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http://www.wftv.com/news/2478024/detail.html
Fishermen Reel In 533-pound Halibut; May Be Largest Ever
POSTED: 10:21 a.m. EDT September 12, 2003
ANCHORAGE -- What might be the largest Pacific halibut ever documented was pulled from the Bering Sea off St. Paul Island by the crew of the fishing boat Miss Mary.
The 8-foot, 2-inch behemoth was estimated at 533 pounds -- based on its length, according to crewman Barry Davis of Anchorage. He provided photographs of the fish taken aboard the long liner skippered by his brother, Pat, from Seattle.
No official records are kept on the size of commercially caught halibut in Alaska, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Wildlife Notebook Series says the "largest ever recorded for the Northern Pacific was a 495-pound fish caught near Petersburg."
The International Pacific Halibut Commission, which manages halibut in the North Pacific, pegs the largest fish at an estimated 500 pounds.
The fish caught on Sept. 5 was two inches longer, at 98 inches. It outweighs by almost 75 pounds the sport-fishing record, set by Jack Tragis of Fairbanks near Dutch Harbor in 1996. That halibut tipped the scales at 459 pounds.
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service claims halibut grow to more than 600 pounds but there is no evidence of anyone ever having seen such a fish in the Pacific. In the Atlantic there are reports of 9-foot-long flatfish weighing 700 pounds.
The fish was eventually delivered to a processor, or most of it was delivered.
"We're going to get the tail mounted," Davis said. The tail alone measures 24 1/2 inches across.
Fishermen Reel In 533-pound Halibut; May Be Largest Ever
POSTED: 10:21 a.m. EDT September 12, 2003
ANCHORAGE -- What might be the largest Pacific halibut ever documented was pulled from the Bering Sea off St. Paul Island by the crew of the fishing boat Miss Mary.
The 8-foot, 2-inch behemoth was estimated at 533 pounds -- based on its length, according to crewman Barry Davis of Anchorage. He provided photographs of the fish taken aboard the long liner skippered by his brother, Pat, from Seattle.
No official records are kept on the size of commercially caught halibut in Alaska, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Wildlife Notebook Series says the "largest ever recorded for the Northern Pacific was a 495-pound fish caught near Petersburg."
The International Pacific Halibut Commission, which manages halibut in the North Pacific, pegs the largest fish at an estimated 500 pounds.
The fish caught on Sept. 5 was two inches longer, at 98 inches. It outweighs by almost 75 pounds the sport-fishing record, set by Jack Tragis of Fairbanks near Dutch Harbor in 1996. That halibut tipped the scales at 459 pounds.
The Alaska Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service claims halibut grow to more than 600 pounds but there is no evidence of anyone ever having seen such a fish in the Pacific. In the Atlantic there are reports of 9-foot-long flatfish weighing 700 pounds.
The fish was eventually delivered to a processor, or most of it was delivered.
"We're going to get the tail mounted," Davis said. The tail alone measures 24 1/2 inches across.
