Massive tuna a potential world record; angler’s costly mistake...

Robert Ross displays 430-pound tuna caught off Loreto. Photo: Courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

Robert Ross knew the yellowfin tuna he landed off Loreto, Mexico, was massive.
What he did not know was that the 430-pound fish, weighed on a butcher’s scale at a nearby cattle ranch,
was three pounds heavier than the world record.
Rather than seek a certified scale, Ross filleted the tuna and then telephoned Pisces Sportfishing to let general manager Tracy Ehrenberg know about his catch.
“Once they told me the weight of the fish, I told them, “You just cut up your world record,” Ehrenberg told GrindTV.

The 430-pound tuna was caught at a remote location with no certified scale. Photo: Courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing

The International Game Fish Association world record stands at 427 pounds. That fish was also caught off Cabo San Lucas, in 2012. Only a handful of yellowfin weighing 400 pounds have ever been caught on rod-and-reel.
Ross had launched his Boston Whaler last week from the remote Pisces Collection Lodge, on the Sea of Cortez. The lodge is still under construction and does not yet have a certified scale, or a cold storage facility.
Ross told Ehrenberg that he had little choice but to process the meat, after weighing the fish at the cattle ranch; otherwise it might have spoiled.
Ehrenberg quoted the angler as saying, “I kind of thought that it might be a record. It’s the biggest tuna I’ve caught, but what were we going to do with it? It’s important but not most important for me to get a record. Next time I’ll call you before cutting it up.”
According to the Pisces Sportfishing Facebook page, the tuna was hooked on a chunk bait and landed after a 2-hour fight, standup-style, on a 60-pound test line.
Loreto is in the state of Baja California Sur, on the Sea of Cortez, about 315 miles north of Cabo San Lucas.