A Little Luck Couldn’t Hurt

The first time Tom Burke went fishing on a long range boat he won the jackpot for a bluefin. The Buffalo, New Yorker came back this year on the Qualifier’s annual Accurate trip hoping to get a 100-pounder. His luck was still good, and Burke came up with a 291.2-pound yellowfin to win the jackpot.

Not to say the fish didn’t have a chance. It got its money’s worth out of Burke by beating him up for two and a half hours. Then Tom had to sweat getting it through the sharks, which he did.

The trip spent about three days each at the Hurricane Bank and offshore at Clarion Island. The bank provided a good catch of wahoo. More wahoo and the bulk of the big tuna came from Clarion’s Buffer Zone. There were 19 anglers on the 16-day trip skippered by Joe Crisci and led by Jack Nilsen and Gary Gillingham of Accurate. They ended up with ten cows and two tuna that weighed in at around 199 and a half pounds.

“We had a good ride down,” said Gillingham, “and good fishing for three days at the bank and again at Clarion. Eight of our anglers had a personal best.”

Burke’s first-place fish certainly qualified as a best. He said he got it with a sardine on a 5/0 VMC hook tied to 100-pound Izorline and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate ATD 50 reel and a Calstar 6460 XXH rod.

Pete Corselli of La Habra won second place for his best tuna ever, a 269.2-pounder.

“He went around the boat three times, with his sickle out of the water and everybody on the boat hollering about it,” said Corselli, “and I thought, ‘I’m never gonna get this fish. When I finally pulled him over to the boat we gaffed in midship on the starboard side.”

Corselli and several of the other anglers aboard the trip are featured in the just-finished video, “Hurricane ‘Hoos,” coming in a week or two from FishingVideos.com. He told dock reporter Bill Roecker that this fish bit on a sardine pinned to a 7/0 Eagle Claw hook on 130-pound Big Game line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate 50 W reel and a Calstar 760 H rod.

Regular long ranger Allen Lemberg of San Diego had some pretty fair luck himself, winning third place for the best one of his three cows. The fish weighed 262, 253 and 248.4 pounds. The best one was only two pounds short of his personal mark, he noted. Allen said he lost two other big fish, one of which was bigger than the three he put on the boat. It was lost when he straightened a hook, he said.

Allen got his fish on sardines and 5/0 VMC hooks, he said. He used 130-pound Izorline and 130-pound Izor Spectra on the late Dr. Bob Fechner’s Accurate ATD 50 reel and a Seeker 6465 XXH rod.

Paul “Scooter” Silverman of Windsor, CO wasn’t in the jackpot. He got a 274.2-pounder with a sardine on a 7/0 Mutu ringed hook on 130-pound blue Izorline and 130-pound Izorline Spectra. He fished with the late Del Marsh’s Accurate ATD 50 reel and a Baja Boomer rod.

“That one took me around the boat five times,” said Scooter. “I got him after an hour.”

Keng Chee Jin of Singapore bagged a 237.8-pound tuna with a sardine on a 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hook. He used 130-pound line and 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate ATD 50 reel and a Calstar 755 XXH rod to get his fish in 45 minutes.

Pin Yam Ng of Malaysia was a hot stick, said the other anglers. He got a 226 and a 233-pound tuna, with sardines on 5/0 ringed Super Mutu hooks. He fished with 130-pound Jin Kai line, 130-pound Line One Spectra on an Accurate 50W reel and a Calstar 770 H rod.

Chartermaster Gary Gillingham of Duarte spent a tough hour on a 223-pound tuna.

“He came up with his sickle out of the water for about ten minutes of that time,” he said.

Gillingham fished a sardine on a 6/0 Offshore hook tied to 130-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon and 130-pound Line One Spectra. He said he used An Accurate ATD 30 reel and a Calstar 770 XXXH rod.

Singapore Fishing Outfitter Alvin Lim was aboard, with a group of five other anglers. They posed with one of the two cows caught by Ng.

Older Than Wiesenhutter’s Record

Most long rangers know that the oldest IGFA world record for yellowfin tuna is also for the biggest one: Kurt Wiesenhutter’s 388-pound, 12-ounce supercow caught way back in April of 1977. But for age, that one doesn’t hold a candle to the oldest record of all, for a yellow perch, of all things! That record is held for a four-pound, three-ouncer caught in 1865 by Dr. C. Abbot in Bordentown, NJ.

Report by Bill Roecker at FishingVideos.com

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