Black Marlin - Max Size?

How big do they get?

I'd appreciate the thoughts of those with the experience or knowledge of others' experience (perhaps info from commmercial fishermen) on how big black marlin can get. For comparison, we have some evidence from Bart Miller that blue marlin can reach weights approaching 3,000 lbs.

I'd also like to know how large you think striped marlin and Pacific sailfish can get.

Any thoughts?

How big do they get?

I'd appreciate the thoughts of those with the experience or knowledge of others' experience (perhaps info from commmercial fishermen) on how big black marlin can get. For comparison, we have some evidence from Bart Miller that blue marlin can reach weights approaching 3,000 lbs.

I'd also like to know how large you think striped marlin and Pacific sailfish can get.

Any thoughts?

[Taksan]

Biggest Black ever sold through the Tokyo fish markets since 1964 was 961kg.
Largest caught by game fisherman was Neville Greens 17'11" short
measurement sharked 1461 pounder in 1976. That fish was 50% sharked by my reckoning and everyone who saw it agreed it was
2000 pounds intact. The head of that fish dawrfs Mick McGarths
1442 pound record (I won't discuss the phony Cabo blanco
world records for reasons obvious to everyone) its also bigger
then the sharked 1700 pounder caught in 1979 but that fish was
lightly sharked and of dubious measurements weighed at sea on
a mothership who's scales had been suspect for several seasons.
Striped I carn't remember from the Tokyo file but there's one in NZ thats easily 550 pounds on the wall of some pub.
Biggest Sailfish I've ever seen was caught at #5 Ribbon by a
Mackrel fisherman who later ran Game fishing boats. It was caught on a handline and weighed 237 pounds. Although there is
a photo of a sailfish in Chuck Mathers book Billfish that looks
bigger then that fish.

[Taksan]

Biggest Black ever sold through the Tokyo fish markets since 1964 was 961kg.
Largest caught by game fisherman was Neville Greens 17'11" short
measurement sharked 1461 pounder in 1976. That fish was 50% sharked by my reckoning and everyone who saw it agreed it was
2000 pounds intact. The head of that fish dawrfs Mick McGarths
1442 pound record (I won't discuss the phony Cabo blanco
world records for reasons obvious to everyone) its also bigger
then the sharked 1700 pounder caught in 1979 but that fish was
lightly sharked and of dubious measurements weighed at sea on
a mothership who's scales had been suspect for several seasons.
Striped I carn't remember from the Tokyo file but there's one in NZ thats easily 550 pounds on the wall of some pub.
Biggest Sailfish I've ever seen was caught at #5 Ribbon by a
Mackrel fisherman who later ran Game fishing boats. It was caught on a handline and weighed 237 pounds. Although there is
a photo of a sailfish in Chuck Mathers book Billfish that looks
bigger then that fish.

Thanks, Taksan. Great info! Hoped I'd get that kind of knowledge from you and/or some of the other regulars.

Assume the Tokyo black was dressed weight (headed, gutted, tailed), so how much do you think it would have weighed in the round? It must have been a lot more since blacks have such big heads.

By the way, I recently learned that black and blue marlin are quite different genetically, so different that they don't belong in the same genus. On the other hand, Atlantic white marlin are indistinguishable genetically from striped marlin. But whites reach perhaps 200 lbs., max. Stripes, as you say, can go well over 500 lbs. It's another puzzler.

Thanks, Taksan. Great info! Hoped I'd get that kind of knowledge from you and/or some of the other regulars.

Assume the Tokyo black was dressed weight (headed, gutted, tailed), so how much do you think it would have weighed in the round? It must have been a lot more since blacks have such big heads.

By the way, I recently learned that black and blue marlin are quite different genetically, so different that they don't belong in the same genus. On the other hand, Atlantic white marlin are indistinguishable genetically from striped marlin. But whites reach perhaps 200 lbs., max. Stripes, as you say, can go well over 500 lbs. It's another puzzler.

[Taksan]

They don't cut the heads off they sort of gill,bill and drill em'
I'd suggest it was a 2400-2500 pound fish certainly unusual for
a black to approach that size.
The sharked 1461 pounder had a massive head and the trademark
bump on it too!
Whites and Striped's are very different to look at I'd be surprised that there isn't at least some differences but both are basicaly just big sailfish with the sails.

[Taksan]

They don't cut the heads off they sort of gill,bill and drill em'
I'd suggest it was a 2400-2500 pound fish certainly unusual for
a black to approach that size.
The sharked 1461 pounder had a massive head and the trademark
bump on it too!
Whites and Striped's are very different to look at I'd be surprised that there isn't at least some differences but both are basicaly just big sailfish with the sails.

Taksan

I find it hard to believe that you find it hard to believe that Blacks can grow over 3000lb.Just because no one has ever seen one is unrealistic to think they don't exist,I think but don't know there would be stories that some Japanese longliners could tell of fish that just "SMASHED" them back in the early 70's up in area E before they were banned from there, and these are the fish are just to big to comprehend and handle on anything.To me it just nice to think that these Coral sea super girls do exist.However, with the awefull caning that has ensued since then I do believe that time is running out for the super fish, the small girls just aren't getting the chance to grow and max out and our chances of ever seeing one are deminishing ever day.
A question to you,as you have fished the Cairns-Lizard Island ares extensively for a long time, is it your experience that encounters with truely huge fish has deminished over time?
The comment on the phoney Cabo fish back in the fifties, it wasn't obvious to me,what happened? the fish were never caught or they didn't weigh their stated weights or was it that they were caught on illegal tackle? These were the fish that got me into gamefishing as a kid,even before Cairns was "discovered".Tell me more!

Prof.

Taksan

I find it hard to believe that you find it hard to believe that Blacks can grow over 3000lb.Just because no one has ever seen one is unrealistic to think they don't exist,I think but don't know there would be stories that some Japanese longliners could tell of fish that just "SMASHED" them back in the early 70's up in area E before they were banned from there, and these are the fish are just to big to comprehend and handle on anything.To me it just nice to think that these Coral sea super girls do exist.However, with the awefull caning that has ensued since then I do believe that time is running out for the super fish, the small girls just aren't getting the chance to grow and max out and our chances of ever seeing one are deminishing ever day.
A question to you,as you have fished the Cairns-Lizard Island ares extensively for a long time, is it your experience that encounters with truely huge fish has deminished over time?
The comment on the phoney Cabo fish back in the fifties, it wasn't obvious to me,what happened? the fish were never caught or they didn't weigh their stated weights or was it that they were caught on illegal tackle? These were the fish that got me into gamefishing as a kid,even before Cairns was "discovered".Tell me more!

Prof.