In a remarkable fishing expedition off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a charter fishing team successfully captured a massive blue marlin weighing in at 1,260 pounds (approximately 571 kilograms) after a grueling three-hour battle. The colossal fish is believed to be the largest of its kind ever caught on the East Coast of the United States, drawing a significant crowd of onlookers and sparking a scientific research project.
According to reports from media outlets such as the Associated Press and The New York Post, what started as a routine offshore fishing trip turned into a prolonged three-hour struggle. The enormous marlin was brought back to the Falmouth pier in Massachusetts for weighing, attracting numerous spectators.
Measuring over 11 feet in length (approximately 3.35 meters), the fish was captured by charter boat captain Damon Sacco and his client Walter Chapman about 100 miles off the coast of Cape Cod on August 19. Data from the International Game Fish Association shows that this blue marlin weighed just 142 pounds less than the “all-tackle” world record holder caught off the coast of Brazil in 1992.
The blue marlin, also known as 藍槍魚 in Chinese and commonly referred to as black skin flag fish or iron skin in Taiwan, is a massive and fast-swimming predatory fish belonging to the sailfish family. The Miami Marlins baseball team in the Major League Baseball is named after this species.
Sacco recalled that when he initially saw the colossal fish fin break the surface of the water, he mistook it for a shark. “Later, when I took a closer look, I thought, ‘My goodness, that fin is sharp’,” Sacco told the Associated Press, “But that’s a bit too big even for a blue marlin.”
The fish was hooked at the Atlantis Canyon, an underwater canyon located on the edge of the continental shelf, where blue marlin occasionally migrate during the warmer seasons.
Walt Golet, director of the Pelagic Fisheries Lab at the University of Maine and associate professor at the School of Marine Sciences, explained in an interview with the Associated Press that capturing such a sizable fish in the New England region is rare due to the limited period of suitable water temperatures that attract blue marlin.
Golet mentioned that researchers plan to examine the fish’s head to determine its age, with initial estimates placing it between 25 and 30 years old.
Retired fisherman Walter Chapman from Plymouth engaged in a battle with the blue marlin using a fishing rod and reel, while Sacco piloted the charter boat “Castafari” and coordinated the effort.
“My role during most of this adventure was ‘driving the boat’ and yelling encouragement to everyone,” Sacco told the Associated Press.
The long bill of the fish left several holes in the back of the boat, which Sacco described as “battle scars.”
Upon the fleet’s return to Falmouth, the eagerly waiting crowd of spectators couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of this enormous catch.
“Some people have been fishing all their lives and have never had a catch like this,” observed Katie Curran, who witnessed the weighing process, “Kudos to Captain Damon Sacco and his crew for landing a rare giant of a fish in a lifetime.”