WATCH ABOVE: Joel Smith spotted the 413 pound Marlin off the coast of Point Loma and decided to take the shot of a lifetime. Barbara-Lee Edwards reports.
San Diego native Joel Smith isn’t the first fisherman to claim he caught ‘the big one.’ After all, “pics or it didn’t happen,” as the saying goes. Well, Smith now has pictures of a record-breaking 413 pound Marlin catch.
The 33-year-old doorman at the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel has been free diving and spearfishing with his father for decades, according to a KFMB report, and the pair were out with at least one friend on the water eight days ago — 40 kilometres off the coast of Point Loma — when the younger of the two made the catch of a lifetime.
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“It came really close, kind of went broadside and looked at me and presented itself with a really good shot. I took a calculated risk and took the shot,” Smith said.
That shot reportedly landed him the biggest fish ever caught off the coast of San Diego.
But he also acknowledged that it was very risky to go toe-to-fin with the hulking fish. After all, Smith is a lean 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds, according to one report.
While attempting to swim his catch back to the boat, the blue marlin regained consciousness two separate times Smith said — the latter pulling him so hard from the boat he claimed he was water-skiing.
“Very dangerous situation,” he explained. “They most definitely can turn on you, if they feel threatened, and that definitely was a concern.”
Smith said he and his father eventually pulled the fish in to the boat with their bare hands.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Smith kept a low profile after landing the fish “because he feared negative reaction.” The father-son duo brought the giant marlin to Point Loma Seafoods where they had it weighed and smoked.
He was later handed 150 pounds worth of smoked marlin for his family and friends to eat.
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