A Tassie fisherman has reeled in a ‘massive monster’ from the depths of the ocean near Eaglehawk Neck this week.
Storm Eastley was out fishing with his mate Jonah Yick on Thursday when he hooked onto the ‘most powerful and aggressive fish’ he has ever encountered – a whopping 289.3kg Swordfish.
Running on two hours sleep, Eastley and Yick had their first bait in the water at 7AM, waiting around 3 hours before receiving an ‘aggressive bite’.
“The excitement of heading out for my first swordfish of the season made it hard for me to get to sleep,” Eastley said.
“I strapped on set about gathering back 600m of Line. After regaining about half the fish took 2 huge runs dumping 200m of line from the spool each time.”
“The fish darted about aggressively on top for the first half hour of the fight before eventually jumping 4 times in quick succession.”
“Confirming we were tight to a swordfish we set about fighting what can only be described as the most powerful and aggressive fish I have ever encountered.”
Eastley said conditions became ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘extremely difficult’ midway through the fight as the wind started to build.
“With some expert boat driving from Jonah in testing conditions we were able to put some good angles on the fish, apply maximum drag pressure with some spool thumbing for what seemed like forever.”
“Eventually we had the fish boat side very green but with the building weather we took our shot and drove the gaffs in green and dispatched the fish after a 2.5 hour fight.”
“With the fish tail roped, our mate Wesley van den Herik jumped onboard and left his JetSki free floating to help us get the fish into the boat.”
After the group arrived in Pirates Bay, Eastley said hugs and hi-fives were exchanged as everyone ‘started estimating’ the size of the fish.
“None of us were close,” Eastley added.
“We were gobsmacked to reveal the final weight 289.3kg. Which would be an Australian record on 60kg line if claimed.”
“How we knocked that fish over so quickly or how we got it into the boat I do not know.”
Eastley said the catch will ‘probably be the biggest fish’ he ever lands and plans on distributing his ‘12 month supply of the best eating fish’ to friends and family.
