Ralph Mikkelsen of Northridge, Calif., is one tough angler, who on Thursday posed in San Diego alongside a 306-pound yellowfin tuna he landed during a 15-day excursion into Mexican waters.
The catch, made aboard the American Angler, gives Mikkelsen, who will be 81 next month, six yellowfin weighing 300 pounds or more—a feat that is unrivaled.
"I’ve been waiting for the next 300-pounder to come for 24 years," he said of his latest catch, made after a 30-minute battle that included several runs up and down the rail.
Mikkelsen caught his first "super cow" in 1980, a 321-pound yellowfin. His last, before the recent catch was, a 308-pounder boated in 1988.
As veteran long-range anglers are aware, these are specialized trips and not for the queasy or faint of hard. Giant yellowfin tuna are incredibly powerful and landing them requires strength and stamina.
Of course it helps to have high-tech fishing gear and multiple-speed reels, which were not available back in Mikkelsen's heyday.
"He made several runs up high, so I had to keep changing gears," Mikkelsen said.
The top catch aboard the American angler was a 320-pound tuna by Dennis Saylors. It was Saylors' first super cow in 20 years of fishing on longe-range boats.
The American Angler was skippered by Brian Kiyohara, whose passengers landed 27 yellowfin weighing 200 pounds and three topping 300 pounds.
That's a lot of sashimi.
-- Pete Thomas
Photo: Ralph Mikkelsen (above right), poses with 306-pound tuna caught aboard the American Angler. Skipper Brian Kiyohara (in orange) is to the left of the fish. Credit: Bill Roecker / Fishingvideos.com











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