David Esslinger and a group of buddies headed offshore from Galveston, Texas around daybreak on Thursday. They were on Carson Deer’s offshore boat, Catillac, a 46-foot catamaran. The crew was rigged and ready that morning for bluefin tuna.
“We looked like a moving trailer park: Shimano Tiagra 130s on a center console, 1600 pounds of ice, food for a month, fried chicken, harnesses, and devotion to this amazing game of sport fishing,” Esslinger wrote in a Facebook post about the day’s events.
The Catillac’s crew caught bait offshore early that morning, then started fishing as the Gulf began to show signs of life.
“Big tuna started breaking the surface and our team spirits began to lift,” wrote Esslinger, who lives in Port Arthur. “Then it happened – the right rigger came down hard. The fish ran about 10 seconds and spit the 12/0 Mustad hook and the bait – as my heart sank.
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“I came up on the drag and gave her [the reel] 10 cranks. As soon as I engaged the [reel] clicker again the giant fish piled on again. That’s when the first 3/4 [reel] spool run at 35 pounds of drag started.”
Esslinger’s Shimano Tiagra 130A reel holds 3315 yards of 150-pound test braided line, plus a 180-pound fluorocarbon leader. The tuna took off like a rocket on its first run and dove deep. He says everyone on board encouraged him through the lengthy battle. Each person had a job to do, and all were up to the task.
Esslinger eventually increased his drag to 45 pounds of pressure to slow the fish. That caused the tuna to surface. Carson kept maneuvering the boat and changing directions with the fish to keep it square to the stern, and to keep Esslinger’s line out of the motors and clear of the sides.
The tuna charged the boat several times trying to spit the hook, and the anglers got a glimpse of it as it rolled at the surface. Then, when it saw their catamaran, it dove..
“I pushed [the reel] to 52 pounds of drag to slow down her decent [sp],” Esslinger explained. “Soon after the second hour she began the ‘tuna circle,’ a standoff which I was losing.”
Esslinger did not have a fighting chair, which are commonly used in big-game offshore fishing. It’s the most efficient fighting method, as it allows an angler to use their back and legs as well as their arms and torso.
Instead, Esslinger had a “Seamount” fighting harness to put the rod in. But he also had quality tackle, and a crew that knew exactly what to do.
Esslinger slowly gained line back, and when they spotted the leader, they readied gaffs to boat the fish. One crew member grabbed the leader, while two others gaffed the tuna, and another man got a rope around the massive fish’s tail.
“With shaking body and inoperable hands [from the fight] I made my way to the side of the boat and screamed with utter shock – ‘WHAT a GIANT BLUEFIN!’”
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The anglers hauled the massive tuna aboard their boat, and covered it with ice bags and towels, then ran back toward shore across 3-foot seas at 48 miles per hour.
They weighed the tuna at Pelican Rest Marina in Galveston. It officially weighed 884 pounds, topping the standing Texas bluefin record of 876 pounds, caught in 2021. The IGFA all-tackle world record bluefin tuna weighed 1,496-pounds, and it was taken off Nova Scotia in 1979 by angler Ken Fraser.
“Thank you to our awesome TEAM,” Esslinger wrote in his Facebook post. “Thank you to the sport fishing community … And thank you LORD every day for watching over every one of us.”
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