Fishermen engage in epic battle with 920-pound tuna in Massachusetts' Gloucester Harbor

BOSTON It was the catch of a lifetime. Three fishermen engaged in an epic battle with a 920-pound tuna on their line, the largest one to come into Massachusetts' Gloucester Harbor this year, CBS Boston station WBZ-TV reports.

When they realized what they had hooked into, the adrenaline started flowing. It was a monster tuna, 9 feet long and more than 900 pounds, fighting for his life.

The outcome was far from certain for three, long, shoulder-wrenching hours.

"It was crazy," Michael St. Jean, one of the anglers, told WBZ-TV. "We were on the reel 10, 15 minutes. Your arm went. You could not even move your arm 10, 15 minutes into it, and you're looking for the guy behind you to take your place."

They each took turns fighting the fish that just wouldn't give up.

"When you watch the tuna shows and stuff, they're always two hours into it, and they lose the fish," said Allan Gourley. "So I think all of us are like, I do not want to be the guy on the rod when that fish comes off."

And at one point, it looked bad.

"The reel was heating up, and then it actually broke the reel at one point," Gregg Looney said.

But after a true battle, they had it.

"I just thought, this is amazing," said Gourley. "I can't believe that it actually happened to us because it's just like a once in a lifetime gift."

And now the friends are turning into celebrities of sorts.

"I'm getting phone calls from people I don't even know," St. Jean said.

And the rest, as they say, is fishing history.

"What it did was it ruined us because now we're going to go out, we're never catch a fish like that again," St. Jean said.

The boat the friends were on has been featured on the reality TV show "Wicked Tuna," but the only video that captured the battle is the one the fishermen shot themselves. No word on whether it will make it on the show.