Posted on 03/14/2018 4:57:30 AM PDT by simpson96
When 68-year-old Sue Elcock ventured out on a deep-sea fishing trip to keep her son company, she probably wasn’t expecting to reel in a 130-pound “monster fish” bigger than herself.
During an early morning excursion while visiting her son Simon and his wife Michelle at their Perth, Australia home, Elcock told The Sun she felt a tug on her line and knew she caught a “fair-sized fish.” The petite Englishwoman said she was shocked at its sheer size as it emerged from the ocean off the coast of Lancelin.
After 40 minutes of reeling, her son and their fellow passengers hauled in a giant bass grouper measuring 5 feet, 4 inches long — two inches bigger than Elcock herself, The Sun noted.
“I just couldn’t believe the size of it when it reared its head out the water. It was the size of a sofa,” Elcock said.
“Simon is an experienced sea angler and I have been out with him before when I have been visiting he and Michelle,” she divulged of the catch, which she made with her 49-year-old son’s electric reel. “The biggest fish I’ve caught before was a snapper about a foot long and when this one took the bait on the bottom the tug on the line didn’t seem much.”
“Someone said you would need an awful lot of chips to go with a fish like that,” Elcock joked of her find. “But I’ve helped cut him up and get all that fish into the freezer. Simon and Michelle will be enjoying fish barbies for months when I’m long back in the U.K.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The fish seems more surprised than anyone.
Yer gonna need a bigger frying pan!
Goliath grouper by the looks of it. Used to be called jewfish till PC.
Perhaps still kept in Australia. Illegal to keep around here. Smaller species of grouper can be kept.
Now that is a fish!!!
It’s early yet....but that may be the post of the day!
It’s kinda weird, but being a 64 year old and an avid bicyclist, I really don’t see 68 as “old”. I suppose it’s a perspective thing.
I believe the fish is called a groper if it is a Democrat
We’re gonna need a bigger freezer.
It’s a “bass grouper”. Different species from the goliath, not found in US waters.
Chelsea’s twin? Ol’ Webb Hubbell gets around, don’t he...
Snagging season starts March 15th here at Lake of the Ozarks.
Some pretty big spoonbill are hauled in every spring...
Looks like something they could make an Oscar-winning film out of.
Swimming in the calm waters off Sharm El-Shiek, Israel, then Egypt in 1981, I encountered an identical grouper, that size, swimming towards me. I walked on the water back to the shore in seconds!
Goliath Grouper? In Florida you can not even take one out of the water. They must be released along the side of the boat. Pulling them on board severely injures them.
They exist on 2 continents and nowhere else, in China and the US. The Chinese paddlefish has not been seen since 2007 and is assumed extinct.
The largest Chinese paddlefish on record measured 23 ft (7.0 m) in length, and was estimated to weigh a few thousand pounds.[5] They commonly reach 9.8 ft (3.0 m) and 1,100 lb (500 kg).[5][6][12] Although the American paddlefish is one of the largest freshwater fishes in North America, their recorded lengths and weights fall short in comparison to the larger Chinese paddlefish. American paddlefish commonly reach 5 ft (1.5 m) or more in length and can weigh more than 60 lb (27 kg).
Throw him back, he’s only a baby.
same here I am a 64 year old. That hunts and chases dogs all night long in the Ozarks...up and down draws and hollars...68 is not old
we got them paddlefish here in the Ozarks...season just about to start...you snag them...big ugly ass fish
State record for alligator gar is 127 pounds.
Paddlefish record is 140 pounds, 9 ozs, taken at Table Rock.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.