Aoife battled with the fish for over an hour before she was able to bring it alongside the boat to have it measured
A Co Donegal woman returned home to Ireland from Australia for a visit and landed one of the biggest fish ever caught off the west coast.
Aoife McGettigan grew up in the port of Killybegs and often went fishing with her family. But not in her wildest dreams did she ever imagine she would one day land a bluefin tuna weighing a huge 760Ibs.
Aoife was out fishing with Killybegs Fishing Trips on board the Fiona Tee in recent days when she landed the monster catch.
It is the biggest fish that has ever been caught by anyone on the boat.
Aoife battled with the fish for over an hour before she was able to bring it alongside the boat to have it measured.
Skipper of the Fiona Tee, Declan McGettigan, who just happens to be Aoife’s brother, said he was delighted that his sister landed such a huge fish.
He said: “She was really in her element and didn’t panic at all. It was a huge fish and I was delighted for her.
“Nobody would believe her back in Australia but at least she has the proof to show how big the fish was.”
Under Inland Fisheries Ireland’s Tuna CHART research programme, the fish cannot be killed but can be tagged and and then released.
Authorised charter skippers catch, measure and tag the fish while it’s in the water, with the data collected providing information on the tuna’s movement and size.
Aoife is planning to head back soon to Australia but will have a brilliant fishing story to tell her husband Phil Barrow.
It’s Phil’s dream to try bluefin tuna fishing back off the coast of Ireland. But the chances are he will never land a whopper as big as Aoife’s catch.
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