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Blast from the Past - 47lb Snapper

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote josh@nzfishingnews.co.nz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Blast from the Past - 47lb Snapper
    Posted: 07 Sep 2021 at 4:50pm
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NZ Fishing News - November 1996


'Howard's Monster' 

"Taking into account that Howard Marriott is a big man, this photo does little justice to his huge snapper. Not only did it weigh 21.32kg (47lb), but it was caught on a surf rod off the beach, on only 12kg line.

Howard was on his way to Napier from Gisborne to see his father, now in a home. On the way there Howard took his surf rod and cast a line out for a short try.

Coming into Napier's northern beaches is a little spot called Whirinaki, where the timber mill gives off it's tell-tale plumes of white smoke. It is one of Howard's favourite spots.

A little before 9am, Howard cast his line out, baited with a paddle crab. He has taken the legs off and double hooked it. It was quite calm, and conditions were good.

Only minutes later, in view of the main highway north, Howard's rod buckled over with a mighty run. For three-quarters of an hour he coaxed the big red in, but owing to the lip on the water's edge Howard struggled to actually beach the fish. He was thrilled to see its size.

On past otolith bone samples, this fish was probably around 70 years old. Although it would have blown away any lightweight world records, Howards just took a few photos, gutted it and ate it. 

Image caption: Howard Marriott with the 21.32kg snapper caught on a surf rod on 12kg line off Whirinaki Beach, Hawke's Bay. The fish was 1.2m around, and the fillets from it - yes, it was chopped up and eaten - were 17cm thick."

By Alain Jorion

Does anyone else have any unofficial world record breaking stories?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Reel Deal Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Sep 2021 at 5:30pm
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Napier!, of all places now a fish desert of sized snaps due to bad quota limits and commercial fraud over decades. Hope that area is on the mend. Hell of a fish that 
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Muppet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Sep 2021 at 5:34pm
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I like that. Heard stories from a few guys about monster snapper.

Wasn’t it Milan from the fishing show who dropped a monster years ago?
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote jac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Sep 2021 at 5:40pm
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Epic!
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Sep 2021 at 6:50pm
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Of all the big snapper pics at least that one isn't a victim of perspective. What a cool pic
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Marligator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2021 at 5:44pm
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Had a bit of a play with the photo, and assuming he is a big man with big hands, you can see his thumb down to the knuckle in the photo. Now you can use the thumb to scale the length of the fish. This fishes short length is approximately 12.9 times the length of the thumb. In the image below I have put the estimated length of the fish for 3 different thumb lengths. My thumb length is 70mm so this would put the fish at 90cm so would be close to 30lb, if about 75mm then length would be 96cm and probably close to 40 and at 80mm would be 103cm and 45lb plus.


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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2021 at 6:29pm
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Hehe nice work Detective Marligator. I reckon that is a genuine BIG fish. So many 'big' fish are all out of perspective
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote smudge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2021 at 6:29pm
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Time for Skoti to post up his giant gurnard.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Muppet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2021 at 6:35pm
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I am looking at the tail wrist most of all and that looks easy the biggest I have ever seen on a snapper
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Pcj Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2021 at 7:16pm
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Maligator could easily be right.one handed with 47 lb??

National record 32.5lb
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Moots Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2021 at 8:17pm
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Originally posted by Pcj Pcj wrote:

Maligator could easily be right.one handed with 47 lb??

National record 32.5lb

Mark Hemingway's 37lb is all tackle record
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Skoti Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Sep 2021 at 9:22pm
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Originally posted by smudge smudge wrote:

Time for Skoti to post up his giant gurnard.
COVID is no joke !
One former patient was so brain damaged after , he thought he won an election he lost by 7 million votes .
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