I hooked a halibut that’s as heavy as a boy of 16!
WEIGHING close to 11 stone and measuring 5ft 8in long, this monster halibut was nearly as big as the angler who caught it.
David Wood-Brignall, 46, reeled in the record-breaking fish after a 35-minute battle in sub-zero temperatures in Norway.
The enormous catch could provide enough fish for hundreds of chip shop dinners.
The British fisherman hopes to have smashed the record for the largest shorecaught halibut with the 153lb 8oz giant.
The previous record for the largest halibut was 111lb 15oz. Mr Wood-Brignall’s catch – the weight of a well-built 16-yearold boy – must now be verified.
The father of one said: ‘The first I saw of it was this bloody great big head and thought it was about 80lb. It was only really when I tried pulling it up the bank that I found out how big it was.
‘I have never felt anything like that in my life. The battle lasted 35 minutes – I had cramp in my arm and my back was spasming.’
He added: ‘It was just such a slow battle – after it took, I picked up the rod and it ran as soon as I felt the pressure.
‘It just went to the horizon and took 100 to 150 metres of line on the first run. It was like pulling 11 stone of muscle up a hill.’ Mr Wood-Brignall was with Phil Hambrook and John Strange, of Guided Fishing Norway, who take British anglers out to the frozen fjords to hunt giant fish.
He said: ‘It’s still sinking in that I caught it – I feel humble and overwhelmed. I just look at the pictures and think, “How the hell did I catch that?”’
The halibut died during the struggle in the bitter Norwegian winter, where anglers endure a wind chill factor of -25C (-13F).
Mr Wood-Brignall, a carpenter from Ashford, Kent, filleted the fish and handed it out to friends and locals in the village of Bodo, northern Norway. The carcass was used to make a broth.
The fish was cut into 160 fillets – worth around £4,000 to a highend restaurant – and some were brought back to Britain to be auctioned to raise money for the Dungeness RNLI in Kent.