Tuna Capsizes Boat, Still Gets Caught By Fisherman

There have been some epic battles between fish and fisherman throughout history. Captain Ahab fought tooth and nail to bring down the elusive white whale in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, old man Santiago battled a marlin to the death in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man And The Sea, and 54-year-old Anthony Wichman bagged a 230-pound tuna after it capsized his boat in Hawaii.

Wichman was fishing off the coast of Kauai over the weekend when a 230-pound Ahi Tuna capsized his boat and dragged him into the sea.

CNN reports that Wichman was on his 14-foot boat when he hooked the massive fish. He nearly got the fish on board but after sticking the tuna with a gaffe the fish dove back into the sea and dragged Wichman with it.

The fisherman’s daughter said that the line wrapped around her father’s leg and dragged him into the sea. The tuna also managed to capsize the boat as it pulled Wichman out into the water.

Anuhea Wichman said: “He gaffed it once in the back, and the second gaffe went straight into the fish’s eye and that caused the fish to take a final dive. And he dove straight down, and the line wrapped around my dad’s ankle and pulled him overboard.”

Thankfully, Wichman was able to make a brief phone call to his daughter. The Coast Guard was then able to use his GPS signal to track him down and pull him into the water.

Wichman suffered a few bruises and a little rope burn from the incident but managed to escape largely unscathed. Oh, he also wound up catching the fish. A few of his friends went out to tow his boat back home when they found the tuna still hooked to the boat.