Anglers catch tarpon of legendary proportions

Joshua Jorgensen, host of the popular online fishing show BlacktipH Fishing, went to Colombia to fish the legendary sardine migration but wound up catching a tarpon of legendary proportions.

Jorgensen, nursing a herniated disk sustained in a UTV accident in March, teamed with Dr. Robert Borrego from St. Mary’s Hospital in Palm Beach and fishing guide Alberto Meija of Fish Columbia to land a tarpon with an estimated weight of 312 pounds.

The weight was based on an online tarpon weight calculator using the fish’s fork length of 87 inches and its girth of 54 inches.

The massive tarpon was ultimately released, but had it been officially weighed, it very well could have surpassed the current world-record weight of 286 pounds, 9 ounces caught by Max Domecq on March 20, 2003 off the west African island of Rubane in Guinea-Bissau.

Though it might have been world-record size, the tarpon wouldn’t have been recognized by the IGFA as a world record since multiple anglers had fought the fish. But that doesn’t diminish the achievement of this catch in the least.

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“We had no idea how big this fish was until we brought it in the boat,” Jorgensen told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors. “During the fight, I was like, ‘When is this fish ever going to give up?’ We fought the fish for nearly two hours. It took four grown men to pick this fish up. It was incredibly heavy.

“We had no idea how big this fish truly was until we got back to the lodge and got on some Wi-Fi. After looking at photos of other record tarpon, we started to realize how special this fish truly was.”

In the video that was posted last week, the fishermen were at first calling it over 200 pounds and possibly 250 pounds. But online images of other huge tarpon got them thinking it was much heavier.

“I called Billy Delph from Delph Fishing and Raymond Douglas from King Sailfish Mounts to validate our catch,” Jorgensen said. “Billy and his family have caught over 300 IGFA world-record fish. Ray is the founder of King Sailfish Mounts [King Sailfish Mounts is a fish mount company founded by Ray in 1991] and has personally mounted over 1,000 tarpon in his life. Both men agreed that this fish must have weighed over 300 pounds. After speaking with both Billy and Ray, I used the Bonefish Tarpon Trust ‘Tarpon Weight Calculator,’ and the estimate of our fish was around 312 pounds.”

The biggest tarpon Jorgensen had caught previously weighed 150 pounds and it was from a kayak. Unfortunately, his back limited his participation in this catch.

“This is my first fishing trip since that [UTV accident] happened, so we’re testing the limits of my injury and big tarpon are not on the list yet,” Jorgensen said in the video.

He told For The Win Outdoors, “In the middle of the fight, I tried taking back the rod, but after 15-20 minutes, my back wouldn’t allow it.”

It did allow him to catch his first roosterfish, however. But the highlight of that day back in May remains the tarpon.

Photos of the tarpon held by (left to right) Jorgensen, Borrego and Meija, and one of the tarpon’s scales courtesy of BlacktipH Fishing.  

Story originally appeared on For The Win