NORWAY ML - An angler has smashed the world record for the biggest halibut fish ever caught on rod and line.
The enormous flat fish tipped the scales at a whopping 37 stones - heavier than a wild gorilla. It was caught by Marco Liebenow who jokingly thought he had hooked into a submarine when the monster halibut took his bait. After taking 90 minutes reeling it towards the surface, the 9ft long fish was too big to haul onboard his small boat in Norway. So he and three friends tied a rope around its tail and towed it back to shore where it had to be hoisted on to the quayside by a crane.
It weighed in at 513lbs, easily beating the existing record of 419lbs for an Atlantic halibut as recognised by the International Game Fishing Association.