Teens reel in 700-pound bluefin tuna after 7-hour showdown, sell it for thousands
Two teens reeled in the catch of a lifetime after an epic seven-hour battle while fishing in Portland, Maine, news outlets reported.
Martin Scanlan, 16, and a 17-year-old friend landed a 700-pound bluefin tuna, which was too large for the boys’ boat, according to FOX 8.
“I was with a friend on a smaller boat, not the one we usually use to commercial fish for bluefin, and I was just with him for the day, maybe messing around and trying to catch a shark, not knowing that we would hook into a 700-pound tuna,” Scanlan told FOX.
Judging by Scanlan’s Instagram, the teenager is no stranger to adventurous happenings on the water.
Scanlan told FOX that he and his friend left the dock early in the morning and were only on the water for a short time before hooking the fish. “It almost ripped the rod holder out of the boat,” he said.
CBS Boston reported that a seafood distribution company in Portland purchased the tuna for $2,000 once the boys brought it to shore.
While a 700-pound tuna is massive, it’s not the largest bluefin recorded by the International Game Fish Association. That honor goes to Ken Fraser, who reeled in a 1,496-pound whopper after a 45-minute battle in Port Hood, Nova Scotia, in 1979.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 12:02 PM.