Despite being quite a sedate sport, there’s an element of thrill involved in fishing; the anticipation of the catch, the challenge of maybe being the one to nab the biggest fish ever caught! Often, it’s the thought that the next one is going to be The One that keeps you going.
People take up fishing for all kinds of reasons; traditionally it was one of the few ways humans could feed themselves and therefore survive, but nowadays, fishing is known to be a great stress reliever. It’s even being used to tackle mental health problems; studies show that being exposed to natural environments can lower anxiety. And while it’s thought of as one of the more relaxing hobbies/sports, it’s human nature to be a bit competitive – we’ve all seen the photos of anglers stood holding a massive fish, so we thought we’d have a look at some of the biggest fish ever caught.
1. MARLIN
Photo: Coastal Angler & The Angler Magazine
- Date: 10th June 1970
- Weight: 1,805lbs
- Location: Oahu, Hawaii
In 1970, a group of anglers caught ‘Choy’s Monster’ near Hawaii. Weighing in at 1,805 pounds it is officially the biggest marlin ever caught on a rod and reel.
However, the record had originally been set in 1952, by Alfred Glassel in Peru, only for someone to top it just a few days after. A year later he took the record back, catching a 1,560-pound marlin that was fourteen and a half feet long who apparently leaped out of the water 49 times during the process, which lasted an hour and 45 minutes. This fish is on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
2. SWORDFISH
Photo: Marlin Mag
- Date: 7th May 1953
- Weight: 1,182lbs
- Location: Iquique, Chile
60 years ago, in 1953, Louis Marron caught a record breaking 1,182-pound broadbill swordfish off the coast of Chile. It took 2 hours to bring it in and as yet, nobody has managed to beat this record.
This is even more amazing when you think that there wasn’t the technology around then that anglers have access to now; such as sonar fish finders, GPS and high-tech reels.
3. SHARK
Photo: Wide Open Spaces
- Date: 21st April 1959
- Weight: 2,604lbs
- Location: Ceduna, South Australia
The film ‘Jaws’ made a film star of the great white shark and it’s the world’s largest known predatory fish, often referred to as ‘the ultimate shark’. The biggest shark ever caught was by Alfred Dean in 1959 in Australia, he managed to catch a 2,604-pound beast using a porpoise as the unusual bait of choice.
Great whites are now protected after years of being hunted for their fins and teeth resulted in their numbers decreasing; over-fishing has resulted in a third of all sharks, rays and chimaeras being at risk of extinction.
4. TUNA
Photo: Marlin Mag
- Date: 26th October 1979
- Weight: 1,496lbs
- Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Bluefin tuna are known for their size, but the 1979 record has yet to be broken. Ken Fraser took just 45 minutes to reel in the monster fish that weighed 1,496-pounds, which is a feat in itself considering the bluefin tuna is one of the fastest fish in the ocean, capable of reaching 44mph.
As with most fish, tuna fishing is much more highly regulated now.
5. GROUPER
Photo: Sport Fishing Mag
- Date: 20th May 1961
- Weight: 680lbs
- Location: Fernandina Beach, Florida
The aptly named Goliath Grouper is one of the largest species of bony fish so it’s no surprise that this fish is behind the world record for the largest grouper ever caught. In 1961, angler Lynn Joyner caught a 680-pound Goliath using a Spanish Mackerel as bait, after fighting with it for over an hour.
Another record was broken when a 583-pound Goliath was landed in 2020 by Reegan Werner, making it the biggest Goliath Grouper caught by a woman. This record is made even more impressive by the fact that Reegan was only 16 years old at the time, and it took her just 15 minutes to reel it in. She took a quick snap before releasing it back into the ocean.
CLOSER TO HOME
For a relatively small country, the UK can certainly hold its own when it comes to breaking records and there are some amazing fishing destinations around. The most commonly caught fish breeds in UK waters are cod, haddock, bass and plaice; in 2021, a cod weighing 49 pounds and 4 feet long, was caught off the Shetland coast by angler, Tony Unwin.
It took him half an hour to land it and left him with a stiff arm and pins and needles! The world record for the biggest haddock ever caught was a 14-pound 15 oz fish caught by Heike Neblinger in Norway in 1997.
WHAT’S THE LARGEST FISH CAUGHT IN A UK RIVER?
The biggest fish ever caught on a rod and reel in a UK river was a 414-pound sturgeon caught in the River Severn in 1903 but other big catches include a 145-pound catfish in 2021, a 46-pound pike in 1992, and a massive 10 stone carp caught in Essex in 2012.
We’ve also snagged a few sharks here in the UK too; in 1993 a 507-pound Porbeagle shark was caught off the coast of Scotland. Other large sharks have been caught too, for example, an 11-foot long Mako shark estimated to be between 800 – 1,200 pounds was caught off the coast of Wales in 2020, but it was immediately released.
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST FISH RECORDED IN HISTORY?
The recording of big catches has changed over the years, as traditionally any catch needed to be weighed and measured on certified scales, so the only way to break a record was to kill the fish. However, in 2011 the IGFA (International Game Fish Association) established rules that regulated how fish can be caught, measured and released alive in the interests of marine conservation, and many anglers would rather release their big fish than kill it. For example, in 2023 a Colorado man, Scott Enloe, caught what would have been the biggest lake trout ever caught; it weighed 73.9 pounds and was 47 inches long with a 37-inch girth; but he chose to photograph and release it, instead of killing it.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the biggest freshwater fish ever caught was a giant catfish in Thailand, weighing in at a whopping 646 pounds in 2005.
Many of these records won’t be broken, considering our increased awareness of sustainability, marine conservation and the knock-on effect of overfishing, but hopefully this means we’ll continue to have some of these great fish swimming in our seas for a long time.
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