Likely the biggest story of the trip was the catching of a 213-pound tuna by Jamie Massion of Calabasas on an Accurate spinning reel. It was the first cow to be caught on spinning gear. He’s been trying to do it for a couple of years, as have several other anglers, but this time he was there at the proper moment.
The fight lasted an hour and a half, he said. The fish bit on a sardine on a 5/0 Mustad Hoodlum J hook. He used 90-pound Momoi leader and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate TwinSpin 50 reel. His spinning rod was custom-built by Bob Sands Tackle, a Super Seeker 6463 XXXH model, with the guides on “the wrong side,” of course.
He fished the rig on the rail, he said, with the aid of a device he calls “Thunder Down Under,” a cradle of sorts to keep the rig up off the rail, so the line goes back and forth without rubbing.
“I’m not sure what to say about it,” he told Roecker. “This is my second season of trying.
It was a major achievement, and the fishing community has been waiting for it longer than Massion has been trying.
Congratulations from your friends at Accurate on a job well done.