Parker Fisher Fitter caught this 185-pound yellowfin tuna on Jan. 5 in Venice, La., fishing with his dad, Andy Fitter, and his dad’s childhood best friend Marc Ramsey. This was their fourth trip to Venice in hopes of catching a big yellowfin tuna.
“The story of how we failed time and time again going to Venice pushing all our chips to the middle and going bust. That was the build up to what happened that day in green water east of the mouth of the Mississippi River. One more run. He said ok let’s go see and if nada we’ll call a day. When he said look, green water, we looked up and saw what could only be our adversary waiting for a fight.
We’ve made it to this crossroads before and thought for sure we got him. That thought right there has stayed with us on many rides back from the tuna grounds empty handed.
Well today my friend we had something else with us. Something that as a fisherman it’s ingrained in you.
At that moment when we lock in and assume our battle stations with our weapons of choice we charge in. Parker takes the front as I’m on the port gunnel. Andy has the wheel screaming “Tuna off the bow,” but that one was just out of range for Parker but he doesn’t care he gives his best heave lets her fly and I’m right behind him. We both land little shot that again a loud screen tuna 20 yards rear starboard. So as that hit Parker’s ears he reeled like his manhood depended on it. Parker locked on the massive ball of muscle lead him by a yard and let it fly and when it did you knew he knew it was a bullseye. At that moment when he watched that fish crush that lure it’s like a bomb going off inside you of pure adrenaline. Right then a loud hale with fire behind it he’s on !!! We all looked at each other and thought to ourselves “this could be it.” We double, then triple checked everything. We adjusted our rods, our reels, the line, the leader. There was nothing else left but to pray and that’s what we did. We heard the sound of screaming line peeling out and we called out to the Lord and asked for favor. We serve you Lord and if you could put your hand on this boat, this line, this knot, we will be forever grateful that you gave us this moment to celebrate you. As we closed the prayer the tension was high on more than just the line we all knew we were far from victory.
I kept looking at Parker to see if he was making ground on his opponent and I couldn’t tell. By now, I’m on the wheel and Andy is standing tall on the bow, gaff in hand, ready to be the muscle for his boy when that fish breaks the surface. Some time had passed and our furious beast seemed to be losing steam. So our lead man with the battle stick seizes the moment to make a move. A few maneuvers with the bow to keep our position of advantage and all of a sudden with Parker working on him steady the line out towards the bow about 45 minutes into a fight to the death he shows himself and when we saw the size of that fish we were all flabbergasted.
Parker leads the monster to a position of dominance and at the exact moment he makes a circle towards the boat Andy puts the gaff in him, but this isn’t our usual 30-pound tuna. This one is gonna need multiple and right then I come in with the short gaff with a strike. Parker is in a roar and rightfully so. The fish that is going to break him into a new caliber of fisherman is so close. What he does next lets you know why he just leveled up. He jumps down off the bow and runs to his line locker and yells “tail rope him.” His knot was already tied like he had prepared for this moment his whole life. He lodged himself between his dad and I, bending over the gunnel as I lifted the tail and he secured it. I think at that moment we were all in shock that this moment was once just a hopeful dream that we knew deep down it would come true because we have that thing that real fishermen have that’s ingrained in us: Hope. So there it is folks, our own version of the old man and the sea. This memory with my best friend and his son is and will be forever cherished as one of the greatest sporting adventures of my life. ”
-Marc Ramsey