The remote Christmas Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is one of the few places in the world where anglers can target triggerfish on flats. Singaporean angler Pang Kim Lock took advantage of this opportunity, and set the potential new All-Tackle record for yellowmargin triggerfish (Pseudobalistes flavimarginatus) with a 5.61 kg (12 lb 6 oz) fish he caught on November 5th. Lock needed 21 minutes to land the stubborn fish, which he released alive after it was properly documented. The current record is 2.75 kg (6 lb 1 oz).
For nearly 40 years, the women’s 24 kg (50 lb) line class record for black marlin (Istiompax indica) has belonged to Kay Mulholland and the 396.44 kg (874 lb) fish she caught on October 16, 1976. However, on October 30th, American angler Stephanie Osgood Choate potentially broke the longstanding record with a massive 504 kg (1111 lb 1 oz) black she caught aboard the Top Shot, captained by Ross Finlayson. Choate, an experienced angler, needed two hours to subdue the fish after it inhaled the scaley mackerel they were trolling just off Ribbon Reef #10 – a section of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
While trolling a diving plug from his kayak in Australia’s famed Lake Tinaroo, angler Peter Hart hooked into a bruiser of a barramundi (Lates calcarifer) that could potentially earn him the new men’s 8 kg (16 lb) line class world record. Hart needed approximately 10 minutes to land the 33.7 kg (74 lb 4 oz) barra, which bests the current record by nearly 4.5 kg (10 lb).
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