When Capt. John Savage decided that trolling off the Virginia Cost would make for a great day of fishing, he didn’t know what the fishing God’s had in store for him and the fishermen. The fishermen were hoping to tempt a billfish strike, when suddenly two giant Bluefin Tuna consecutively hit the ballyhoo baits the fishermen had the lines baited with.

With the sizzling sounds of fishing line being stripped from the reels of two fishermen battling huge Bluefin Tuna the Capt. Savage needed to do something, and it needed to be done promptly!

The captain and the crew swiftly made their decision to cut loose the tuna that was battling the lighter class fishing outfit, and decided to dedicate all their attention to reeling in the Bluefin that tackled the heavier pound class outfit. Unlucky for the tuna the outfit was being handled by fisherman Frederick “Bo” Haycox of Virginia Beach, and “Bo” was not backing down from the fight.

Haycox battled the huge Bluefin tuna for nearly 4 hours, with the huge tuna nearly stripping all the fishing line from Haycox’s outfit, according to Claude Bain, director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.

Haycox finally landed the huge Bluefin tuna, with the fish weighing in at 573 pounds and 107-inches, it’s been certified as a Virginia State record. Haycox’s tuna shattered the previous record by 175 pounds. The prior record was a 398-pound, 8-ounce catch taken Nov. 11, 2003, by E.K. Morrison of Nags Head.