Steve Ace was on holiday in Norway when he landed his monster catch. The giant halibut was sliced into 56 fillets worth £1,000 at the fish market however, Steve handed out the fillets to locals where the fish was landed.
He said: ‘Catching this fish was an absolute battle and exhausting’
By Ben Wilkinson for the Daily Mail
After a gruelling half hour struggle, it took two men to haul this enormous halibut to the shore and heave it on to the scales.
The 97lb giant flat fish was then sliced up into 56 fillets – worth £1,000 at the fish market – and given away to locals in the Norwegian town where it was reeled in.
The 5ft 6ins halibut is thought to be the second largest ever to be caught from the shore with the record standing at 112lbs.
Steve Ace, pictured with his monster catch, managed to land the halibut which was worth £1,000
It was landed by British angler Steve Ace, 51, towards the end of a 10-day fishing trip.
He said: ‘When she first broke the surface I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was an awesome sight, a monster halibut.’
STEVE ACE’S MONSTER CATCH
Steve Ace’s halibut is the second largest ever to be caught by an angler standing on the shore.
The record for a shore caught halibut stands at 111lb 15oz and was reeled in near Bodo, Norway, by Briton Simon Smith in 2014.
The largest halibut ever caught was a 513lb monster hauled onto a boat from deep seas off Norway in 2013.
Their native habitat is the Northern Atlantic, from Greenland to the Barents Sea and as far South as the Bay of Biscay.
It is thought they can reach up to 15ft in length and live for up to 50 years.
Their diet is usually other fish like cod, haddock and herring. They face predation from seals and the Greenland shark.
Mr Ace, who works in a fishing tackle shop in Bristol, was with friend Gary Withey near the Norwegian town of Bodo when his line was snagged by the 4ft wide fish.
He said when the beast caught his line it felt like he had caught a Ford Transit van.
He said: ‘Catching this thing was an absolute battle and was exhausting. When a fish that big takes your line you have to take your time otherwise it is gone, but it was intense. It was like hanging on to a Ford Transit.
‘It was a massive relief to pull it in. There was a lot of pressure on my rod, but even more on my bad back.
‘I’ve been euphoric ever since, it was the perfect end to a 10 day fishing bender.’
It took both men to lift the monster onto the scales where it weighed a mighty 96lb 8oz.
Mr Ace’s giant catch comes just weeks after British angler Tom Ascott, from Sturminster Newton, Dorset, hooked a world record 66lb shore-caught cod in Norway.
Steve Ace, pictured, said he could not believe his eyes when he was able to reel in the massive halibut
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