WSJ 1-13-2011

The bluefin tuna is one of the most majestic and prized creatures in the sea. Last week, one caught off Japan sold in Tokyo for $396,000, to be used as sushi.

Now the fish is the subject of a scientific fight that shows how hard it will be to gauge the environmental fallout of the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The U.S. government will wrap up public meetings next week on whether to recommend declaring the Atlantic bluefin an endangered species. If the government declared the fish endangered, it would bar fishermen from targeting the fish in U.S. waters. An environmental group filed the request last year, claiming in part that the western-Atlantic stock of the fish, long believed to spawn only in the Gulf of Mexico, would "be devastated" by last year's spill from a blown-out BP PLC well.

But scientists disagree about what portion of last spring's crop of young tuna, or larvae, were hit by oil. They disagree about whether the Gulf is the only place where the western-Atlantic bluefin spawns. In short, they disagree about virtually every aspect of the spill's effect on the fish. Read More

The fish was caught on the long-range charter VagabondDec 6, 2010

Angler Mike Livingston brought a 405.2-pound yellowfin tuna to the dock Monday in San Diego that could qualify as a new world record. The existing record-holder is a 388-pounder caught in Mexico in 1977. The fish was caught west of Magdalena Bay aboard the long-range charter Vagabond on November 30 and cheers went up as it was weighed on Point Loma Sportfishing's certified scales almost a week later. Livingston was fishing with Capt. Mike Lackey.

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