Modern Day Monsters - the Largest Fish Ever Caught
Modern Day Monsters - stories of encounters with today's largest fish
By Captain Mark S.Decker - `Corky`
See Corky's Fishing Boat
We all dream of breaking records, with Bill Fish it seems everyone's goal is a "Grander" (over 1000 pounds). Well lets take this one step further.
The "one off's" - Granders and Tonners.
In the 'Old Man and The Sea,' Hemingway's 1954 classic, his fish in the story was a massive Blue Marlin. Santiago's fish was described simply as "there has never been such a fish." I can only imagine Hemingway thinking beyond grand, maybe a Tonner when he wrote this masterpiece.
How realistic is it, and which species of game fish have a chance of reaching such enormous sizes? I think we have at least five different species that have that shot of breaking the 2,000 pound barrier; Tiger, Great White Shark, Atlantic Blue Fin Tuna , and Pacific Blue and Black Marlin. In over forty years of fishing around the world I can honestly say that I have come across these special fish, some are vivid memories of youth, and others are in the recent past still swimming, still growing, still out there!
Giant Sharks
Sharks have always spooked me, I've seen what Bull Sharks have done to Marlin, (in one spot in Vanuatu, South Pacific we cannot even fish for Marlin because once hooked they never make it to the boat.) Tigers and Whites are beyond scary, and the really big ones freeze the blood in my veins! I walked into a commercial supply store in Walvis Bay Nambia, Africa last year and a photo of just the head of a White Pointer was on the wall, goose bumps formed all over my arms, as I asked the old timer about the photo. He told me it was caught by a mid water trawler in the late 60's and was rumored to be about 10 meters in length, I took a picture of the picture and showed it to a lot of fishermen, no one can tell me it isn't possible�
The largest Tiger Shark that maybe is still swimming might be the Molokai monster, we encountered this beast in 2003; Wahoo fishing on the North shore's 40 fathom edge. A massive fin and tail broke the surface about a hundred yards out, thinking whale shark I edged the Jack of Hearts close for my kids to see. The faint stripes which give this Shark its name were noticeable at a boat length in the crystal clear Hawaiian sea. The Jack of Hearts is 45 feet long this shark was half her length; I screamed at my kids to get off the deck and turned the boat off the edge in the opposite direction of this monster; with my heart thumping in my chest. An opportunity to film this incredible shark was lost by my own irrational fear, but I never snorkeled or dove in Molokai again!
Blue Fin Tuna
| Current world records Blue Fin Tuna - 1,496 pounds Tiger Shark - 1,785 pounds White Pointer - 2,664 pounds Black Marlin - 1,560 lbs Blue Marlin - 1,402 lbs Doggie - 230lbs, Rover would eat this guy� |
To all of our great disappointment the remaining two fish we never saw again; we however did harpoon three other fish that day. On the steam back in that afternoon, the 'small fish' was a lot bigger than the others on deck. It took all of us to remove the head and guts, getting the fish ready to be trucked off to Boston. At the wharf in Ogunquit the suddenly renamed big fish drew a large crowd, everyone guessing at how big the Tuna was. The co-op ice truck drove off with our fish, and here is the kicker of this tale; the scale to weigh the fish only went to a thousand pounds! Sonny's fish bottomed it out, hard! He got paid for 1,000 pounds, we will never know the true weight of this fish, or for that matter how big was the 'Big One'; a Tonner yeah no doubt in my mind; still swimming, no but that gene pool is out there.
Marlin
The next two fish both were seen in 2005-2006 in what I believe to be the best Marlin waters anywhere, the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu (I won't say where because I may still get a chance at these record book fish). The stories of giant Black and Blues ran all thoughout these islands, ranging from Tonga to Cairns; is it the same fish or are there more than just one? I don't know, but I saw a Black twice in the same area two years in a row. In the first encounter we were trolling on the drop off; one of the islands many seamounts when just the head and about a third of this freak of a Black busted across the surface chasing a 30 pound bull Mahi. We soaked a couple of rainbow runners for the rest of the day hoping�
Six months later same black spot, same black time the fish came back to haunt me; this time right behind the boat. The largest billfish I ever saw rose up out of the indigo blue water to eye ball our fender type teaser 20 feet behind the boat. I have tagged three Marlin I believe to be granders, and this fish was beyond anything I have seen before or for that matter have seen since. Its bill looked way to short for its giant head and that one feature is why I believe it to be the same fish. Like the year before the showing was brief, this time she just faded away into the depths. I looked down at the five 130's thinking they are going to have to make a bigger reel!
Monster Blues
In 04 Pago Pago American Samoa, a chance meeting over a couple beers with a Hawaiian long line Captain; he told me of a monster Blue that followed a hooked two hundred pound Big Eye to his boat. He told me where, on another seamount in yeap, Vanuatu. February 2006 on the same numbers, a 12 inch skirted chrome headed jet was whacked twice on the first two passes, breaking the rubber band. We didn't see the fish because the jet was rigged up on a planner running 30 feet beneath our spread. A 20lb Skip Jack, the perfect big fish bait died 30 minutes before in the tuna tube, and was rigged up with a 14/0 circle hook, it was intended to be a live bait dropped on the edge. I yelled down to my deckhand Senic to set it out on the port short corner, on a 130 chair outfit.
"You want me to re-rig it with a J hook?" he yelled up to the tower
" No, just set the drag with enough tension to keep the reel from slipping, lets just see if we can raise this fish" I shouted down to him as I cranked the Black Watch around for another pass.
It seemed like seconds later a white water explosion detonated off the stern leaving a huge hole in the water and a screaming Shimano. The clients were all from New Zealand and pro anglers; everything was going perfect on deck. The rod was transferred from the side board to the chair, and John snapped in ready to go. As the drag was slowly brought up to the strike button the Ian Miller rod loaded up, and the Blue broke the surface a hundred yards behind the boat. Its massive head and shoulder rising six, then ten feet into the air, the Blue was too big to jump and was smart! The head shaking started back and forth, pounding her bill, throwing white water 30 feet into the air! The circle hook pulled and Hemmingway's fish was gone�
Doggies
While our last fish in this story doesn't come close to the Tonnage, she deserves to be mentioned here, being at least twice the size as the current world record. You just gotta meet "Rover"; she is massive! A huge 200kg plus beast we've seen twice on the same piece of bottom in the Bank Islands in a place we call the 'Dog Pound' The Doggies are so thick here that multiple hook ups are the norm, and trying to clear lines can be exasperating with 3 or 4 pups chasing the lures right to the stern. Rover has the habit of chasing the pups or one who is restricted in its ability to maneuver (due to being on the receiving end of a 37 kg outfit). Our first encounter with Rover the angler panicked when 400lbs or more of prehistoric beast was about to devour his 25kg trophy. The angler put the throttle down on the handle madly cranking his fish across the surface at mach 3, completely ignoring my screams to PLEASE let the monster have lunch! The second encounter was just that. No dramatics just swimming around the stern doing a few laps before disappearing to terrorize some more reef fish. We spent the rest of that day sinking live baits hoping to have a go at Rover, but no one but lesser cousins came to the dinner table that day�
So at the end of the day what kinda proof do I have of these close encounters? Not much, a couple bad photos, a couple eye witnesses, a lot of reliving these memories in my dreams, sea monsters do exist...
Thanks, Corky, for this great article! Click here if you want to charter a fishing trip with Corky.
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