New Hampshire Fisherman Smashes State Record with 1,116-Pound Bluefin Tuna

A New Hampshire overnight fishing excursion yielded a massive state-record bluefin tuna weighing 1,116 pounds, smashing a benchmark that had stood for more than a decade. Fisherman Brandon McGirl boarded the Out of Line, a Savage Charters NH boat captained by Jamie Savage, out of Rye Harbor on the New Hampshire Seacoast when he hooked the record-breaking catch.

“It was very difficult conditions to try and fish. It was a little bit rougher than we were hoping for,” McGirl recalled of the weather on the open water. After hours of battling rough seas with little to show for their efforts, the crew prepared to call it a night. Out of nowhere, McGirl’s reel began clicking.

The Gruggling Pursuit on the Open Water

When the line finally went off, both men knew they had a fight on their hands. “They never come when you expect them to come,” McGirl noted, describing the sudden shift in the evening. The crew chased the giant bluefin for about a mile during a grueling struggle before finally getting the beast alongside the vessel.

With no way to get it on deck, the captain and angler made the decision to tow the fish back toward the harbor at a slow pace. Once they reached the docks, they lifted the creature out of the water.

Photo: wbaltv.com

“We lifted it out of the water and immediately knew it was way bigger than what we thought and bigger than anything either of us had seen before,” Captain Savage said.

The scale confirmed a staggering weight of 1,116 pounds—shattering the previous New Hampshire state record set in 2013 by more than 150 pounds. Photographs from the dock show the monstrous tuna nearly as long as both men are tall, barely fitting aboard the vessel.

Governor Ayotte Celebrates Rare 1,000-Pound Tuna Catch

Catching a fish of this magnitude is a rare milestone in the angling community. “If you tuna fish for long time, to catch a 1,000-pound fish, is, I mean, it’s something that you dream of,” McGirl stated.

The feat quickly caught the attention of state leadership. Gov. Kelly Ayotte took to social media the following day to celebrate the achievement, posting on Facebook, “Now THAT is a catch,” alongside a link to local news coverage.

While the catch missed the all-time United States national record—which stands at 1,142 pounds, 12 ounces, caught off Block Island, Rhode Island, in September 1981—it ranks among the largest ever landed in New England waters.

Destination of the Record-Breaking Catch

Beyond its impressive size, the tuna’s physical characteristics drew praise from the crew. Captain Savage noted that the interior meat features extensive marbling comparable to high-end cuts of beef.

While the valuable meat is headed to market and could be shipped as far as Japan, the crew decided to keep a permanent token of the outing. The tuna’s tail will remain behind at the harbor as a physical souvenir of the record-setting day.