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1,260-pound marlin landed
Damon Sacco and his client Walter Chapman landed a 1,260-pound Atlantic blue marlin on Wednesday after fighting the fish for about three hours in waters off Massachusetts, with the billfish weighing 1,260 pounds (571.5 kilograms) when brought back to land in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
“weighed 1,260 pounds (571.5 kilograms) when they got it back to land in Falmouth, Massachusetts”
The Associated Press said the massive billfish was more than 11 feet (335 cm) in length and was just 142 pounds (64.4 kilograms) shy of the world record for an Atlantic blue marlin caught off Brazil in 1992, according to records kept by the International Game Fish Association.
Sacco initially thought the giant fin breaking the surface belonged to a shark, but he later said, "Then I got a better look at it and thought, dang, that thing's pointed," and added, "But that's too big for a marlin."
The Independent described the catch as the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever taken off the U.S. East Coast, noting that Sacco’s charter boat, Castafari, was fishing Atlantis Canyon about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off Cape Cod when the fish was hooked.
Walt Golet, director of the University of Maine Pelagic Fisheries Lab and an associate professor in the university’s marine sciences school, said the fish’s head was being sent to the UMaine laboratory to determine its age, with Golet speculating it could fall within the range of 25 to 30 years old.
Voices at the docks
As the charter boat returned to the docks, a crowd gathered in Falmouth, and onlooker Katie Curran described the weigh-in as a once-in-a-lifetime moment, telling AP, "People fish their entire lives and never come close to a catch like this."
Curran also praised the crew, saying, "Hats off to Captain Damon Sacco and the crew on the catch of a lifetime," as the fish was weighed after the battle in Atlantis Canyon.
Sacco told AP that his role for most of the adventure was to "drive the bus around and yell at people," and he said the fish left a couple of holes in the boat’s transom with its bill that he considers "war marks."
The Independent similarly quoted Sacco describing his work during the fight as driving the boat and yelling at people, and it said the fish’s head was sent to UMaine to determine its age.
Chapman, a retiree and lifelong fisherman from Plymouth, said the meat was divided among about a dozen people and told AP, "I wasn't going to eat a 1,200 pound fish all by myself," with some of it likely destined for fish chowder.
Age, record hopes, and rarity
The catch’s significance was framed around record proximity, with AP saying the 1,260-pound fish was 142 pounds (64.4 kilograms) short of the world record for an Atlantic blue marlin caught off Brazil in 1992, and the Independent adding that the figure was just 142 pounds (64.4 kilograms) short of that record.
“That was just 142 pounds (64.4 kilograms) shy of the world record”
Golet told AP that the water is too cold for blue marlin in the Northeast most of the year, making the window to catch a big one extremely narrow, and he said the highly migratory blue marlin is a seasonal visitor to Atlantis Canyon.
Golet also said he expected researchers to study the fish’s head to determine its age, estimating it could be between 25 and 30 years old, while the Independent reported that the UMaine lab would determine its age and that Golet speculated the fish could fall within that same range.
The Independent said the fight against the marlin lasted about three hours and was fought using a rod and reel by Chapman, and it described the fish as a shimmering blue presence that looked like a “blue spaceship” as it rose from the sea.
Golet’s assessment of how often such a catch might happen next was quoted by the Independent, saying, "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," as the fish’s head moved to UMaine for analysis.