Fisherman Reels in 1,200-Lb. Fish, Initially Thought To Be Shark, in Massachusetts After 3-Hour Struggle

A 1,260-lb. Atlantic blue marlin was caught in waters off Massachusetts on Aug. 19 after a three-hour struggle; The massive billfish, over 11 feet in length, was just shy of beating the world record.

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A 1,260-lb. Atlantic blue marlin was caught in waters off Massachusetts on Aug. 19 after a three-hour struggle

The massive billfish, over 11 feet in length, was just 142 lbs. shy of beating the world record

The marlin’s body was divided to be eaten, while its head was sent to a lab to determine its age

Two men were fishing in waters off Massachusetts when they thought they spotted a huge shark. It turned out to be a marlin just shy of world-record-breaking size.

Charter fishing boat captain Damon Sacco and his client Walter Chapman caught the massive fish in Atlantis Canyon, an underwater canyon approximately 100 miles off Cape Cod, on Wednesday, Aug. 19, the Associated Press reported.

At more than 11 feet long and over 1,200 lbs., it was no small fish — and reeling it in was no small feat.

Sacco, who has long worked as a captain in the area, told the AP that when he first spotted the fish’s fin above the water’s surface, he thought he was dealing with an enormous shark — and even after he could see it better, there was no way it was a billfish.

After he “got a better look at” the fish’s fin from his charter boat, Castafari, the captain said he thought to himself, “Dang, that thing’s pointed. But that’s too big for a marlin.” But that’s exactly what it was.

It took three hours for Chapman and a few “war marks” — that’s what Sacco calls the holes the marlin left in Castafari’s transom with its bill — to reel in the massive fish, the AP reported. During this time, Sacco joked that his role in the capture was to “drive the bus around and yell at people,” per the outlet.

Eventually, Chapman — a longtime fisherman from Plymouth, Maine — reeled in the Atlantic blue marlin. It’s the biggest fish he’s ever fought on a line, he told the AP. Chapman, Sacco and others believe it to be the largest ever caught off the U.S. East Coast.

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The fish, which was more than 11 feet long, weighed in at 1,260 lbs. when the duo brought it back to land in Falmouth, Mass. — about 142 lbs. short of the world record for an Atlantic blue marlin, according to International Game Fish Association (IGFA) records.

The largest recorded Atlantic blue marlin weighed 1,402 lbs. and 2 oz., according to the IGFA. It was caught by Paulo Amorim in Vitoria, Brazil in 1992.

Wednesday’s almost record-breaking catch caused a bit of a spectacle upon arrival ashore, photos and video shared by the AP show. A crowd gathered, seemingly marveling at the size of the billfish, after the boater and fisherman hung it up to showcase it during sunset near the docks.

Katie Curran, an onlooker, described the scene as spectacular, according to the AP.

“People fish their entire lives,” Curran said, “and never come close to a catch like this. Hats off to Captain Damon Sacco and the crew on the catch of a lifetime.”

The fish’s meat was divided and given to about a dozen people, with Chapman telling the AP he hopes to use it in a chowder among other recipes. “I wasn’t going to eat a 1,200 pound fish all by myself,” said the Massachusetts fisherman.

The head of Chapman’s massive blue marlin, meanwhile, was taken to a lab at the University of Maine, where researchers will determine its age.

Walt Golet, director of the college’s Pelagic Fisheries Lab, told the AP that the fish could be 25 to 30 years old.

The director, who is also an associate professor at UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences, said the species is migratory, and visits the area where it was caught seasonally — but not for long. New England’s waters are too cold for the species most of the time, making the window to catch a big one during the year quite slim, he told the AP.

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Golet also told the outlet that catching such a huge fish where Wednesday’s duo did is even more extraordinary.

“I don’t suspect there will be a whole lot of blue marlin caught in the Atlantic in general that are going to top 1,200 pounds for the next several years,” said the professor.