Massachusetts angler recalls battle with 1,260-pound Atlantic blue marlin: "A gift from the fish gods"

It was a battle of will and skill when anglers off the coast of Massachusetts hauled in what is likely a record-breaking Atlantic blue marlin.

The fish was so big, the group thought it was a shark when they first reeled it to the surface. 

Damon Sacco, captain of the boat Castafari, and his fellow anglers caught the fish on Aug. 19 about 100 miles off the coast of Falmouth. His deep-sea fishing charter had client Walter Chapman on board Wednesday.

"We had a tough start. We were probably 12 hours into the trip and we had one tuna," Sacco said.

So the group changed course, and so did their luck. They filled their coolers with tuna, and their biggest triumph was still beneath the surface.

"It looked like a mammal or a shark. It was too big for a marlin. I've seen hundreds of marlin. This thing was four feet off the surface," Sacco said. "We all saw the girth of that fish and realized oh my God this thing is an absolute behemoth."

What happened next was what Sacco recalls as a two-hour grudge match of chaos and constant motion while the swear words and diesel smoke sputtered.

"They're big nasty critters," he said. "They come out of the water like freight trains. Sometimes they charge the boat. If you're not ready they'll shish kebab your transom, they'll put their bill right into the wood."

And just as they'd hoped, this humongous haul was one for the record books.

Coming in at 1,260 pounds and more than 11 feet long, it's the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught off the East Coast. It's just shy of the world record, which was caught off Brazil in 1992.

"We caught this fish on a 150-pound leader. That is just unheard of," Sacco said. "The fact that didn't break makes me believe this was a gift. This was a gift from the fish gods. Meant to be."

Sacco said it's rare that he keeps marlins.

"Some fish are that big that you've got to take them home," he said.