What a start to the new year!
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New Year’s Day, 10am and Nambucca Heads’ Clay Hilbert is out on the water off Exmouth, WA, trying his hand at game fishing with friends.
“We’d already got one smaller fish and then we saw a big mark on the sounder,” the 28-year-old said.
“I was on strike in the harness (no chair) and the fish came up near the boat with the teaser lure.
“We knew immediately it was a seriously big fish …
“We threw in the baited lure and the marlin took it – and it went berserk, pulling 300 metres of line in the first run.
“The sheer power was amazing.
We knew immediately it was a seriously big fish
- Clay Hilbert
“After 40 minutes we had the leader attached and the deckie was helping drag it next to the boat, but then it took another big dive, really deep and used the currents (to try to escape).
“It was another three hours of hard slog with Eddy (the skipper) manoeuvring the boat and me hanging onto the line … there was about 35 kg of pressure from the drag, so my lower back and legs were really feeling the force.
“For it to be a legal record, it needs to be just me, the rod and the fish, so it was pretty exhausting.”
Clay said the moment when the fish was finally landed was pretty special.
“I was kind of zoned out, but it sank in when I saw how happy the others were.
“Eddy has been my friend for the last 10 years and he was just so stoked.”
The blue marlin, most probably a female, weighed in at 494 kg (1089 pounds) – a pending Australian record, which will be verified once the International Games Fishing Association process is completed.
Clay said a mould had been made of the fish with one replica going into the Exmouth Game Fishing Club and another to the local Exmouth tackle shop.
“WA Fisheries now have it and they are running a whole lot of tests to check the size and age and also taking genetic samples. It will offer a lot of information for research purposes.”
Clay said while he was normally a committed catch-and-release fisher, in this case, the fish was in no state to be released plus it needed to be hauled in and weighed in order to claim the record.
“Big fish like this are not so common on this side of the Indian Ocean.”
He said high mercury and other heavy metal levels present in large fish like this marlin meant they were not recommended for eating here in Australia.
“It’s different on the other side of the ocean – in Kenya and Madagascar the pressure to provide food is much greater.”
And the final toll on Clay’s body?
“The next day I realised I had bruised heels from hanging in there so tightly, plus my quads and lower back really ached … but it was certainly worth it.”
The legend will now live on, about the one that didn't get away.
Ute Schulenberg
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
