183-pound yellowfin tuna caught off Boca Raton

183-pound yellowfin tuna caught off Boca Raton

By Steve Waters, Sun Sentinel
fl-fishing-report-tuesday-0302-20100301


Jim Zupancic really didn't feel like fishing Sunday because seas were supposed to be rough, but his neighbor really wanted to go.

Zupancic's selflessness was richly rewarded, as the seas Sunday morning were only 2-3 feet, and Zupancic and his guests caught a 183-pound yellowfin tuna.

"I had never caught a tuna before," said Zupancic, of Deerfield Beach, who did not know it was a tuna until the fish came alongside his boat after a 45-minute fight.

Zupancic, Kurt Otten, Otten's brother Joe, of Cincinnati, and their father, Harold, of Frankfort, Ill., went out Boca Inlet on tZunami Zupancic's 26-foot Mako. They trolled ballyhoo and Ilander lures with ballyhoo in the hopes of catching some dolphin.

"I was just trying to catch anything with those guys," Zupancic said.

They were in 180 feet when the tuna hit the long outrigger line with a blue-and-white Ilander with a ballyhoo at 7:30, dumping three quarters of the 80-pound braided line from the Shimano TLD 30W reel.

Zupancic cleared the other lines and backed down on the fish, which, not having hooked a tuna before, he thought might have been an 80-pound kingfish.

For the first 30 minutes, they didn't gain any line on the fish, which would run, then hang deep, then run again. The Otten brothers did the reeling, then they got Zupancic to reel a little.

"I had to put full drag on it, which I hate doing on any fish, but I couldn't stop the fish," said Zupancic, who backed off the drag when the tuna stopped running.

When the fish finally tired and came to the boat, Zupancic gaffed the fish and three of them lifted it into the boat. Then they went home.

"It was so big it wouldn't fit in the fish box and I didn't want it to spoil so we went back in," said Zupancic, who weighed the fish at his dock.

"I had 30 people come to my house to see it, they didn't believe it. I gave a ton of it away. I rather people eat the fish fresh than freeze it."

Fish of the week

Jordan Hoffman, of Cooper City, caught 4.59 pounds of fish to win the junior division of the Broward County Bass Fishing Kids tournament Saturday at Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek. Justin Brown, of Margate, was second at 2.46. Justin Klindt, of Coral Springs, was third at 2.37. Blake Weger, of Wellington, won the small fry division with 4.02. Jac Paul-Hus, of Pompano Beach, was second at 3.06. Maya Abraham, of Margate, was third at .72. The next tournament is April 17 at C.B. Smith Park in Pembroke Pines. Visit bassfishingkids.com.

Capt. Alan Zaremba guided Lee Kulis, of Fort Myers, and Don Shope, of Washington, D.C., to 70 largemouth bass up to 4 pounds using soft-plastic lures and Pop-Rs in the canals along Alligator Alley. Bill and Melissa Roth, of Raleigh, N.C., caught four peacock bass using live shiners in the C-100 Canal and then spent the afternoon in the Everglades in the C-60 Canal, where they caught 35 largemouths on soft plastics. Dutch Schoral and three of his friends from Texas caught 10 peacocks up to 3 pounds, a largemouth and two snook using floating Rapalas in the C-4 Canal. John and Nel Schaffner and their daughter, all of Fire Island, N.Y., caught 25 largemouths up to 3 pounds using soft plastics in the C-60. Joe Marks, Larry Stevens and his son Max, 11, all of South Carolina, caught 105 largemouths using soft plastics in the C-60.

Calendar

Tuesday: IGFA School of Sportfishing class on kite-fishing by Capt. Tony DiGiulian, IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum, Dania Beach. Call 954-924-4340.

Wednesday: West Palm Beach Fishing Club inshore meeting, 7 p.m., 201 Fifth St. Capt. George Gozdz of Jensen Beach discusses tactics for snook, trout and tarpon in the Indian River. Call 561-832-6780 or visit westpalmbeachfishingclub.org.

Saturday: Marine Industries Association of South Florida 33rd annual Waterway Cleanup, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Pre-register at waterwaycleanup.org. Contact Melanie Daily at 954-524-2733 or melanie@miasf.org.

Sunday: King of the Glades 4 qualifier bass tournament, Everglades Holiday Park. Entry fee $75 per boat. Register at the ramp starting at 4 a.m. Call Mike Lendl at 754-246-3198.

March 13-14: SUDS Flea Market, featuring all types of dive gear, Divers Discount Florida, 2071 S. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale. Proceeds benefits Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba, a program that aids in the rehabilitation of wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Visit sudsfleamarket.com.

Steve Waters can be reached at 954-356-4648 or swaters@SunSentinel.com