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Big Blue Bermudan Beauty

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Big Blue Bermudan Beauty

On a recent boat trip with his family from the United States to Bermuda, South African expat Rich Davies helped wrestle a 1 289 lbs (585 kg) Blue Marlin aboard his boat off Argus Bank in Bermuda at the end of May 2012 – making headlines throughout the fishing world.

Rich Davies, now living in North Carolina in the US, made the 45-hour journey across the Atlantic with his family and a two-strong crew aboard his boat, a 70-foot Bertram named Seafari. The boat spends most of its time off the coast of Florida but frequently travels along the East Coast and to the Bahamas.
It was the afternoon of 30 May and their second day of fishing in Bermuda when the team aboard Seafari, assisted by local captain and fishing guide Alan Card, hooked onto the colossus on the south-east side of Argus Bank. Card commented that it was the biggest Blue Marlin hooked that he has ever seen in his career. “It has to be one of the biggest Blue Marlins ever caught in the Atlantic,” he told BERNEWS, “people spend millions of dollars and wait years just to see a fish like this.”
Taking turns on the rod, the team fought for four long hours to subdue the 15 ft (4.5 m) fish. According to Seafari’s skipper, Karl Alvik, they were planning on releasing the fish once caught “because we do not kill fish on our boat”. But during the epic battle between crew and Marlin the fish’s tail had somehow become wrapped in the line and she was dead by the time they finally dragged her aboard.
The crew on board was gloomy finding the fish had died but on the other hand elated with the terrific catch. They were celebrating all the way to the docks in Hamilton where hundreds of onlookers who had heard of the fish were waiting to catch a glimpse. According to Card, the news of the monster Marlin had spread like wildfire throughout the fishing world even before they had docked. “Even on the way home people were calling us from all over the world once they had heard about the fish we were bringing in.”
When the boat arrived at the PW Dock on Front Street, Hamilton, the team aboard Seafari was overwhelmed with spectators’ praises who had turned up to see the weigh-in and to get a photo with the giant fish. The 15-foot fish with a tailspan of 4.5 feet (1.38 metres) was cut up and divided among the crowd that had gathered at the dock.
Davies thanked God for the catch and had words of praise for their guide Alan Card. In tribute to the big catch, Davies announced that he will soon be making a donation to an orphanage in Zululand in his native South Africa.

CaravanSA

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