Fishermen Catch Huge Blue Marlin Weighing Over 1,000lbs in Gulf of Mexico

A group of sports fishermen caught a blue marlin last month weighing more than 1,000 pounds in the Gulf of Mexico.

The anglers landed the giant fish, which measured 145 inches long, around 160 miles southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana, after having departed from the Orange Beach Marina in Alabama, aboard the 55-foot sportfishing vessel known as Best Trait.

Once the vessel, owned by Scott Crump of Jasper, Alabama, had arrived back at the marina, the blue marlin was weighed on certified scales, coming in at 1,145.6 pounds, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) reported.

This is a potential Alabama and Gulf of Mexico record, which stand at 851.9 pounds and 1,054 pounds, respectively. The fish landed by the Best Trait crew must go through the ADCNR Marine Resources Division (MRD) certification process to become an official record.

"It has been submitted for an Alabama state record. We utilize a committee, and they have 15 days to review it, and this Friday will be day 15. I will then forward to the Commissioner of DCNR and the Governor for signatures," MRD director Colonel Scott Bannon told Newsweek.

"I am always proud to see state record fish landed in Alabama, it shows the amazing resources we have available to our anglers."

Catching the huge marlin was no easy feat, said Scott "Scooter" Anderson, who reeled in the fish in two hours.

"It still really hasn't sunk in yet," Anderson told Outdoor Alabama, the official website of the ADCNR. "The trip really wasn't going our way. We jumped off two fish, probably in the 500-pound class. The bite had slowed down that afternoon, so we kind of reorganized ourselves for the major [feeding] time that afternoon."

The anglers managed to catch the fish using blackfin tuna live bait, which Captain Chris Mowad was able to track on the sonar and watch the marlin eat. "The rest is history," Anderson said.

During the process, the huge marlin jumped completely out of the water twice, sparking concern among the fishermen.

"The only thing is she was jumping toward the rig. We were afraid she was going to get into the rig," Anderson said.

Mowad was able to maneuver the vessel so as to keep the marlin out of the rig. Then Anderson sat in a chair and prepared for a lengthy battle with the fish. But an hour into the fight, the marlin died and began to sink.

"I felt it start sinking," Anderson said. "We had to tighten down the drag and winch it up. I was fighting dead weight. It was definitely tough. I don't know if that's unusual for a fish to die that quickly because I've never caught one that big. I've been all over the place chasing big marlin. It's my passion. I never thought it would come out of the Gulf of Mexico."

Eventually, Anderson managed to reel the fish to the surface, and the anglers were able to appreciate its large size.

"We were shocked when we pulled it up. We had no idea it was that big. We knew she was big but not that big," Anderson said.

But the team still had one more challenge: hauling the marlin into their boat. In fact, the fishermen had to call another boat for help, requiring seven people to pull it in.

Following the catch, word got around that the vessel was heading back to Orange Beach Marina with a huge blue marlin on board, and a crowd gathered to watch the fish being weighed.