![]() ![]() “We were stoked to finally land one that we could bring in and hang up,” Tolbert told WEAR. It was especially rewarding considering what happened on the crew’s last trip. “I’ve never had so much respect for a fish and to catch him in the Gulf of Mexico is a feat of its own!! This bluefin was as bad as they come, God is great!” “What happened to us, the ups and downs of this battle make for a great story with great people! 5 hours before this fish was all said and done. “Words cannot express how grateful I am!” Sarver wrote on Facebook. But since multiple anglers combined to catch the 832.2-pounder aboard Noname, Sarver could only call it an “uncertified state record.”Īlso on FTW Outdoors: Boy’s latest fish of a lifetime is an “absolute giant’ It was also caught in the Gulf of Mexico. The current state record for a bluefin tuna is 826.5 pounds caught by Rick Whitley on May 8, 2017. “I’m very fortunate to have them on the boat for this and to have this caliber of fisherman on my team.” “Fishing has always been a way of life for my family and something that we love to do together,” Captain Matney told WEAR-TV. Also on the trip were Jennifer Matney, Jeremiah Matney and Jacob Matney. ![]() The information board at Harbor Walk Marina listed the angler as “Whole Team,” which included deck mates Sarver and Jeff Tolbert, and Captain Jake Matney. The fishermen departed from Destin Harbor on Friday and came back Sunday with the giant bluefin, having covered 160 miles, according to WEAR-TV. Though it was a record-size fish, it was not an official record. He might give me an earful for publicizing it.The catch of an 832.2-pound bluefin tuna off Florida in the Gulf of Mexico was a dream come true for Devin Sarver and the crew aboard the boat Noname over the weekend. I hope I don’t run into Charlie in the afterlife. Now, I make it a point to go to the annual Long Island Sound Bluefish Tournament in August and go on the radio where they broadcast the tournament from Captain’s Cove in Bridgeport and tell the Charlie Toth record bluefish and philanthropy stories. TOTH QUEST.Ĭharlie was a very modest, keep to himself, under the radar type of fellow, but I felt that his gift should be acknowledged so I wrote a press release describing it along with the story of his record Bluefish catch which resulted in it being published in local newspapers. ![]() The Seaport Association used their funds to restore the Sheffield Island Lighthouse and buy a tour boat to shuttle tourists back and forth to the lighthouse from their Norwalk River dock near the Maritime Aquarium. ![]() (Bunker are, ironically, the favorite bait fish for bluefish.) In another area of the Norwalk Aquarium was an exhibit devoted to Long Island Sound fishing which they called “Go Fish.” The Aquarium would create a glass “Schooling Bunker” aquarium exhibit where people could sit in comfortable padded seats in the dark and zone out watching the bunker fish slowly, mystically swimming in a tight circle. The very attentive Mickey Koleszar made sure that he and I were both on board with how each of these beneficiaries intended to spend their bequests. Toth – A lifetime friend of The Norwalk Islands.” Toth – A lifetime friend of Long Island Sound” and one in the Sheffield Island Lighthouse reading “In Memory of Charles J. He and Mickey ended up writing the will.Ĭharlie died a couple of years later in 2007, and $950,000 was left to the Maritime Aquarium and $950,000 to the Norwalk Seaport Association - with a plaque in the Maritime Aquarium reading “In Memory of Charles J. One day, he showed me a postcard mailer he had received from a Norwalk lawyer and asked me to go meet this lawyer with him, and if we found him to be “on the up and up” Charlie would ask him to write his will so that when he died he could leave everything to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium and the Norwalk Seaport Association.Ĭharlie and I found the lawyer to our liking, a straightforward straight-talking fellow named Mickey Koleszar with a modest 2nd floor office in downtown Norwalk. It’s still on the books as the largest bluefish ever caught in Connecticut waters – and may be the state’s oldest unbeaten salt-water fishing record.Ĭharlie lived in a very modest house and never squandered a dime of what he had earned from his gas station. That’s where, in 1979, Charlie hauled in an enormous bluefish, weighing 24 lbs., 13 ounces. What he loved to do most was go out and fish before sunrise on Long Island Sound off of the Norwalk Islands. Before we moved to Easton 22 years ago we lived in Norwalk where I made friends with Charlie Toth, an elderly neighbor who had grown up in Norwalk where his father had managed what he called “the poor farm” for indigent people.Ī lifelong Norwalk resident, Charlie owned and operated Toth’s Service Station for 22 years until his retirement. ![]()
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