Fishing is a favorite pastime of many, and the right of passage to some. Sport fishermen and anglers all over the world have one goal in mind; to catch the biggest fish ever. With that in mind, here are the 10 biggest catches of all time.

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Mind you, we’ll only be talking about official catches, meaning those that have been officially measured and weighed by the International Game Fish Association, so that story of your grandpa of “the big one that got away” won’t be included. The biggest catch of all time, on number one obviously, is a record that has stood unbroken since 1955 so stay tuned to find out more about that. Let’s begin shall we.

1,280-Pound Great Hammerhead Shark:

This 14 and a half foot monster hammerhead shark was caught by Port Charlotte fishing guide Captain Bucky Davis back in May of 2006. According to the captain himself, it took him the better part of five hours to land the monster fish. He said it even dragged his boat, a 23 foot skiff, 12 miles out into the sea. Prior to the captain’s monster catch, the largest hammerhead on record with the International Game Fish Association was a 991-pounder caught off Sarasota in 1982.

Captain Dennis, who usually catches snook, knew there were bigger ones out there, having glimpsed them prowling around tarpon-fishing charter boats. And the scary thing is, there still might be even bigger hammerhead sharks out there. According to marine biologists, these monster fish can grow to a staggering 20 feet long and live up to 30 years in the wild. It is found in warm waters around the world. Due to their size they’re potentially dangerous to divers, but there are no confirmed attacks on record. They are also very popular to sport fishermen due to the shape of their heads. Unfortunately, their numbers are declining due to the shark fin trade.

1,298-Pound Sixgill Shark:

On November 21 st , 2002, sport fisherman Clemens Rump reeled in the largest fish he’s ever caught, and quite possibly the rarest fish he’s ever caught as well. Caught in the South Atlantic Ocean in a portion of the British Overseas Territories, this monster sixgill shark weighed an astonishing 1,298 pounds. Sixgill Sharks are primitive sharks belonging to the Hexanchidae family, otherwise known as Cow Sharks.

These deep-water predators are distinguished by the following features: they have six pairs of long gill slits on each side of their broad head, comb-like, yellow lower teeth, and a long tail. They grow to an average length of around 16 feet, but some sightings suggest that they can grow much bigger. There was one caught just off the Irish coast at County Clare, which was estimated to measure 25 feet and toi weigh 1500 pounds, but no official measurements were taken, making Rump’s sixgill officially the biggest to be ever caught.

1,376-Pound Pacific Blue Marlin:

On May 31st, 1982, angler Jay de Beaubien caught the biggest Pacific blue marlin ever recorded by the International Game Fish Association while he was fishing aboard the No Problem, a 43-foot Merritt captained by Bobby Brown, nope, not that Bobby Brown. The bite took place at approximately 1 p.m. while they were trolling a silver and blue Kita lure off Kona, Hawaii. According to the fisherman’s story: “All hell broke loose with that first run.”

Within minutes, the fish had nearly emptied the spool. However, despite several strong runs and the immense size of the fish, de Beaubien and the crew had the fish boat-side in just 40 minutes. Not long after, the crew officially weighed the 1,376-pound blue marlin, bringing the All-Tackle record back to Kona where it has remained ever since.

1,402-Pound Atlantic Blue Marlin:

Marlins are extremely large fish, so don’t be surprised if they make multiple appearances in this list. Earlier on the list, we talked about a large Pacific Blue Marlin, now we’ll talk about it’s even larger cousin; the Atlantic Blue Marlin. The biggest atlantic blue marlin caught weighed in at 1402 pounds.