Father, son reel in huge bluefin tuna off the OBX coast

KITTY HAWK, N.C. (WAVY) — A Toano man and his buddies made the catch of a lifetime last Wednesday. They caught a monster bluefin off the coast of the Outer Banks, and they have amazing video footage to prove it.

“Any-fin” is possible — that’s what a father-son duo learned when they went on the water and made the catch of their lives.

Last Wednesday, Josiah VanFleet, his son Zeke and three others boarded their 22-foot Grady-White boat at 4 a.m. and went 45 miles offshore in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Their plan was to have a nice father-son trip and maybe catch something worthwhile. What they didn’t expect was to catch a monster bluefin.

Josiah says they first hooked on at 8:15 a.m. and it took around two hours to get the big guy onto their boat.

A final measurement shows the fish at nearly 10 feet long and an estimated 1,000 pounds.

“When we were reeling the fish in, about three-quarters of the way through, our reel actually broke, and it would no longer turn. And so we had this 1,000-pound fish on the line. And we actually had to take another real hair off a ton of line real quick, and reprint like both those lines together all while official was on there. It was insane,” said VanFleet.

But he said the challenge was worth it.

10 On Your Side’s Tamara Scott asked if there was ever a time he thought to let the fish go and give up.

“No, not once. No, we were gonna fight that thing until the end. Even if it took us into the nighttime. I mean, there’s no way.” he said

“I was absolutely in awe. I had no idea I was not expecting on catching, like, an almost 10-foot-long fish. I mean, I just never dreamed of it. I knew we’d catch a big one. I was thinking maybe [300] or 400 pounds. You know, because when you’re watching wicked tuna, I mean those inches that size fish is, like, very rare on that show. And I’m like there’s no way we’re gonna get something like that. And lo and behold,” said VanFleet.

Josiah says it took about two hours to filet the fish, and from now on, he’s going to go after smaller fish like Yellowfin or Mahi.

That is, at least until they get a bigger boat.