New world record for biggest fish caught from a kayak

The world record for the biggest fish caught on a kayak has been broken with the capture of Greenland Shark weighing 1,225lb.

The colossal predator was caught by Swedish angler Joel Abrahamsson who targeted a water just outside Andörja, in Northern Norway, where Greenland Shark in excess of two tons in weight and over 200-years-old are known to reside.

The dare-devil angler floated out into the 1,600ft deep water and strapped himself into the kayak before dropping his 8lb coalfish bait down into the depths. After a few false indications the shark finally stuck and Joel then endured an epic 90 minute battle before the fish was finally pulled to the side of the support boat to be tagged and measured before being released unharmed.

He conquered the huge specimen, which measured a staggering 13ft long, using a PENN International 50 VSV reel rigged with Berkley Whiplash 44.9kg/0.28mm line and a homemade, specially-designed kayak fishing rod.

The 33-year-old described the fight one of the strangest of his career. “The fish is not a spectacular fighter but constantly tugs its head down and pulls slowly,” he said. “The fight was just gruesome and extremely heavy. A few times it got a bit gnarly and I was scared of going over.” With a new record under his belt Joel is not done, his next goal is to catch a 225-pound Atlantic halibut from his kayak… watch this space.

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