A San Diego angler last Sunday battled a massive swordfish for nearly five hours and returned to port in the dark with a potential record catch.
The swordfish landed by Luc Ofield tipped the San Diego Marlin Club scale at 666.2 pounds. A second weigh-in recorded a weight of 663.8 pounds.
The current California record stands at 520 pounds, for a swordfish caught off San Diego in October 2023. (It can take weeks for the state to review new record submissions.)
“After a 4.5 hours long battle with the gladiator of the sea, Luc and Dave managed to subdue this monster of a Swordfish!” the San Diego Marlin Club announced Monday via Instagram. “666.2 lbs weighed at the Marlin Club last night and it looks like this will take the new California State Record Swordfish!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBdFfYmRWaN/
Ofield, who works at Angler’s Choice Tackle in San Diego, issued a statement Tuesday via Instagram, noting the lower weight and a longer fighting period:
“The ultimate battle with a Goliath of the sea! I have the utmost respect for this fish and the amazing battle it gave. 4 hours and 50 minutes of raw strength. Thanks to the boat skills of my buddy Dave, or this fish would have never made it to the scales.
“Thanks to Dylan, Michael, Todd, Jack, for helping record this piece of history once we reached the dock. 663.8 lbs! New pending state record. Still in shock.”
For comparison, the all-tackle world record stands at 1,182 pounds. That record, which might never be broken, was set in 1953 off Iquique, Chile.