Kevin Gardner, right, landlord of the King's Head at Coltishall with a 1320lb Atlantic blue marlin caught off Ascension Island in the Atlantic. It was the best ever caught by a British angler and the fourth best of the species ever caught on rod and line.

Pub landlord Kevin Gardner reels in monster marlin... now for a great white shark!

Milton Lindsay Wednesday, March 6, 2013
3:22 PM

A Norfolk pub landlord may turn Jaws hunter after realising a lifetime’s ambition by catching a monster marlin.

Kevin Gardner, who runs the King’s Head at Coltishall, has a great white shark in his sights next, after hauling in a 1320lb Atlantic Blue marlin – the fourth biggest ever caught on rod and line and the best captured by a British angler.

The globe-trotting rodman caught the massive marlin, measuring six metres 20cm long from the tip of its bill to its tail, off Ascension Island. It was the highlight of a 10-day trip to the tiny volcanic speck in the Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and Africa.

When the giant predator snapped up his surface lure it was the start of a three-hour battle which left 49-year-old Kevin a near physical and emotional wreck and vowing never to put himself through such an ordeal orgain.

“Within the first 15 seconds it had stripped off 700 metres of line, it hit it that fast. From where we hooked it to where we got it to the boat was approximately five miles.”

Recalling the epic battle, conducted in the blazing 30 degree heat of the afternoon sun, Kevin said: “After about two hours I wished I had never hooked it. I was completely burned by the sun, I was suffering dehydration, I had blisters on my hands from all the reeling, my back ached and my feet were burned to a crisp. It really was hard work.”

The fish came to edge of the boat four times before speeding off again before finally being hauled in much to the relief of Kevin, his angling pal Phil Riley from Liverpool, and Olaf Grimkowksi, the German skipper of the boat Hamattan, a 36ft Rampage.

“When we landed it no-one really knew how big it was,” said Kevin, who was stunned when the fish was weighed on the quayside scales. “It was the end of a dream really,” said Kevin, who sold his house in Beaconsfield Road , Norwich in 1988 to fund a fishing trip to the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. After catching a black marlin of 750lb, he vowed to catch a monster blue marlin. Some 25 years later his mission was finally accomplished. Now talk has turned to the next challenge for a man hooked on sport fishing.

“We are discussing it at the moment. We can’t decide if we should go to South Africa to catch a great white shark or Nicaragua for a 250lb tarpon. One thing is for sure, I won’t be chasing blue marlin any more – that hurt too much!” Kevin made the nine and- a-half hour flight to Ascension Island, home to a British RAF base, on board a military plane from RAF Brize Norton. He described the sea around Ascension as an angler’s paradise, aided by the fact that there is a 200-mile commercial fishing exclusion zone around the seven-miles long island. Earlier in the trip he had another fight to remember when he caught a 234lb big-eye tuna, on the same trolling lure – a black bart abco prowler (12 inches long with a head the size of a coke can) – which accounted for the marlin.

The tuna was boated after an hour-long scrap on 130lb braided main line after diving to a depth of 600 metres.“It was a bit of a tug of war. You know when you have been in a scrap with one.”

Customers at the King’s Head, which Kevin has run for 17 years, have been able to share in his success as he had the fish filleted and brought it back and it is now on the menu. “It has been going down well,” said Kevin, who, with business partner Brian Gatley recently reopened the Red Lion pub in the village .

You won’t find a fish this big – but don’t miss the British Carp and Angling Show at the Norfolk Showground on March 16/17.

Marlin factfile

American author Ernest Hemingway was a keen marlin fisherman. His novel, the old Man and the Sea, tells of an ageing fisherman’s battle lasting over three days with a giant marlin off Cuba. Published in 1952 it was the last major work of fiction produced and published in his lifetime. The novel earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1952 and helped Hemingway to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.

The Atlantic Blue Marlin has few predators apart from the Great White Shark, the shortfin mako shark and man. It is considered a threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature because of commercial overfishing. The fish is under intense pressure from longline fishing.

Some other historic English names for the Atlantic blue marlin include ocean gar and ocean guard.

The Atlantic blue marlin feeds on a wide variety of organisms near he surface. It uses its bill to stun, injure or kill while knifing through a school of prey, then returns to eat.

Because of their relative rarity, beauty and sporting qualities marlin are considered one of the most prestigious catches a recreational fisherman can make. The sport-fishing pursuit of marlin and other billfish is a multi-million dollar industry that includes hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs.

The world record for a rod and line caught Atlantic blue marlin was 1400lb, caught off Brazil in 1992. Female marlin are more than four times as heavy as the males, which rarely exceed 350lb.

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean around 1,000 miles from the coast of Africa and 1400 miles from the coast of South America. It covers a total area of 34 square miles.

The island is the location for RAF Ascension Island, a Royal Air Force station with a United States Air Force presence. The island was used extensively by the British military during the Falklands War. The capital is Georgetown, its estimated population is 880 and the official language is English.

18 comments

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Mad Brewer

Monday, March 11, 2013
The fish has been filleted and brought back for the impoverished folk of Coltishall, Fortean, or do they mean the tuna? This Kevin bloke is the new JC for the starving of posh Norfolk. Did he supply bread, too? Loaves & Fishes. Should rename his pub(s).

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Mad Brewer

Sunday, March 10, 2013
The vegans objecting to this catch are perfectly justified. The anglers who advocate catch, tag and release are also correct. The problem sometimes arises in third world countries where the captain, rather than the angler dictates that the catch must be killed. The article in the Daily Mail did state that all the fish was distributed to the islanders and eaten. The reason for killing this fish is not stated, and it is easy to speculate. I know that when I fished off Bird Island (Seychelles) fish, other than billfish, were brought back for eating. There is not a great deal of farming on Bird Island. I was asked if I wanted a sailfish killed and I said “no”. This sort of fishing is a team effort and kill or tag is not always the choice of the angler who reeled the fish in. Whether to fish in such places and contribute to the local economy is an interesting moral dilemma. I have to say I have little patience with “fluffy bunny” vegetarians who decry killing animals, and yet dine on slabs of protein in a plastic wrapper because it does not look like an animal. Such creatures that provided that anonymous chunk of material will have had a shorter and nastier life than that marlin.

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The Fortean

Saturday, March 9, 2013
Is "The great white shark" a euphemism for a large, grasping pub landlord?

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Mad Brewer

Friday, March 8, 2013
No doubt a great achievement in angling terms but why didn't this heroic angler show some respect for his victim and simply tag it and let it go? Fish this size are exceptional and ieven the Americans put them back now. Shame on him for not doing so too.

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Tdub49

Friday, March 8, 2013
Been an angler all my life, even if I catch a trout I put it back. I suppose that is a bit hypocritical because I am happy to munch my way through cod and chips, anyway, this magnificent beast should have been released.

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John Bridge

Thursday, March 7, 2013
wow, really impressive , well done kevin, well jealous i was not there. mega fish. Cannot believe the idiots comments below,but hey this is norfolk.

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lisa

Thursday, March 7, 2013
Sorry, Mr. Isaacs. 2nd attempt blocked also. Where IS Coltishall? Off my map pubwise, now.

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Mad Brewer

Thursday, March 7, 2013
There is balance, Mr. Isaacson; it happened to me too. Agree with other posters on this topic.

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Mad Brewer

Thursday, March 7, 2013
I admire the man for stretching his meagre earnings as a poor publican in order to go out and murder this noble creature. Not. Agree with all (permitted) posters on this topic.

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Mad Brewer

Thursday, March 7, 2013
I find it extremely offensive that the moderator would reject my comment. You should give a balanced approach to your journalism.

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Ross Isaacs

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
I am a keen angler, but even I find the picture abhorrent. I thought most anglers, even big game anglers practised a catch and release policy. As a protest I shall not patronise either of his pubs again.

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John L Norton

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
A proudly gleaming, happy hunters face next to any dead creature is always a pitiful sight

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spark

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
A pointless act of cruelty.

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LARSON.E. WHIPSNADE

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
So he caught a beautiful fish which is considered to be a threatened species. Well done. Ian R ,I agree totally with you.

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norman hall

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
South Africa has recently made History by successfully convicting an angler who caught a Great white shark in these waters. As the great White is a protected species here there was a huge public outcry when the angler posed with his catch. Fortunately someone took his photo and he was subsequently identified charged and convicted of his crime. So much better that Mr Gardener take himself of to Nicaragua to fish, or alternatively come to South Africa we can teach him how to SCUBA dive and then he can really appreciate these magnificent creatures without stuffing it and putting on his pub wall.

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Iain R

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Great fish. Disapointing to read uninformed attacks about things people clearly dont understand. The vast majority of Billfish are returned, tagged for research, and free to swim away. I'm sure this fish will have ended up on someones dinner plate, much like any fish caught does. The person eating it knew it was fish, not something else too! I'm sure that Kevin and most people who fish know far more about, and respect their quarry, than some opinionated person who clearly has issues with people that make something of their lives and enjoy the spoils. People like Kevin make more of a difference to society than most. Good luck to him! (Next time Kevin - just take a picture and let it go)

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Longwater Supply

Wednesday, March 6, 2013
I don't know if I should credit this guy with arrogance, ignorance, or a measure of both. Billfish of any kind have been overfished to the point of threat to their existence. Sharks are in worse shape yet, with the great white being protected in apparently more civilized parts of the world. He has nothing to be proud of, but rather should go in shame and learn how fragile the oceans are.

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hidesert47

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

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