'It was a bit of a fight': Teen with broken collarbone hooks 360kg black marlin

Wyatt Johnston with the 364kg black marlin. Photo / Wyatt Johnston

By RNZ

Whakatāne teenager Wyatt Johnston says it was tiring but fun to catch a potentially record-breaking fish while nursing a broken collarbone.

Johnston, 15, is on track to break the record for a New Zealand junior on a 37 line class after catching a black marlin weighing more than 360kg yesterday.

The feat is made more remarkable by the fact that he had fallen off a motorbike and broken his collarbone two days before.

He said he could not use his left arm, but relied on the strength in his legs to help land the fish. It took more than two hours from hooking to landing.

"It was a bit of a fight without my left hand, left arm and all that, but I just set my hand on the reel, spread the line and then used my right hand to crank it in," he said.

Read More

• Teen angler lands 302kg blue marlin a pending world record - NZ Herald
• Unusual beaching of large marlin in Napier puzzles experts - NZ Herald
• Video: 425.8kg black marlin caught off Bay of Islands 'catch of the decade' - NZ Herald
• 'The king of the ocean, I've conquered it': 12-year-old revels in 100kg-plus marlin off Hawke's...

"It's definitely a big fish but it's just knowing what I was doing, using my legs instead of trying to use just my arms to pull it in. It was more my legs."

Waytt said it was the third black marlin brought over the Whakatāne bar and the first in 15 years.

He said his junior record was in the process of being verified and could take up to two weeks to confirm.

The fish will be divided among family and friends, Wyatt said.

- RNZ