Youth anglers reeled in two, record-setting catches during the 22nd annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament on Aug. 15 to 22.
Thirteen-year-old Délynn Jacquard, fishing aboard the Pelagic Predator with her father Camille at the helm, landed a 711-pound bluefin tuna after a one-hour fight, which is expected to be a new International Game Fish Association (IGFA) Junior Female Record for Atlantic bluefin tuna, beating the previous record of 618 pounds set by Jenna Gavin in 2014.
“They had to document everything aboard and make sure they followed all the rules. Camille and another fisherman aboard the boat are both members of the IGFA, so they’re pretty sure they followed all the rules correctly and we’re quite confident that record is going to hold, but until it’s certified by the IGFA it is still pending,” said Brendon Doucette, tournament spokesperson.
One of the rules is that only the angler can touch the fishing rod and line until the leader line is alongside the boat.
A new tournament record was also set this year when the Lucas & Noah, captained by Brent Pothier, landed an 801-pound bluefin tuna, beating the 796-pound record set in 2014 by the Atlantic Angler captained by Joel Jacquard, who just happens to be Délynn’s uncle.
Three boys between the ages of 10 and 12 took turns reeling in the record-setting catch, including the boat’s namesakes and the captain’s sons: Lucas Pothier, age 12 and Noah Pothier, age 11. The third, Remi LeBlanc, age 10, was aboard for the fishing trip with his father Floyd LeBlanc.
“They each took turns. It took them about an hour and a half to fight it,” said Doucette.
Both record setting catches were landed at the Wedgeport Breakwater Wharf during the Aug. 20 weigh-in.
“The excitement on the wharf was incredible. We knew there was a good chance that Délynn might set a new world record and were completely surprised by Brent’s fish that weighed 801 pounds,” said Doucette.
“We started off the night with a new tournament record and ended the night, the last boat we weighed was the Pelagic Predator, we ended with a pending new world record.”
Twenty boats competed in this year’s tournament, landing 18 bluefin tunas weighing a total of 9,561 pounds, nine bigeye tunas weighing a combined 1,117 pounds and 25 yellowfin tunas, the most caught since the start of the modern-day tournament in 2004, that totalled 1,132 pounds. No albacore tunas were landed.
Since 2024, when the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament celebrated its 20th anniversary, the tournament has been able to maintain 20 boats, said Doucette. “It was only supposed to be for one year but we were lucky enough to secure enough quota to continue with 20.”
The 32 members of the Southwest Nova Tuna Association each donate 100 pounds of bluefin tuna to the tournament, while three local fishermen donate quota above and beyond that, explained Doucette.
The Sea Devil, captained by Colin Babin, recorded the heaviest overall weight for the tournament which totalled 1,695 pounds.
Brothers Camille and Joel Jacquard were co-recipients of the Ernie Pothier memorial award this year, given to someone who has made significant contributions to the tuna fishing community, contributed to tuna science, educated people about tuna and have been active in the tuna tournament.
“They have been tuna fishing their whole lives and we decided to honour them this year. The decision was made before they went fishing, before Délynn got the record and Brent beat the old record set by Joel, so it ended up being very relevant this year,” said Doucette, adding the late Ernie Pothier, who passed away in 2023, was an avid tuna fisherman, tuna guide and a big figure in the tuna fishing industry.
