14 DAY TRIAL // A Kansas man got to take home a record-breaking halibut after turning down the option of releasing the fish but getting a free day of fishing.
It meant losing the $250 (€188.6) fishing trip for construction worker Dirk Whitsitt, but he decided it was worth it. He caught the behemoth on his first time fishing in Alaska, about one hour into the trip.
He brought the Pacific halibut onto his boat in Cook Inlet, while fishing in 370-foot (128.8-meter) deep waters. It has taken him 45 minutes to control the giant, which weighs 231 pounds (104.8 kg).
“Towards the end of the fight, the fish headed back toward the bottom and we had to release the anchor to follow the fish,” Capt. David Bayes of DeepStrike Sportfishing tells Grind TV.