THIS ONE DIDN’T GET AWAY
A HUGE black marlin caught off Lady Musgrave Island in Central Queensland by the crew of a Gold Coast game fishing boat has missed out on the Australian record by just 4.5kgs (10lb).
On Thursday, the crew on the Gold Coast boat Too Easy II landed a black marlin which weighed in at 650kg (1431lb).
It was landed on a 60kg (130lb) line using a lure after a two-hour fight.
It took the crew some time to find a suitable weighing point, eventually employing a crane at Hervey Bay.
The current Australian record is 653.6kg (1441lbs).
Gold Coast Game Fishing Club committee member Casey Harrison, who does not know the crew, shared pictures of the fish on its social media page. “Here she is ... 12 foot with 7 foot girth and fat where it counts...Will it go?” he wrote.
“Congrats to everyone involved. Epic fish.”
Game Fishing Association Australia president Doug Sanderson said if the crew had been able to weigh the fish earlier, it would likely have beaten the record.
“It probably would have beaten it because it would have lost about 50 or 60lbs pounds being out of the water so long,” he said.
He said the catch was exciting for the region because it helped disprove a myth that marlin only bred off Cairns. He said the catch, along with another marlin weighing over 453kg, would help bring tourism to the region.
In order to qualify for the record, crews must be registered with an affiliation of the Queensland Game Fishing Association.
Large marlin are not eaten because of possible ciguatera poisoning.