(Ignorant question coming) Is it even physically possible to catch an 800+ lbs. tuna on a rod without putting yourself in serious danger?
Yes....just like catching a giant marlin or swordfish.
you sit in a special seat, have a very expensive rod and reel that has a good drag and you wear the fish out as it runs out line and you reel back in and it takes hours to reel in....
then you sell it to the japanese for 3/4 of a million bucks...
Yikes, that’s a fish that weighs nearly 90% of what an average thoroughbred racehorse weighs.....I guess it’s possible, but how could it be worth what some posters are saying it’s worth-—$400-700K? Breeding rights?
When anglers target large bluefin tuna for the purpose of selling them, they usually use a 130 class rod and reel,fished out of a swivel rodholder. (This 130 class equipment is too heavy for a stand-up angler to use with a belt and harness.)
The 130 means the reel is designed to use 130 lb test line although most anglers will use heavier line on the reels. The drag settings (40 lbs in strike and higher in full drag) are so high that you would be pulled out of the cockpit if you were directly connected to the rod and reel with a harness and belt, thus the gear is fished from a swivel rod holder.
Because the rod can't be used to pull the fish back to the boat,since the rod is in the holder, the reel is used as a "winch" to retrieve the line under tension. It is common practice to assist the reel by pulling the line from the first eye toward the reel to take off some of the pressure on the reel.
You are in less danger fighting a tuna this way than you would be in fighting one on lighter stand-up gear. - tom
The large BlueFin tuna are caught on a rod & reel(remember the tuna chair rod/reel set up on Jaws). They use heavy duty line and brass reels that cost thousands of dollars. This is a not your average fisherman that goes out for these fish. Think $300K + boats and going out 30-100 miles out into the ocean in the gulf stream. The season is very short and strictly controled.
If they hook onto one of these giants it can take 6-8 hours to tire it out enough to reel it close into the boat. Then they will tie it up along side of the boat and try to get back to shore asap. The price goes down if the fish is dead when the get to the dock.
I have been in Portsmouth, NH when they brought these into dock. The buyer was waiting for them at the end of the dock.
The price was negotiated right there and then loaded onto a truck and off to Logan airport it went. The captain was very happy when they gave him the check. His fish was about 200 #s.