An enormous 1,058-pound bluefin tuna caught recently out of Walker's Cay is a possible record for Bahamian waters.

It was taken by Orlando automobile dealer Frank Rodriquez aboard his boat the Fa La Me with Capt. Robbie Moore of Stuart.

"As far as we know, it's the biggest ever taken in the Bahamas. It's a pending Bahamian record," said Dave Thorpe, a friend of Rodriquez and a yacht broker at Palm Beach Gardens. Thorpe's firm, HMY Yacht Sales, sold Rodriquez his 65-foot Viking sportfishing boat last March.

According to reports from Rodriquez and Moore, the tuna was the smallest of three giant bluefins that hit the Fa La Me's baits on May 9, the last day of the Walker's Cay Championship tournament, one of five events in the Bahamas Billfish Championship (BBC).

"One of the tunas broke the line and the second one was caught and released alive," Thorpe said.

But the tuna died during the fight. "That's the only reason they kept the fish," Thorpe said.

Rodriquez, owner of Greenway Ford in Orlando, and his team were trolling for blue marlin, the primary points species in the Walker's Cay tournament.

"I'm sure bluefin tuna was the farthest thing from their minds," Thorpe said.

Last week, Rodriquez and the Fa La Me team were competing in the Spanish Cay Championship leg of the BBC, and they could not be reached.

Needless to say, the fish attracted a huge crowd at the Walker's Cay docks where it dwarfed 6-foot men. Then it was cut up and much of the meat was given to residents of Walker's Cay.

The bluefin tuna is considered the toughest of all fish to fight and land, yet Rodriquez was able to get the fish to the boat in 1 1/2 hours, only because it expired.

"Then it took them another 1 1/2 hours to get it through the transom door because of its enormous girth,"Thorpe said.

Before the catch can be deemed a record, fishing officials must make a check of tackle and methods used by the Fa La Me team.

The International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record for the bluefin tuna is a 1,496-pounder caught off Nova Scotia, Canada in 1979. Two giants also were taken offshore Prince Edward Island, Canada, a 1,170-pounder in 1978, and a 1,116-pounder in 1985.

Asked if Rodriquez was a seasoned big-game angler, Thorpe replied with a laugh, "He is now."