405 lb Yellowfin Tuna

It is possible. When we hunt yellowfins there is always the chance of the “ONE” coming through and I’ve heard rumors for years of guys seeing some monsters off the Coasts of more than a few countries.

When we travel for Yellowfins we are generally looking for those in the 200lb Class and a 300lb one is always the goal. A few years back Brandon put a shaft in one late in the day that he claims was 350-400lbs and as far as we know it is still running with all 4 of his buoys in tow. It was a monster and the current world record for Spearfishing is damn near out of reach but not untouchable as proved this week on one of the long range boats out of San Diego.
Fishing off the coast of Mexico the F/V Vagabond landed a number of “cows”(fish over 200 lbs) but when the gaffs were set in their last one and it was hauled to the deck there was no doubt this was one for the books.
For the first time by a recreational angler the 400lb mark had been broken and I can only imagine the feeling waiting on board the few days as the trip ended and the fish finally made it to the scales.
Terry Maas, Jay Riffe and the rest of the old schoolers have put time in those same waters and on the same long range boats and know that anything can happen amongst the islands off of Mexico. It used to be, to get a big tuna you had to do a long range trip and 10-15 days were the calling for all bluewater hunters and the ultimate voyage.

This fish proves that there is still hope for us and the long range trip isn’t dead.
I want to hear your long range stories and the positives and negatives of a big trip like this before I put in my thoughts and experiences on it. There is no doubt this is a great platform for exploring and shooting for the monsters but there are also some down sides…
None of which in the very least is the chance to shoot a 405# Yellowfin tuna!!!!
Has anyone ever done a long range trip out of the West Coast? Is long the long range spearfishing trip dead?