Tuna at 50, Pt. III “The Big Eye”

Vinnie Petrucillo and his crew, Ely Millikin, Ernie Thomas, Mike Zetler, and Bob Sears, had been fishing the Canyons now for about two years. Some 3-4 trips each season. Plenty of experiences to relate. However, the big fish they'd talked about, dreamed of hooking had been elusive. There was the night when Vinnie with son-in-law Ely had been on watch with lines down after losing a 200-lb. swordfish earlier that day when Ely looked off to port and spotted a big upheaval in the water. “We just froze. Didn’t know what in hell it could be. This huge monster 30' off the stern comes boiling out of the water. It was a whale shark, much bigger than the boat, and started heading right for us. Dove down under the stern and at the same instant, the 80-lb. rod started screaming. “I had sense enough,” Vinnie says, “to grab the knife and cut the line. This guy could have broken the rod in a heartbeat, let alone flip the boat if it chose to come up under us.”

“Another time there was this huge shadow under water. Covered from bow to stern and much wider than the Bella Fortuna. Turned out to be a giant manta ray. The ray swam slowly to the bow, then turned and casually swam back again. Those are the times when all you can do is stand and stare and wonder “what if.”

“Some years, after we’d pulled the boat out for the winter, we’d head down to the Keys for some warm weather fishing. One trip we had this 10-300 Penn reel on a $15 rod, fishing for school mahi off of Big Pine Key where the water drops to 5-600'. Rod goes off, Ron Lombardi grabs it and then I saw this fish jump. Thought it was a sailfish. Bob gets the other rods in and we chase it. Ron couldn’t begin to budge the fish with a $15 rod. Fish sounder was out so we had no idea where the fish was. Adrenalin was flowing and we wanted to boat this fish. Played it extra careful. Did everything we could to tire it out. Finally begin to see the fish under water, so I put gloves on hoping to grab it by the bill which I did. Started pulling it up and the eye was the size of a small pancake....blue marlin. Fish was over 6' long, must have been somewhere in the 200-lb. range. It was brutally heavy for three guys with no lifting gear on the boat. One flick of its tail could have sent someone overboard. We managed to roll it over the side into the cockpit where we snapped some quick pictures. Then trying not to hurt the fish we slid it up and over the bow and into the water, and held on until the big guy got its breathing back.

Chandrika Sharma in Prainha do Canto Verde, Brazil, at the 20th anniversary of the fish workers collective in 2006. ICSF photo

However...the big tuna remained elusive. The big one was still waiting in The Canyons.

Vinnie tells the story. “It was getting towards the end of the season when a last minute window in the weather opened up and I heard some talk of fish in The Canyons. I called Ernie and Mike and we headed out. There was nothing biting on the afternoon/evening troll and nothing to get excited about chunking at night. Next morning we decided to start trolling early. There were lots of boats in the area but no chatter on the radio indicating any real action. Finally, we had a knockdown by the north edge of the canyon for a 40# Albacore, then another strike which broke the line. It was pretty discouraging. But, as Ernie said just before all hell broke loose, “You know, when it happens it will be sweet!” And then, he goes and does this song and dance to the Fish Gods.”

“We re-rigged and then the starboard “spreader bar” rod went off. Ernie yells “It’s spooling out!!” as about 50 yards goes screaming astern. Mike and Ernie race to get the other rods in and I turn Bella Fortuna to chase the fish. Finally, Ernie, after working the line slowly inch by inch as he’d seen on TV’s “Wicked Tuna” and chasing for about half an hour, the fish stopped and sounded, stopping to rest. Ernie carefully reeled in ’til we could see it. It was big. Ernie wanted to use the harpoon he’d given me as a Christmas present one year, but I said no we’d use the gaff when it got close enough. I took one and Mike the second gaff and we managed to both gaff it in the head. Tried to pull it up but so heavy it wouldn’t budge. Ernie still wanted to use the harpoon, and I yelled “No!” again. Finally, Ernie secured the rod in the holder and tries to help us. We had the fish almost up to the gunnel and it would fall back. Then with Ernie’s help tugging as well, we get it up to eye level... “It’s a Big Eye tuna.” We keep pulling and lifting, just getting it over the rail when it falls on Mike. He wriggles his way free, then gets out of the way, while Ernie and I finish pulling it into the cockpit. “What a prize specimen!!” We start screaming and yelling, going crazy, we’d finally landed a trophy!”

Now that Vinnie and crew had this trophy tuna aboard, the dilemma was how to take care of it. First order of battle was to bleed it. They made small cuts just past the pectoral fins as the deep red blood flowed out. Then, the ice down. Needed to be cooled quickly as possible. Their cooler which was 24"x42" would normally hold eight 60-lb. tuna. Wouldn’t hold this fish. Somehow had to be iced or would soon spoil on the trip in. With some quick measurements, only solution was to cut the tail off, but even with that idea the head would stick out. “So, we whacked off the tail and as best we could, slid the Bigeye into the box and packed as much ice around it as we could. The head we covered with towels and kept those wet down to keep it cool. I felt like that Chevy Chase camping movie where they tied Grandma to the roof cause there wasn’t enough room in the car.”

Vinnie continues, “I called my buddy Ken Rockefeller who had a commercial permit to see if he could sell the fish for us and then we went into Snug Harbor to have it weighed. To weigh-in the big fish is a fisherman’s dream. Onlookers gather round, boats going by give you the big thumbs up. It's the “Supreme Moment.” Finally, Al Conte, the owner of the wharf comes out with his daughter Elise to see the fish. She says, “Why did you cut the tail off, it's so big and beautiful?” We had to lift it by the gills, it was the only way we could do it. 210 lbs. heavy”

Vinnie and crew had finally realized the ultimate dream. With all the work, planning, heart-in-mouth moments, hours upon hours of trolling and chunking behind them the reward was now hanging on the blocks to be recorded, told, and re-told for gam sessions to come.

Now, I’m half “Southern Boy” on my mother’s side and it took me until midlife (or I hope that’s when) to finally appreciate “grits.” Southerners can eat them three meals a day. Breakfast had been about my limit until AJ started rummaging around on the internet the other night looking for an alternative to rice or potatoes. This is what we tried and it was excellent. (For 4 hungrys)

* R E C I P E *

4 cups chicken broth

1 cup grits

4 ozs. ex-sharp cheddar or 3 cheddar mix, shredded

4 T. unsalted butter

2 T. heavy cream (or half and half) salt and pepper if desired

1 garlic clove minced

In a medium pot bring chicken broth to boil. Add the minced garlic and slowly stir in the grits. Reduce heat to just above low, stir once in a while esp. at first to keep from sticking and let cook for over 20 min. Taste for done. Stir in cream and cheese and season if desired. Careful, a “Nawthener” might just want to try some of these grits things for breakfast.