Australian angler Sammy Hitzke is calling it the biggest marlin of his life - a blue estimated above 800 lb, measured at 3.4 metres short length, tagged and released from a trailer boat after roughly three hours on stand-up tackle.
The day had started slowly. After hours of working bird life around the 150-metre line and turning up only a freak shelf-edge barracuda 50 km offshore, the pair decided to push south to a Tweed Coast spot known as the Kink. They pulled the plan apart on the run and turned back. "We swung the boat round and headed back to where we'd started the day," Hitzke recalls in the voice-over. "We had no idea of knowing just how much this simple decision would change the course of not only our day but probably the rest of our lives."
The fish ate a 10-inch C4 Tube on the long corner. The bite was not subtle. "That's a real one," Hitzke says as the reel comes tight. "Strap yourselves in, guys. This one is going to be a cracker." Within minutes the marlin cleared the water and revealed the kind of size that changes a session.
The game plan called for light strike drag on 37 kg gear. "A bit light on him, and if he dives down, we'll jack the drag rod up," Hitzke explained on camera. "We've always got 37 kg at our disposal, which means you can get that drag up to 12 or so kilos if you need." The hooks, by his own admission, were a stripe marlin rig - 100-class light tackle hooks. "Not using super heavy gauge hooks, though. A lot of small fish and stripe marlin around at the moment, so I wouldn't be going and just pulling off in full swing up there."
The fish refused to come up. After multiple tag-pole misses, a snapped-off bow run and a bill grab in close, Shauno and Hitzke finally got the leader and a tag in. By the time the last gloved hand came off the bill, the boat clock had moved on roughly three hours. "It was over three hours once we tally up all the time," Hitzke said, with Shauno cramping. "3 and a half hours ago. Lucky you didn't tell me that, because I reckon I'm starting to sort of cramp up. Worth it."
Reflecting on the fish a few days later, Hitzke set out his estimate. "It was huge," he said. "We got a short length. It was 3.4 m. Now, if you look at any of the charts, that'll sort of indicate that fish could be anywhere between 750 and maybe 1,000 lb." The crew chose not to weigh it, returning the fish to the water. "We decided to let it go, which is something I'm still happy about. We got to see the big girl swim away again, and hopefully someone else will get the privilege of catching something like that again."
He added that experienced billfish skippers had backed the call. "We've spoken to a couple of very, very experienced marlin captains, and they've all turned around and said that fish is over 800 pounds, and you can happily say that all day long," he said. "All I know is it's a fish of a lifetime and truly the biggest marlin I've ever seen on the water."
The trailer boat itself got an upgrade out of the moment, christened on the water as Billy Bell. "That sets the bar pretty high for the new boat," Hitzke said. "The boat record is going to be a tough one to beat." The Fatboy Lures C4 Tube that did the damage, he confirmed, was bent and opened up - but it held.