After Friday's blazing start Saturday was a relatively slow day at the 74th annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo scales. There was, however, one remarkable exception, a rodeo record 29.25-pound blackfin tuna.
Record blackfin tuna caught
DAUPHIN ISLAND -- In an odd twist, the 74th annual Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo was as calm Saturday as it was frenetic on Friday.
With only a couple of exceptions, the fish on Saturday didn't match those brought in on Friday. One of the exceptions was a rodeo-record 29.25-pound blackfin tuna, caught by Van Wilson on Capt. Don Walker's Lady D.
"We knew it was a good fish," Wilson said. "Don said it ought to make the board. But we didn't know it was a record. We weighed in from the street side and they didn't realize it."
Wilson said they were dragging ballyhoo for big-game species.
"We caught some nice yellowfin tuna, but nothing that would make the board, some wahoo and dolphin, but nothing any size," he said. "We caught a big scamp. We were going to bring the scamp, but he got cut up first. The deck hand had a filet knife in him before we realized it."
The only other exception was in the tarpon category, where the Tarpon Tamer brought in a fish better than its 120.5-pounder caught Friday by Chuck Floyd.
This time, Justin Toomey got the honor of fighting a big silver king, which weighed 133.5.
Friday's fish came from Navy Cove, but John Toomey, Justin's dad, heard of a big group of fish to the north.
"We went up the bay, almost to the Causeway," John Toomey said. "There must have been 300 fish up there."
Justin Toomey said it took him an hour to subdue the tarpon, which still had some fight left at the end.