It was 3 a.m., and Tim LaRochelle was steaming out to Pollack Knubble, an underwater ledge seven miles southeast of Portland.

“It’s like a mountain in the middle of the ocean,” said LaRochelle.

LaRochelle was fishing by himself Thursday. His goal was to win the first-place prize of $6,250 in the eighth annual Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament. He would settle for fifth place – $500 – or to just catch an Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Bluefin tuna are tough to reel in. They can grow to more than 900 pounds and pull on a fishing line for hours.

Their meat is sold at auction, sometimes for sushi in Japan.

LaRochelle runs LaRochelle’s Seafood in Auburn with his brother, Neal. LaRochelle saw the business advertised in the swap-and-sell guide Uncle Henry’s and traded his commercial fishing boat for the shop.

If a tuna was caught on Thursday, it would not have been sold in Auburn, but at auction for $3 to $4 per pound – $5 if a tuna was high quality.

LaRochelle remembered when tuna went for $20 per pound.

That was in 1995, the same year that LaRochelle caught 32 fish. Tuna are graded by shape and fat content – the fatter the fish the more its worth.

Tuna caught in the Gulf of Maine have declined in quality since the 90s. Biologists have not been able to pinpoint the reason but believe it is related to what the fish are feeding on.

At 11:40 a.m. LaRochelle “marked” a fish at 20 fathoms (120 feet) on his depth finder.

“The fish are coming in after the chum,” he said.

More herring were cut into pieces and thrown overboard. The bits of fish were used to attract bigger fish to the area.

A tuna smashed LaRochelle’s hake offering at noon, and chaos followed.

LaRochelle’s crew was a no-show. So he was forced to detach the boat from the anchor, reel in the other two fishing lines, fight the fish and drive the boat all himself.

Thirty minutes later, the tuna broke the surface 90 feet from the boat and threw the hook. LaRochelle fell silent, returned to the wheelhouse and motored back to the anchor to drop lines once again.

“We will get the next one,” he said.

Larochelle estimated the fish was between 300 or 400 pounds. “It wasn’t a huge fish, but would have been a keeper,” he added.

Within eyesight, another battle was in progress. LaRochelle’s father-in-law, Albert Gray, and brother-in-law, Darrell Gray, had a fish on. Albert has not caught a tuna in five years, and Darrell had never hooked one. The 400-pound fish took the Grays’ bait and pulled line for two hours and 15 minutes. The bluefin was pulled aboard the “Lone Wolf,” and a celebration followed.

At 2 p.m., a frustrated LaRochelle hollered out: “Just a dumb one is all I want.”

A few moments later, the depth finder revealed fish at 30 fathoms (180 feet).

“We will have a bite here in a minute, you wait and see,” said LaRochelle.

Seconds later, the excitement returned as a tuna ran with the bait. This time, the fight continued for 45 minutes before the fish threw the hook once again. LaRochelle became quiet and headed back to the spot he has been fishing all day.

“I used to get mad, but not anymore,” said LaRochelle.

He has lost more tuna over the years than he has landed.

“I would rather lose two fish than to be those guys over there,” said LaRochelle, as he pointed to a boat that had seen no action all day.

He called it quits at 4:30 p.m.

“I’m all done. I don’t have the energy to fight another fish,” LaRochelle added.

The “Michelle Anne” pulled up alongside the 42-foot “Janie B,” the boat LaRochelle borrowed from a friend to use during the three-day tournament.

“This is not a catch-and-release tournament,” the captain hollered, as he teased LaRochelle about the two fish that got away.

LaRochelle pulled up anchor and steamed toward Sebasco Wharf, 15 miles away.

“Some days you can do nothing wrong. And some days you can do nothing right,” he said. “That’s why they call it tuna fishing and not tuna catching.”