MEXICO: monster 445 plus lb yellowfin tuna caught

Angler John Petruescu, a first-time long-ranger, aboard the "Excel" caught a giant yellowfin tuna. This fish is supposed to be well over 400 plus pound, but will be weighted when the on a certified scale after the  sportfisher returns to port Saturday night or Sunday morning. This monster tuna, among other big ones was caught at  Hurricane Bank off Mexico.

John's tuna required 5 gaffs just to steer it to the tuna gate, and it barely fit through the gate.

John Petruescu was fishing with a live skipjack tuna to entice a yellowfin tuna. I've been told by someone closely associated with the boat, however, that this is a very conservative round number, and that the actual weight of the behemoth probably is much heavier.

The current International Game Fish Assn. all-tackle world record is a 405 lb yellowfin caught two years ago (2010) by angler Mike Livingston aboard the "Vagabond "off Magdalena Bay, in Mexico.

Two months ago angler Guy Yocom  caught a yellowfin weighing 427.5 pounds while fishing out of Cabo San Lucas on Baja California's tip. This mammoth yellowfin tuna has yet to be approved by the IGFA as an all-tackle record. 

Using a measurement formula used by crew members on boats while they're still at sea, and the technique is generally pretty reliable. But the "400 - 430 pounds" figure appears to have been thrown out merely as a round number.

UPDATE: back at the dock the big tuna was exactly 445 pound!!

www.excelsportfishing.com