Teen fisherman reels in record-breaking 30-year-old tuna in Victorian waters
A 17-year-old fisherman caught a 30-year-old tuna weighing in at 135 kilograms off Gunnamatta on the Mornington Peninsula last week.
Ryan Gazzola was fishing with two friends when he reeled in the impressive catch — a four-hour feat — and noticed it had an orange tag which said ‘reward’ attached to it.
That tag was put on the fish in Hobart 29 years ago.
The young fisherman contacted Fishing Tasmania and the CSIRO, and was informed the tagged fish was the “longest fish at liberty in Australian history”.
“They wanted me to cut a bit of meat off, they wanted the head and they wanted the tag back because they wanted to do some research on this fish,” he told Ross and Russel.
Had Mr Gazzola heard that news just a few minutes later, he wouldn’t have been able to hand over the head.
Press PLAY below to find out what happened to the head (+ Ryan Gazzola’s amusing account of the events)
Press PLAY below to hear Wednesday’s Rumour File call reporting the catch