231-pound Halibut
Credit: DeepStrike Sportfishing
A 231-pound Halibut was caught by Dirk Whitsitt during his first fishing trip in Cook Inlet off Homer, Alaska.
It reportedly took about 45 minutes before the massive fish was taken out from a 370 feet deep of water.
Whitsitt turned down a $250 voucher offer, from Captain David Bayes of DeepStrike Sportfishing, in exchange for the monster fish.
According to Bayes he usually "offer fishermen a free trip if they opt to release a halibut of that size, but the angler was not interested. That was the third halibut over 200 pounds that we’ve caught in the last month. One was estimated at 225 pounds and released. The other was 236 pounds and is the current Homer Halibut Jackpot Derby leader."
Bayes explained that during, "the end of the fight, the fish headed back toward the bottom and we had to release the anchor to follow the fish. We shot it three times with a .38 special and used three gaffs to pull it aboard."