Charter boat hauls in 1,260-pound blue marlin believed to be East Coast’s largest catch

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Damon Sacco had never seen anything like the fish he and fellow anglers fought for hours in the waters off Massachusetts.

Key points

• Sacco and his client Walter Chapman landed what they and others believe is the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught off the U.S.
• Sacco, a longtime Massachusetts charter fishing boat captain, saw the giant fin break the surface, and at first he thought he was dealing with an enormous shark.
• "Then I got a better look at it and thought, dang, that thing's pointed, " he remarked.

"Then I got a better look at it and thought, dang, that thing's pointed, " he remarked. "But that's too big for a marlin."

He was wrong. Sacco and his client Walter Chapman landed what they and others believe is the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever caught off the U.S. East Coast on Wednesday. The massive billfish, more than 11 feet (335 cm) in length, weighed 1, 260 pounds (571.5 kilograms) when they obtained it back to land in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

That was just 142 pounds (64.4 kilograms) shy of the world record for an Atlantic blue marlin, caught off Brazil in 1992, according to records kept by the International Game Fish Association.

For now, charter boat hauls in 1, 260-pound blue marlin believed to be East Coasts remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.