Teen lands massive 263.5kg swordfish off Tasmania’s East Coast

A 16-YEAR-OLD boy has hauled in a huge 263.5kg swordfish off Tasmania’s East Coast.

A 263.5kg swordfish caught about 35km off TasmaniaÂ’s East Coast by 16-year-old Kyle Longmore, should make the Australian game fishing community sit up an take notice, said Leo Miller, who helped to pioneer the fishery last year.

Mr Miller, who takes his mates out fishing aboard his 7m boat ChoonaChasa, said Kyle had wrestled with the fish for about six hours during Saturday’s Coles Bay Classic fishing competition, before they were able to inch the boat close enough to haul it aboard.

Mr Miller said it was not quite as big as the 322kg monster caught in New Zealand waters the day before, but proof that Tasmania was home to some really big fish.

About two years ago he and some mates, who called themselves Team ChoonaChasa, set out from Eaglehawk Neck to prove the majestic fish were out there. He said last summer, after a lot of research and trial and error, they finally “cracked the code” for catching swordfish. In June, they landed a whopper about 3m long, weighing an estimated 170kg, which was released.

News_Image_File: The swordfish will be finding its way to the dinner table.News_Image_File: Kyle Longmore with skipper Leo Miller, left, and Simon Turner and the 263.5kg swordfish.

The record fish was taken for the table, but Mr Miller said most of the time the ChoonaChasa chose to tag and release fish and they planned to co-operate with an Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies satellite tracking study, beginning later this year.

Mr Miller said he expected a sustainable swordfish fishery to provide a much needed economic boost to the East Coast, with the potential to lure game fishers from all over the world.

“Tasmania is rapidly becoming a game fishing hot spot,” he said.

Mr Miller said instead of going to Florida to catch a swordfish, they could come to Tasmania.

Another swordfish, caught by Choona Chaser the previous weekend, weighed in at 188kg.