Hauling in the big one takes patience and nerves of steel.
That’s according to Capt. Niko Chaprales, one of the stars of the new reality series “Harpoon Hunters,” about those who venture out into the Atlantic looking for bluefin tuna.
“I think the toughest part of this industry… is just when you’re going up on these fish, it’s almost like, for me, time kind of slows down,” he told Fox News Digital. “It’s almost like a sniper waiting to take a shot. Your heart’s pounding through your chest, and you have to make that decision on when to throw.”
Chaprales said the “pressure” to harpoon a tuna is “always there because we work so hard to get to that moment in the day where all the pressure’s on you, and, you know, it’s not just you, it’s your entire crew and your pilot is depending on you to make that shot and make that decision of when to throw.”
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He said when you “take a shot and miss, you can feel the collective” disappointment.
“There’s plenty of days where you might only get one shot, so the pressure is definitely on you as the striker, and it’s a big responsibility,” added Chaprales.
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He said the main difference between his team and the “Wicked Tuna” fishermen, who use rods and reels, is that his crews are “actively hunting the fish.”
“The dichotomy of the two industries is quite drastic where, you know, on ‘Wicked Tuna,’ they use rods and reels and they go out to one spot and they kind of commit to a spot for the day and wait for the fish to come to them,” Chaprales told Fox News Digital. “Whereas in the harpoon fishery, you know, we’re out there and we’re actively hunting the fish. So we’re trying to find them. And then, you know, once we find them… we’re holding the electric harpoon, and we’re trying to get in that perfect spot to land a shot. So it’s a very different style of fishery.”
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Capt. Joe Dion said they’re also able to see lots of wildlife when they’re at work.
“It’s just an amazing way to get a glimpse of what we do in the summer,” Dion said. “We see all sorts of wildlife. We see whales, birds, porpoises, dolphins, sharks. So, like, you get to really see how we live our summers and partake in a commercial fishery that’s very sustainable.”
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Dion said that one of the hardest parts of the job is finding the tuna.
“They don’t have to stay up on the surface. Certain atmospheric conditions allow for them to be comfortable up on the surface, and it’s only a certain time of year,” he explained. “So, finding them is the first challenge. And then, obviously, once we find them, we sneak up behind them and Captain Niko and Matt and myself, we have to throw the harpoon and try to hit them. So, anticipating when to throw is really difficult too. If you throw too early, you don’t have a good chance because it’s far too far away. And if you wait too long, one kick in the tail and they dart away. So it’s tough.”
Dion added that stormy weather in their small, metal boats can also be very dangerous.
“A lot of times in the harpoon fishery, the fish are way offshore,” he said. “So, we’ll have to go 50, 60 miles, 70 miles some days. And on some days the sun sets, and we literally have a four-hour ride home. And you don’t get home until one, two in the morning. And we’ve had fronts of thunderstorms come through, and we’re in basically a small little boat that has all metal. And it’s got a metal tower and a metal popper off the front. So, you can imagine when these fronts are rolling through that have electricity in them, it’s pretty, pretty hairy.”
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Chaprales said their jobs can also get “hairy” when things don’t go as planned.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go according to plan, and that electric charge either, you know, plugs loose or the fish doesn’t zap for whatever reason,” he explained. “And when that happens, you know, the fish takes 600 feet of rope leading up to a polyball that we call a rig. And it’s very, very similar to, you know, how they fought the shark in the movie ‘Jaws.'”
Chaprales said once that happens, “the only way to get that fish is to pull it in by hand, and these fish get up to 1,000 pounds and they’re incredibly strong. So, when you’re pulling that rig in by hand, you know, you have the guy pulling it in, and then you have another guy behind him coiling everything up to try to keep everything nice and neat because if that fish decides to run and take off, and you get caught in the bite of that rope, you’re going right over the side. There’s absolutely no stopping that fish. So, to me, that is, you know, an incredibly dangerous aspect of what we do.”
He said the fish they catch range from 73 inches and 200 pounds to 116 inches and almost 900 pounds.
Because of sustainability efforts to increase the bluefin tuna population, Chaprales said they have a five fish per day bag limit now, but when he was young he remembers going out with his father, harpooning 11 tuna and making $91,000.
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“So, that was my personal best day,” he said.
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Chaprales said his father died two years ago fighting a giant bluefin tuna, and he feels he has “big shoes to fill.”
“For that to be the last thing that he ever did in his life after leaving such an impact on the fishery [industry] — not only having a reputation as one of the best fishermen, but all the things that he did, conservation based with, you know, aerial surveys and tagging bluefin tuna for conservation reasons — it’s definitely big shoes to fill. And I definitely feel that pressure. And, you know, I don’t want to give too much away. You’ll have to tune in to see. But I feel like, you know, stepping into that role as the captain of the Ezyduzit, you know, that legacy and that name. I, I feel like I did at least a halfway decent job of living up to the legend,” he said.
“Harpoon Hunters” premiered Friday on Discovery, and is also available on Discovery Plus.
