A blue shark which had been tagged was reeled in by a longliner off the south east coast of Africa. What’s so interesting about this tagged shark is that is has broken the record for distance traveled by any shark recorded by the GameFish Tagging Program.

The previous record holder was held by a blue shark which was released off Kilcuda (VIC) and was later reeled in again in the Indian Ocean, and swam a remarkable 2,400 nautical miles.

This new blue shark broke that record with a distance of 5,073 nautical miles, having made a voyage across the Indian Ocean from the time it was first let go at Port MacDonnell (SA) some five years ago.

The blue shark was originally let go by Paul Williams, an Adelaide GFC member, off of Port MacDonnnell back on the 20th of May 2005. The shark was guessed to be about 18 pounds when it was first tagged. When the shark was recaptured, it weighed in at around 94 pounds.

In a related stories, Nikol Bay SFC boat Tourettes has been hard at work, tagging tiger sharks for the past year and eight months, in Western Australia waters. Kevin Deacon’s team has managed to tag some 33 tiger sharks in this time.

Sharks are rather difficult to tag, but recent advancements in technology, along with a bit of elbow grease, has yielded really good results, and we now have an accurate way to study these magnificent creatures.

Steve Wozniak

Well it certainly seems to be a time for breaking records. An angler has just become the first person in the world to break the ultimate fishing record, by reeling in an astounding 1,000 different species of fish.

Steve Wozniak, a native Californian 47 years of age, has spent a decade on his quest for mastering the creatures of the sea, and he has made his rounds in over 63 different countries to accomplish his goal. He has spent an astonishing 20,000 hours fishing on piers, beaches, riverbanks and boats just waiting for a fish to take the line. He has caught everything from a small minnow to a giant 900 pound beast of a shark.

Steve has shelled out an amazing amount of money, more than 50,000 Great Brish Pounds and has stored up somewhere in the neighborhood of one million air miles by traipsing around the world, his rod and his tackle box his only companion for 10 years.

Steve has made his rounds on every continent minus Antarctica, including such places as the exotic Isle of Wight and the far reaches of Cambodia.

He has managed to capture just about every freshwater fish which calls Britain home and has spent 2 years and 4,000 Great British Pounds trying to land himself an Atlantic salmon from Scotland.

What can we say? The man loves his fishing. In a week full of broken records, we’d like to welcome Steve to the ranks of the Big Fish.

Tilapia - Not the record breaking fish

The black depths of the St. Lucie River’s South Fork have really been making waves, and provided quite a catch for an angler.

This past Tuesday evening, Pamela Henry was having a nice quiet time fishing from her dock on the waterway. As she was lazily tossing balls of dough into the water, some of which had peanut butter, she gazed upon a myriad of different kinds of fish which fought over them. However, after repeatedly seeing the mouth of a big “snapper-like looking fish,” Henry thought it was high time to grab a pole and try her luck.

“I just grabbed the first rod I could find and it ended up being one of my old spinning outfits,” commented Henry. “It had 20-pound test line and no leader, but I was going to catch that fish.”

Henry opted to use a soft dough ball for the bait – as she explained that the fish don’t like hard balls- and cast her line into the water, complete with a bobber made of styrofoam.

Reeling in Tilapia with a rod is not an easy thing to accomplish, Henry explained. First of all, they are vegetarians, but secondly, there is something off about the way they feed.

“You have to be patient with a tilapia. They suck in the bait, then spit it out again before they really eat it,” she went on to explain.

Well all her patience paid off, as she reeled in a whopper of a Tilapia, weighing in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces. By all accounts it’s a record breaker.. Congratulation Pamela!

Generic Lionfish – not spike

Spike, a magnificent specimen from the deeps of the ocean, is a whopping 18 inch long lionfish which is believed to be a world record breaker. (please observe that this info is now outdated. The world record is now 47 centimeters or 18.5 inches.)

Spike is one of two lionfish who call the Sequarium in Rhyl home, and is half an inch longer that the largest recorded lionfish.

Paul Tyson, the display manager at the Sequarium, has said that measuring the lionfish is quite a feat as they have those poisonous spikes on their backs.

However, it was well worth the risk in Spike’s case, as it has been found that he is a record breaker.

“Lionfish were originally found in the Indo-Pacific regions but they became popular in the aquarium trade and have since spread worldwide.” Paul explained.

“They are bought when small but grow rapidly and often outgrow their tanks, leading to owners releasing them rather than killing their beloved pet.”

“In the Caribbean they are now at such high numbers they are considered a pest and their capture for the table and recreational fishing is being actively encouraged.

“We’ve done a lot of research and as far as we know, the largest recorded lionfish ever caught is 17 ½ inches long.”

The vet at the zoo, who makes her rounds at all the public aquariums around the UK, has commented that the two lionfish are the biggest she has seen, and many other people in the industry have made the same comment.

Congratulations Spike!

Herbert Nitsch - Picture by Eirik Solheim

Herbert Nitsch, a daredevil freediver, is getting ready to break his own world record by taking 1000 foot dive toward the bottom of the ocean, taking in only a single breath of air while contracting his lungs to the size of a tennis ball.

Wearing nothing but a standard issue wetsuit, Herbert Nitsch is planni9ng to strap himself to a plank and use a rope to guide him into the murky depths off of Greece in November, minimizing movement needed to do so.

While he fights to stay conscious in the mounting pressure of the water, he will be letting an airbag go to pull him back to safety. In order to survive on a single breath of air, Nitsch has developed the uncanny ability to slow down his heart rate and put a lid on his breathing reflex.

The pressures he will be facing are extraordinary. At the bottom of the dive, he will be subjected to pressures of 450 pounds per square inch, that is ten times more than your standard car tire.

Back in 2007, the Australian airline pilot got to an amazing depth of 702 feet, using a technique which involved him moving his essential organs into his chest cavity to protect them from the pressure, however the biggest risk he will face is a buildup of nitrogen in his blood, which can cause narcosis.

If successful, this dive will be the world record, and it will probably remain so for a long time to come.