A group of sports fishermen caught a blue marlin last month weighing more than 1,000 pounds in the Gulf of Mexico.
The anglers landed the giant fish, which measured 145 inches long, around 160 miles southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana, after having departed from the Orange Beach Marina in Alabama, aboard the 55-foot sportfishing vessel known as Best Trait.
Once the vessel, owned by Scott Crump of Jasper, Alabama, had arrived back at the marina, the blue marlin was weighed on certified scales, coming in at 1,145.6 pounds, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) reported.
This is a potential Alabama and Gulf of Mexico record, which stand at 851.9 pounds and 1,054 pounds, respectively. The fish landed by the Best Trait crew must go through the ADCNR Marine Resources Division (MRD) certification process to become an official record.