A young Newfoundland fisherman says it was a “thrill like no other” to hook a powerful Atlantic bluefin tuna -- a whopping catch that tipped scales at 710 lbs.
Greer Hunt Jr., 23, caught the fish Tuesday on a fishing excursion near Conception Bay, N.L., with his father and fishing crew.
“The fish came after our bait two or three times, and when it finally hooked, you could just see the line speel out and the fish swam across the water. It was super exciting,” Hunt told CTV’s Canada AM Friday morning.
It took nearly two hours of physical labour and intense pressure to reel in the fish with just a rod and reel.
“You’re not just reeling. It’s your arms, your legs, you’re pushing back and forth in the chair. And mentally, you’ve got everyone there saying, ‘Don’t break the line, don’t pull too hard.’”
In the end, the powerful fish lost the fight. Hunt decided to sell his catch to four different local restaurants, which divided the meat.
“It’s so good to see it go locally and that I can go down and enjoy some of the fish that I caught at a nice, high-end restaurant,” he said. “It was unlike anything I caught before, anything I ever tasted.”
It’s the third big catch that Hunt’s fishing team landed this week -- a sign the fisherman attributes to a healthy tuna population.
“Sometimes we go months and months without seeing anything, and right now it’s good to see the tuna stock back,” he said. “That’s what we always look for … making sure the fish are back and there’s lots of them around.”
With files from CTV's Canada AM
