Possible World-Record Halibut Caught In Alaska

Photo by Isaac Wedin

Details are sparse, but an Alaska man who contacted us claims he caught a world-record halibut in Prince William Sound. The man, who identified himself only as Oli – he says he immigrated to Alaska from Norway and is the son and grandson of Scandinavian fishermen  who have harvested the waters off Bergen, Norway in the North Sea for over 70 years. The official IGFA all-tackle record of 459 pounds was caught off Alaska in Dutch Harbor in 1996. Oli says his fish easily hit 500 pounds and he has sent a private photo to IGFA to have it verified.

This is what Oli had to say:

“Odin was kind to me today. I was trolling in my boat, Oslo Forever, with my good friend Isaac, when our rods bent with the force that makes a man of Nordic faith think about Valhalla. We knew this was a Ragnar-sized behemoth at the bottom of the sea and only my belief in the Vikings – I’m still damn bitter that NFC Championship game loss in Philadelphia still has my family filling fjords with their tears – allowed us to pull in this massive halibut into our boat, where we not only needed a pistol but Thor’s hammer itself to finish off this  beautiful beast that Odin himself created.”

Oli says the fish will not only feed every resident of his small Southcentral Alaska village, he decided to ship 100 pounds’ worth of fillets to the Bergen Sons of Loki annual fish fry in the Oslo suburbs.

Gratulerer and Skol, Oli

Happy Easter, everyone. And don’t forget to update your calendars as it’s now April 1.