A Wrightsville Beach fisherman came away with the catch of a lifetime on Tuesday morning, reeling in a nearly 500-pound bluefin tuna just a day after another angler made a similar catch in Carolina Beach.
After seeing reports and photos of the local 500-pound tuna catch on social media Monday, Jake Ramsey, of the 400 block of Causeway Drive, and a group of friends decided to go out in search of their own tuna. Sure enough, the crew of four hooked a bluefin tuna less than two hours after casting lines on Tuesday morning, Ramsey said, bringing in the 96-inch fish.
Though he’s reeled in big fish before, Ramsey said he’s never caught a tuna that big, or in this area. The crew caught the tuna about a mile-and-a-half off of the Masonboro Island shore, just north of the Carolina Beach Inlet.
“I’ve never caught a bluefin tuna that close to the beach,” Ramsey said, noting that most of his tuna fishing is done out of Morehead City. “This time of year, it’s kind of sporadic, you don’t know where they’re going to be.”
On Monday, the reports of the big tuna off of North Carolina shores set the group off in search of boating, as Ramsey said his boat was in winter storage.
“A buddy of mine called me about it Monday night and we decided to try to go out,” Ramsey said. “I was supposed to be at work in the morning, but had some time.”
A friend brought a 22-foot Pioneer Bay boat out of storage. Ramsey said the craft wasn’t the usual sport-fishing boat for this type of game, but ventured out to try anyway.
The crew, which also included Bradley Pigford, Lucas Edmondson and Fabry Stroud, had lines in the water by 5:30 a.m. and by 7:15 a.m., the tuna was on the hook. Ramsey and the crew spent about an hour reeling in the massive fish.
“We had him on the leader four times, but each time, he’d get up and run away from us again,” Ramsey said. He finally hit the fish with a harpoon.
After taking the fish back to his dock on Motts Channel, Ramsey and friends cleaned the fish, cutting tuna steaks and inviting over friends to help and to claim some free seafood.
“We gave anyone who wanted one a piece,” Ramsey said.
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