Talk about a hookup! Fish can range from just a few inches to a literal ton, no this does not include dinosaurs but some of these fish are definitely prehistoric. Have you ever wondered what the largest fish ever caught looked like? Well look no further! We have collected the biggest sea monsters ever caught on a rod and reel. You may underestimate what this might look like but these fish are literal beasts!
1,560 lb. Black Marlin
On August 4, 1953, Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. caught a 1,560 lb. black marlin off the coast of Cabo Blanco, Peru, on a handheld rod! You can view this photo at the Smithsonian Museum! This 14-foot-7-inch, 1,560 lb female Black Marlin (Istiompax indica) held the world’s largest marlin record for more than 60 years. What is more shocking is that in 1952, Glassell at that point caught a 1,090-pound ‘grander’ marlin only one year prior to this! Footage of this fight was later included in the film version of The Old Man and the Sea. Fun fact: You can view this photo at the Smithsonian Museum!
1,496 lb. Bluefin Tuna
This is not fake news! Ken Fraser truly caught this tuna of a lifetime. He hooked and landed it in under an hour, it took him 45 minutes to reel in this fish. Caught off of the Nova Scotia coast using a mackerel as bait, it still holds the record for largest bluefin ever caught. Ken caught this monster in October of 1979, and it is still one of the largest fish to ever be seen.
1,182 lb. Swordfish
Caught off the coast of Chile, this World Record Broadbill Swordfish weighed in at 1,182 pounds. Landed by Louis Marron, this fishing world record may truly never be broken. On May 7, 1953, Marron fought this fish for two-hours before landing and boy is he glad he didn’t give up!
680 lb. Goliath Grouper
Known as a goliath grouper, or giant sea bass or jewfish, Lynn Joyner, of Fernandina Beach, FL is the king of grouper. The fish weighed 680 lbs. and was 7 ft., 1.5 in. in length. Its girth was 77 inches. I guess in 1961 they didn’t have a hoist to get the fish out of the water so they lassoed the fish and hoisted it from the water using a wrecker. The Container Corporation of America (or Rayonier) scale was used to weight the fish. This catch broke records on both all tackle and 80 lb. test. After an hour and 15 minutes of battle, Joyner’s catch went into the history books.
