North Carolina Sportsman reported 1st: The crew of the Grady Bunch, fishing the first two days of 2015 just outside Beaufort Inlet, may not have landed a state-record bluefin tuna, but the three men and a boy almost certainly accomplished a feat no other North Carolina saltwater crew has duplicated, two bluefin tuna that combined to weigh more than 1,500 pounds.
On Jan. 1, Pete O’Donnell of Beaufort was on the rod and brought a massive bluefin tuna to the stern where boat-owner Jason Davis, acting as first mate, harpooned the 785-pound giant. Ray Watkins of LakeRoyale was captain while Davis’ son, Hunter, took photographs.
The next day, even closer to shore, they caught a 767-pound bluefin, an unheard of back-to-back catch in North Carolina waters. Moreover, Davis’ 33-foot Grady White Express is essentially a king mackerel boat, not well-suited to decking giant tuna.
“The first day we were 3 miles out on the west side (of Cape Lookout Shoals) in 50 feet of water,” Davis said. “We hooked into the first fish at 10:30 a.m. and landed him after an hour.”
Admirers who came to the dock to see that bluefin wanted to know where the crew had fished. Davis, the 37-year-old owner of a grading business in Fuqua Varina, gave up the location.
“I told them,” he said. “We put baits (naked ballyhoo) out in the inlet because we’d marked more baitfish than I’d ever seen in my life. We were in 50 feet of water but only marking 20 feet because they were so thick.”
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