As we move further away from Winter and the water temperatures of the Northern Hemisphere have begun to warm up we’ve been seeing less and less trophy marlin being caught. The peak fishing months for Black Marlin in Australia are September through December, so it was pretty major news last week when 25-year-old Australian bro Byron Milne reeled in a Black Marlin weighing over 800-pounds (363-kilograms).
The would-be-record Black Marlin was caught in Western Australia off the coast of Exmouth, and the angler from Perth would be sitting on a local record right now had he hit the goddamn gym (NEVER SKIP LEG DAY). Instead he lost out on the record because after 2.5 hours of fighting the 800+ pound Black Marlin Byron Milne’s muscles began to give out, and he had his buddies help hold him up while he fought the gigantic Black Marlin for another thirty minutes before eventually landing the fish.
IGFA rules stipulate that an angler cannot receive help of this sort and consequently Mr. Milne was disqualified from any sort of record (NEVER SKIP LEG DAY, BROS). The standing Western Australia record for Black Marlin is 296kg (652.5-pounds), so this fish would’ve destroyed that record.
WAToday.com reports:
A Perth angler says his body is “buggered” after pulling in a massive 363-kilogram black marlin off the coast of Exmouth on Wednesday.
The catch would have smashed the previous WA record for the biggest black marlin ever caught [296kg] but after two hours of fighting with the fish, Mr Milne needed help from his friends to keep him upright, which is against official game fishing rules.
The 25-year-old, who at 72 kilograms weighs just one fifth of the marlin, said wrestling with the fish was the most painful experience of his life.
“I’ve never felt pain like that – cramps in my fingers, cramps in my hamstrings, my back was buggered,” Mr Milne said.
“The drag was locked full to the tightest setting it could go to on the heaviest gear you could possibly fish and I was standing fighting it with a harness and about two hours in my back gave way.
“I couldn’t stand, I was going to go in, and I knew that as soon as someone helped me the record was smashed but I couldn’t hack the pain.”
Mr Milne said he used a 60-kilogram line and a Pulsator lure to catch the fish on a Shimano rod.
The initial plan was to release this enormous fish, because they realized that they wouldn’t be eligible for the Western Australia record (or any other Black Marlin fishing records). However, upon bringing the fish broadside to the boat it became apparent that the fish had died boat side after the 3-hour-long fight, and it was at that point the crew brought the fish on board and back to the docks for weighing.
The current IGFA ‘All Tackle World Record’ for Black Marlin actually sits at 1,560-pounds, and it was an Atlantic Black Marlin caught off Cabo Blanco, Peru back in August of 1953 Alfred Glassell, Jr.
[h/t WAToday]