1,116-Pound Bluefin Won’t Count as NH Record

A bluefin tuna that weighed 1,116 pounds and would have crushed New Hampshire’s state record won’t go in the books, because it was hooked a few miles outside state waters.

The Fight

Capt. Jamie Savage, a 52-year-old skipper from Sanbornville, N.H., ran his 36-foot “Out Of Line” out of Rye Harbor on the night of Oct. 2. Aboard was a single client, Brandon McGirl. They ran 10 miles out and set live squid baits at three staggered depths after midnight.

“We fished all night and into the day and caught nothing but a pair of 500-pound sharks – a porbeagle and a thresher,” Savage said.

The tuna hit the following evening, around 7 p.m. on Oct. 3. Savage had marked fish in 100 to 150 feet of water on his depth finder, and the bluefin took a squid set at 130 feet. On heavy tuna tackle and 200-pound-test braid, the fish peeled off roughly 800 yards during a long run.

“We first thought it was a shark. But it made a long, strong run, and we chased after it for 20 minutes,” Savage said.

By the time the fight settled in, it was fully dark. The bottom was studded with lobster trap lines that could cut a leader. Savage, an 18-year veteran tuna captain, runs loose drags to keep a fish from binding up against a trap line, and he maneuvered the boat so the bluefin never fouled when it turned near one. The fish stopped after the long run, and McGirl worked it back to the boat over about 10 minutes.

“I hit it with a gaff in the throat, and it just quit,” Savage said.

The anchor winch Savage uses to haul big bluefins through his stern tuna door has handled 800-pound fish without trouble. It couldn’t lift this one. The anglers secured it alongside and towed it back to Rye Harbor, arriving at 10 p.m. There a heavy-duty hoist put it on the scale at 1,116 pounds. The fish measured 114 inches long with a 90-inch girth.

Why It Doesn’t Count

New Hampshire’s standing record bluefin, caught by Richard Green in the Gulf of Maine in 2013, weighed 962 pounds. McGirl’s fish beat that by more than 150 pounds. State rules, though, require that a record fish be caught and brought to the boat within state waters.

“We were just outside the 9-mile range of state waters when we caught it, so it won’t break the record for bluefin,” Savage said after speaking at length with state fisheries officials.

“I’ve caught a lot of big tuna over the years, but that’s the biggest one I’ve seen here,” he said.

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