Just waiting for the catch to be certified by IGFA. It's a shortspine thornyhead rockfish (Sebastolobus alascanus), caught on 7/22/15. It was 25" long & weighed 8.3# on the lodge's certified scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortspine_thornyhead

This catch is exceptional for me personally because it is so rarely caught by recreational fishermen - the typical catch is by deep water longliners at depths of 3,000 to 6,000 feet. I was deep dropping for sablefish at 1,400 feet with my Shimano TLD 30 II (the one in the holder to the left on the photo).

The current record is 5 lbs 1 oz.






Y'all know I'll be completely insufferable and impossible to be around once this gets certified as the official new record!

That thing will haunt my nightmares for years to come

Nice! Congrats, wicked looking fish!

Great job. Weird looking fish. Would make a heck of a mount.

dang zack, can't be something somewhat normal....?
congratulations, my friend

There is no normal when one is deep-dropping.
Normal, is what everyone else is, that you are not.
Normal fishermen do not deep drop.
Ergo, deep drop fish are not normal.
They are exceptional!

Congrats! That's a really cool fish.

Congrats... that is one RED fish LOL... Nice catch ... Giggem!

Uppp good job I'm going to catch a 20 lber next week hope I got my fish in license!

Just head south from the Galveston jetties until your GPS quits working, then drop a line with a bobber next to the first oil rig you see!

tell us about the fish? are they edible?

did it put up a fight? was it like a snapper where they fight like hell for about a 100 feet then once their air bladder gets distended then they are like dead weight?


whats it like reeling up a fish 1600 ft? deepest I've pulled up a fish is about 200 and that took awhile

From what I understand, they're a delicacy due to their high oil content. I've eaten sablefish, which also lives at similar depths, and it is phenomenal so I'm looking forward to trying it in a few days (once I get caught back up with the world).

The fish I catch from those depths just aren't able to put up a fight against the gear I'm using. 3 to 5 pounds of lead sinker kinda takes any fight feel out anyways. This is more like fishing for tilefish. It does take about 20 minutes to crank up that much line.

Very nice....Hope it breaks the record.....