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When you’re 160 miles offshore in the Gulf, things can get serious fast. There’s no room for mistakes out there—no second chances. That’s exactly where we found ourselves aboard the Catillac, my 46-foot Invincible catamaran, on what started as a routine 36-hour trip chasing blue marlin. What happened next turned that trip into a story none of us will ever forget.
It was around 9 a.m. on the second morning of the trip when the live blackfin tuna they were trolling got smoked and the reel started screaming. My buddy David Esslinger was in the harness, working a Shimano 130 with a Release Marine Battle Saddle. What followed was five hours of absolute chaos—a knock-down, drag-out fight with a fish that refused to give up. We’ve all caught our share of big ones, but this fish was on another level entirely.
When we finally got it boatside, we all knew it was something special but we were calling it in the 600 or 700-pound range. Then when we got it up on the scale, and it read 884 pounds, we just stared at each other in shock. It’s currently awaiting verification, but if it holds, it’ll be the new Texas state record for Atlantic bluefin tuna, beating out the existing record of 876 pounds.
And the craziest part? We did it from a catamaran with outboards. Anyone in big-game fishing knows that’s not exactly the standard setup for landing record-class tuna. But it worked—and it worked because we were prepared, persistent, and surrounded by one hell of a crew consisting of David Esslinger, TC Swetman, Brad Hildebrandt, Jeff Young, and Colby Denbow. When you’re that far out and pushing your limits, the people around you make all the difference. This wasn’t just a fluke; it was a team effort from the first bait in the water to the gaff shot.
A trip like this is a reminder to me of how important the three Ps—patience, persistence, and preparation—really are when fishing the Gulf. We had to be patient for the bite, we were persistent during the fight, and we were prepared with the gear, fuel, ice aboard the Catillac to make it all possible.
Landing a fish like that with my crew aboard the Catillac—that’s something I’ll talk about for the rest of my life. That day, we carved our names into Gulf Coast fishing history, and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else. I can’t tell you how incredible that ride back home was.
