Angler's Record Fish is Reel Deal (482lb 13oz halibut beats previous record by 18 lbs)

The Sun (U.K.) / Various ^ | John Coles

[Stoat]

Angler's record fish is reel deal

 

By JOHN COLES

 

 

Big fish ... Gunther, 70, beside huge halibut

A PENSIONER reeled back the years and defied his age when he landed this world record halibut weighing more than 34 STONE — enough for nearly 1,000 fillets.

Super-fit Gunther Hansel, 70, spent more than two hours wrestling with the massive 8ft 2in flatfish after hooking it in an Icelandic fjord with a 30lb line and plastic lure.

Five other men on the fishing boat then helped haul it on board with a rope around its tail.

The monster fish weighed in at a mighty 482lb 13oz — a world record that smashed the previous best by 18lb — and would have provided 970 fillet portions.

German Gunther, from Magdeburg, near Berlin, sold it for £2,500 at a local fishmarket and split the money with the others on his trip.

He said: "This is the fish I have been fishing for all my life."

Fishing tour operator Herbert Loechel said: "After the bite we had to worry that Gunther would land the fish. It took him 135 minutes.

"But the crew of the boat helped hoist the giant fish with more anglers on board to help it on to the boat.

"Back at port the giant fish was celebrated vigorously."

Atlantic halibut are among the largest bony fish in the world.

They can reach up to 15ft in length and weigh up to 700lb and can live for 50 years.

Their diet is usually other fish like cod, haddock and herring although they are hunted by seals and the Greenland shark.

 

 

[Stoat]

More:

 

The feeding of the 5,000 Not quite, but pensioner lands record-breaking halibut that's big enough to provide almost 1,000 fish suppers Mail Online

 

   

It's a miracle: Gunther Hansel spent more than two hours reeling in the 8ft 2ins halibut - and needed the help of five crewmates to land the fish

 

 

You're going to need a bigger freezer: Gunther and his crewmates were able to wynch the 34-stone fish onto the deck of their boat

 

 

One for the record books: Gunther, third from left, poses with some of his crewmates and his record-breaking catch

[samtheman]

And you should have seen the one that got away...

[Adder]

Yumpin Yimminy!

[RINOS ARE RADICALS]

Love to see Sarah and Bristol stun that one now that would be great TV at the same time have the libs shaking in their boots...

[The_Victor]

“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

[RINOS ARE RADICALS]

“Were gonna need a bigger bat.”

[PGR88]

1000 Halibut fillets?

DELICIOUS!

[steveo]

[fso301]

That’s a lot of fish-n-chips!

[WayneS]

It would take a strong knight, indeed, to chop down the largest tree in the forest with THAT halibut...

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

I get it.

[WayneS]

Never mind... ...it was a herring...

My mistake.

[JoeProBono]

[Gay State Conservative]

Looks a bit like my pet fish,Eric.I chose him out of thousands.I didn’t like the others...they were all too flat!

[WayneS]

Customer: Hello, I would like to buy a fish license, please.

Shopkeeper: A what?

Customer: A license for my pet fish, Eric.

Shopkeeper: How did you know my name was Eric?

Customer: No no no, my fish’s name is Eric, Eric the fish. He’s an halibut.

Shopkeeper: What?

Customer: He is...an...halibut.

Shopkeeper: You’ve got a pet halibut?

Customer: Yes. I chose him out of thousands. I didn’t like the others, they were all too flat.

Shopkeeper: You must be a looney.

Customer: I am not a looney! Why should I be tied with the epithet looney merely because I have a pet halibut? I’ve heard tell that Sir Gerald Nabardo has a pet prawn called Simon and you wouldn’t call him a looney; furthermore, Dawn Pailthorpe, the lady show-jumper, had a clam, called Stafford, after the late Chancellor, Allan Bullock has two pikes, both called Chris, and Marcel Proust had an haddock! So, if you’re calling the author of ‘A la recherche du temps perdu’ a looney, I shall have to ask you to step outside!

Shopkeeper: Alright, alright, alright. A license.

Customer: Yes.

Shopkeeper: For a fish.

Customer: Yes.

Shopkeeper: You are a looney.

Customer: Look, it’s a bleeding pet, isn’t it? I’ve got a license for me pet dog Eric, and I’ve got a license for me pet cat Eric...

Shopkeeper: You don’t need a license for your cat.

Customer: I bleeding well do and I got one. He can’t be called Eric without it—

Shopkeeper: There’s no such thing as a bloody cat license.

Customer: Yes there is!
Shopkeeper: Isn’t!

Customer: Is!

Shopkeeper Isn’t!

Customer: I bleeding got one, look! What’s that then?

Shopkeeper: This is a dog license with the word ‘dog’ crossed out and ‘cat’ written in in crayon.

Customer: The man didn’t have the right form.

Etc. etc.

[Stoat]

But the overriding question of course is, was Gunther properly licensed?

 

YouTube - Monty Python - Fish License

 

 

[Joe 6-pack]

It must have been eating ice-deprived polar bear.

[November 2010]

That’s just cool. 70 years old and a 2 hour fight. A world record and enough to feed a family for months.

[OB1kNOb]

That's one thing on my bucket list - to go halibut fishing in Alaska and catch one of those big babies.

One thing I've always wondered...what's the difference between a flounder and a halibut.......other than size? Anyone know? They look the same to me.

[uncommonsense]

Holy mackerel, that’s one halibut fish! (Ug, I know)