A Teenager has reeled in a record catch after a four hour struggle with the fish weighing more than double his bodyweight.
victorian teen, ryan ‘crumb’ gazzola caught the whopping 135.4-kilogram southern bluefin tuna off gunnamatta beach on the mornington peninsula last saturday.
the mammoth fish was first sighted and tagged more than 29 years ago off the coast of esperance in western australia.
the fish was just 52 centimetres long when tagged in 1993 by csiro, and at the time it was caught by mr gazzola measured 195 centimetres, making it the longest time ‘at liberty’ catch in australian history for the species.
victorian teen, ryan gazzola (pictured) caught a whopping 135.4 kilogram southern blufin tuna off gunnamatta beach on the mornington peninsula last saturday
the fish was just 52 centimetres long when tagged in 1993 and at the time it was caught was 195 centimetres – making it the longest time ‘at liberty’ catch in australian history
csiro scientist told dr campbell davies told the age tuna have an expected lifespan of about 40 years, but this fish had been in the wild past its average life expectancy.
csiro senior principal research scientist campbell davies told 9news melbourne there had never been a tagged fish recaptured in australia after such extended period of time.
‘anybody that gets to catch a fish of that size and that age is a very lucky bloke,’ he said.
‘i was very surprised when i heard of the re-capture.’
csiro senior principal research scientist campbell davies (pictured) said there had never been a tagged fish recaptured in australia after such extended period of time.
the carrum teen now says he plans to have the tail of his record catch displayed in his room.
‘i am getting the tail mounted to have it in my room so everyday i can look at it and think, i can’t believe this actually happened,’ mr gazzola said.
‘this is something that i could only dream of. everything that has happened since that day, it’s just getting better and better, it’s just been remarkable.’
the 17-year-old said reeling in the tuna was just ‘unbelievable’.
the csiro stopped its tagging program in 2005.