Where Are the Big Marlin?

There are many who believe that the largest marlin might not be capable of being caught. I have heard this for many years, and there are plenty of stories to back up that theory.

The IGFA records on 130-pound-test line include the largest marlin ever landed—Alfred Glassell’s black from Peru, which weighed 1,560 pounds and was caught in 1953. The Pacific blue marlin record is a Kona fish that weighed 1,376 pounds from 1982, and the Atlantic blue marlin record is 1,402 pounds and was caught in 1992—the most recent of the three, and yet it’s still more than 30 years ago. We have yet to land a marlin weighing more than 2,000 pounds, but there are plenty of stories of those who have seen one in their spread or actually hooked a giant, only to have it get away.