13-Year-Old Girl Catches a Nearly 600 lb Tuna on Cape Cod

This is making national news, as it should. There hasn't been a Cape Cod Commercial Tuna Tournament in over 30 years, so having 13-year-old Lola Crisp win the first one in three decades is most definitely a wow moment. What a rockstar!

According to NPR Cape Cod, Lola is the youngest person ever to win the Cape Cod Bay Tuna Tournament.  Her catch?  591 pounds!  I've attached WBZ-TV's interview with Lola at the end of this article.

Cape Cod's NPR says there were 75 anglers competing from Brant Rock Beach in Marshfield, Massachusetts, to Race Point Beach in Provincetown.  And get this, Lola is one of only four that even caught a tuna.  The other catches weighed 564, 545, and 468 pounds, respectively.  Apparently, holding this tournament in September is the prime time, because it's high season for the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna.

Lola's catch, as well as the other three, are now in Japan for sushi according to Carla Sullivan, who manages the Millway Marina. She says she revived this tournament because it's crucial.

There's nothing worse than seeing recreational fishermen go out and catch baby bluefin that they think are big but are actually juveniles. So we have a commercial tournament so it's done properly and regulated.

The last Cape Cod Commercial Tuna Tournament was in 1988, and plans are in store for it to be an annual September tournament again.

The competitors each bought into the tournament for $800, with Lola taking home $8,500.