Fishermen stunned after catching monster 7ft halibut off coast of Scotland

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A group of fishermen were left stunned after hauling in a monster 7ft halibut off the coast of Scotland. Lewis Thompson, 30, and his crew pulled the huge fish onto their trawler boat from Scottish waters in the North Atlantic Ocean over the weekend.Weighing in at 120kgs, or 260 pounds, and longer than any crewman, the catch was one of the biggest ever brought in by the team.A typical female Atlantic Halibut weighs on average between 100 to 150 pounds (45kg-68kg), while males tend to be smaller.The fishermen believe the prized fish will sell for around £800 alone at market - and will provide plenty of fish suppers.One picture shows a beaming Lewis, lying posed up next to the fish to demonstrate the creature's size.Lewis told the Record: "I've been a fisherman for 10 years but I've only ever seen a halibut this size once.

They aren't common."They halibut we catch normally vary between 5kg and 40kg."Lewis and his crew filmed the moment they lowered the huge catch onto the packaging area of the boat.The brilliant footage shows a stunned Lewis, standing proudly next to the fish.Lewis is the hold man on the ship and his job is to package the fish into 40kg boxes - but this catch was so big it had to be tied up and taken off board.Lewis said: "Its a Greenland halibut, and because it was 7ft, we had to put it across the top of the boxes at the back and tie it up.""We catch a range of different fish.

Haddock, monk and cod are the main ones but our main target is haddock."I'm not sure how much we'll get for this one but we sold one a similar size two years ago for £800."