A great way to experience the fishability of a Grady-White boat is to crew with a Grady fishing team. Spellmans Marine, with Hampton Bays and Freeport, NY, locations, has an Express 330 as their team boat, and Captain Ernie Spellman reports that "We've caught just about every type of fish there is to catch in the Northeast on this one." On the evening of October 1, 2004, he and his crew—Mike Kochen of Holbrook, NY, brother-in-law Peter Governale of Manhassett, and Jimmy O'Brien of Hampton Bays—headed 73 miles out to the Fish Tails and hooked up a 306-lb. big eye tuna.

"The last piece of the sun was disappearing beneath the horizon when our right short rigger went off," recounts Kochen. "We were pulling a Stalker Outfitters purple jet head tied to a Penn 30 VSW with 50-lb. test—our lightest outfit. I took the rod and the fight was on. The fish made several attempts to free itself but thanks to Ernie's expert boat handling we had the fish ready for the gaff in one-and-a-half hours. Pete wired the tuna, and Jimmy secured it with a perfect gaff shot."

A 306-lb. big eye is a huge fish, and this one was so big that Spellman radioed for assistance. Neighborly Mike Papajohn was on the water that night and provided a fish bag big enough to keep the tuna iced down. Back at the dock for the weigh-in the next day the fish was proclaimed to be the largest big eye caught out of Shinnecock in 15 years. "I can't say whether that's for sure," says Kochen. "What I can tell you is that it is the largest caught in the 47-year history of the Shinnecock Marlin and Tuna Club. The old record was set in 1987 by Joe Colondra and weighed 278 lb."

In addition to the big eye, that night the team brought up four yellowfin tuna up to 77 lb., 20 mahis and they released a swordfish. Seven days later the team boat was out and caught a 135-lb. yellowfin and several swordfish. "This boat really raises fish," exclaims Spellman. "Pete (Governale) was so convinced that now he's bought this 330. He had to have this very one."