|| |—| || |Photo: Courtesy of Greg Holzman| Catching a 152-pound tuna from a boat is one thing – but from a WaveRunner?
Mention personal watercraft to the typical salt water angler, and you’re bound to hear a choice four-letter word or two. But Jerry Green isn’t your “typical” salt water angler, and the only four-letter word you’ll hear him say about his WaveRunner is “tuna.”
This summer, the Kehaha, Hawaii, native hooked and landed a 152-pound yellowfin while trolling a squid lure behind his WaveRunner.
| |Photo: Courtesy of Greg Holzman| When the tuna hit, Green’s Penn 6/0, a reel generally used for his typical catch of small albacore, actually started to smoke. “I thought about cutting the line,” he said. “But when I finally saw it was a big yellowfin, I decided to try and land it.”
During the fight Green called a few of his aquatic-crotch-rocket fishing buddies on his cell phone for some advice on how to handle such a big fish. After some coaching – not to mention a five-hour battle – the defeated tuna finally came alongside Green’s machine where he was able to rope its tail. But as he tried to heave the fish onto the gunwale, the fish flopped off, pulling Green into the water along with it.
When Green was finally able to tie down the huge yellowfin to his WaveRunner, he had to kneel to one side on the ride back to keep the craft balanced. Green figures that the fish pulled him close to ten miles during the tug of war.
“I always knew it was possible to catch large fish” from a WaveRunner, said Green, who added that some of his friends have landed fish bigger than his tuna from their WaveRunners. “I just never thought it would happen to me.”
– Joe Cermele