Angler catches monster 8ft Halibut

Written by:
Hans Kruit, 16 August 2013

It took Christian Johannsen, 45, and two other men almost five hours to reel in the mighty 428lb catch in the Barents Sea off Norway, which Mr Johannsen described as being 'the size of a door`.
As he left for his latest angling trip the German banker's wife had told him to be sure to bring home a fish supper, said Mr Johannsen.

`I thought my hook had struck the ground at first because there was so much resistance,` Mr Johannsen said.
`I tried to dislodge it and after a few seconds I realised the ground was moving. We had to start the engine because it started swimming away.

`After about 20 minutes it tired and slowed down and that's when the hard work started.
`My rod was bent at 90 degrees and I had to work for over four hours to bring it to the surface. By that time my arms were burning and I was covered in sweat.
`When it came to the surface it was about the size of a door.`

After hauling the monster fish on board with ropes, all three men had to stand on one side of the boat to prevent it from lurching beneath the weight of the halibut.

`We all had to stand on one side of the boat to keep it balanced,` he said.
Once they reached dry land, the halibut was weighed and measured before being carved up into about 400 filleted portions and distributed.

A halibut main course in a quality fish restaurant could cost as much as £25 - meaning Mr Johannsen's haul could have realised a value of around £10,000.
But because the fish was caught in the Barents Sea off Norway, Mr Johannsen was only allowed to take home or export a maximum of 15kg - around 30 portions.

He donated most of the rest to the man who rented him the 19ft fishing boat.
`My wife's three favourite fish are halibut, halibut and halibut and she wanted me to bring some back with me.
`I think we will be eating halibut for a long time to come,` Mr Johannsen said.

The current halibut records stands at 482lbs 13ozs, landed by another German angler, Gunther Hansel, off Norway in 2009.
Atlantic halibut are among the largest bony fish in the world.

Their native habitat is the northern Atlantic, from Greenland to the Barents Sea and as far south as the Bay of Biscay.
They can reach up to 15ft in length and weigh up to 700lbs and can live for 50 years.

Hans