Maynard Prock has a fish story, a real big fish story, and, unlike lots of the usual fish stories, this one is true – or most of it is true.
Most folks say Maynard Prock is a straight up guy, but he tells of catching an eight-foot long, 680-pound tuna on a rod and reel and relates his tale using language you might hear in the church vestibule.
He has the picture to prove it.
Maynard Prock, 68, the retired president of Prock Marine, a major marine construction firm from Rockland, and his son, Todd, 44, were out fishing in the ocean about 30 miles out of Boothbay Harbor near an underwater landmark called “the kettle.”
They were in “Maynies Money,” Prock’s 35-foot custom tuna boat that Bruce Farrin and his son Brian, built for him a few years ago.
“I call her ‘Maynies Money.’ My nickname is Maynie and all my money is tied up in this boat,” Prock said with a laugh.
On Sunday, July 5, Prock and his son were trolling in his boat rigged for tuna. It has a fighting chair, big game rods and reels and 80-pound test line. At the end of the line was a squid lure.
“We have caught some little ones. Last year we got one, and three the year before. They were four or five feet long. Not too big,” he said.
“Suddenly, the line was ripped out of the outrigger and the reel started screaming and the fight was on,” Prock said.
“We got to do something. We got a big fish on,” Prock said his son yelled.
“What do you want me to do?” he answered.
“Well, you could stop the boat,” was the reply.
The Procks stopped the boat and tightened the drag but it still ran off line. Switching off between running the boat and fighting the fish, they worked for nearly four hours.
“At one point, I saw a fish next to the boat and I asked if that was the fish we were fighting,” Prock said.
The two men tried to keep the fish behind the boat. It was a struggle. The giant tuna is the fastest fish in the sea. He didn’t tire very quickly, and tried to swim under the boat.
Finally, the fish tired. The fishermen were tired too.
The two men got a rope around his tail and wrestled him into the boat. It took a half hour and they never got the head inside the transom door.
They took it to South Bristol where they weighed it at Gammage Shipyard. It measured 8 ft, 6 inches. The girth was 65 inches and it weighed 680 pounds.
A big ole’ fish, as some might say.
Prock does not hold a commercial license so he was unable to sell the fish. Instead, he called members of his construction crew and neighbors.
“One of the crew had a meat saw and he cut it into steaks and we gave it away,” he said.
The tuna fed more than 40 of the Prock crew, plus most of his Waldoboro neighbors have a charge of tuna in their fridge.
Then the retired construction boss went home, soaked some of it in a marinade, added a bit of olive oil and slapped it on the grill.
“Tasted pretty darn good,” he said. “It ought to. Fresh tuna right off the boat, it ought to taste good.”
