Fisherman lands a rare ‘super cow’ of world-record size

A fisherman on a long-range fishing trip out of San Diego hit the jackpot by landing a yellowfin tuna weighing a whopping 443 pounds, or 16 pounds more than the current world record for a yellowfin taken on rod and reel.

Earl Gill IV caught the “super cow” while on a 10-day trip aboard the Excel, which was fishing the Lower Banks off Baja earlier this month, as reported by Sport Fishing Magazine.

In fishing vernacular, a cow is referred to as a yellowfin tuna that weighs over 200 pounds. One that weighs over 300 pounds is called a super cow.

Super cows over 400 pounds are a rarity, as yellowfin tuna that large are known to slow down and die of starvation because they can’t keep up with the school to feed. At least that is one explanation handed down from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, according to one commenter on the Excel Facebook page.

“It was my first cow!” Gill told Sport Fishing Magazine. “I was hoping for a warmup cow, but I ended up getting the big one. The Makaira gearing worked perfectly. I think a lot of things lined up to help me land this fish.”

The Excel revealed Gill used a Makaira 20 reel with 100-pound Phenix Braid and a short top-shot of 100-pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon with a Melton Tackle Kuro Monster rod.

Using a 4/0 hook with a chunk bait, Gill dropped it down to 150 feet where the yellowfin grabbed the bait and took off, and sent him racing toward the bow while other anglers fought smaller fish.

Gill told Sport Fishing Magazine he knew he had something special on the line. Fortunately, the yellowfin stopped short of spooling Gill, and after an hour they were at a stalemate.

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Capt. Justin Fleck finally pulled up the anchor and positioned the boat over the fish in an effort to get it off the bottom. Slowly Gill gained on the fish. As it got closer to the surface, Gill couldn’t feel the usual tail beating of a tuna swimming in death spirals. The crew thought maybe he had hooked a different species.

The mystery unfolded once the fish was at the surface. The yellowfin had died, and Gill was pulling up dead weight.

Once back in port on Nov. 17, the yellowfin tuna was weighed on a certified scale, and the fish was submitted to the International Game Fish Association for record consideration, according to Sport Fishing Magazine.

If approved, Gill’s yellowfin would supplant the current world record of 427 pounds caught by Guy Yocom off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Photos courtesy of the Excel and Earl Gill IV.