Scooter Anderson of Houston, Texas, caught a 1,145 pound blue marlin on October 18 that should crush the Alabama state record for the species and may be a record for the Gulf of Mexico as well. Anderson landed the massive billfish aboard the “Best Trait” with Captain Chris Mowad and crew out of Orange Beach, Alabama. It reportedly took him about two hours to reel in the grander, which died during the fight.
According to a Facebook post from the MONGO Offshore Challenge, “Best Trait” was out “fun fishing” when Anderson hooked up. The boat was among the participants in the 2023 MONGO tournament, which concluded on September 30. The post reported the fish’s measurements as 139 inches by 84 inches and noted that the giant is likely the first grander marlin caught in the Gulf in many years.
“Running out of places to pinch myself,” Mowad posted on his Facebook page. “I’ve been dreaming of a fish like this my entire life but it hardly seemed possible. My pops gave me a lucky coin a few weeks back and said that I was going to turn my luck around.”
Mowad believes the blue marlin is the biggest ever caught in the Gulf of Mexico in addition to capturing the Alabama state record. The current state record blue marlin was reeled in by Ginger Myers in 2020 and weighed 851.9 pounds, nearly 300 pounds lighter than Anderson’s catch. The IGFA all-tackle world record is a 1,402-pounder caught in 1992 in Brazil.
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The Orange Beach community website reported that “Best Trait,” a 55-foot Viking, was fishing about 125 miles offshore. Anderson was reportedly using a live blackfin tuna as bait on 130-pound test line.
“We had to call another boat in to help us drag the fish; that’s when we knew we had a good one,” Anderson told WKRG News on October 19, as the marlin was weighed at the Mobile Big Game Fishing Club dock. “We dream about fish like this. There is nothing like it. Once in a lifetime, for sure.”
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