ANGLER Erik Axner celebrates hauling in this enormous 2.1m halibut fish — by jumping in the water to pose for pictures with it.
Erik was on a fishing trip with friends Jonathan Jansson and Martin Bamberg when he hooked the mammoth halibut, the world’s biggest species of flatfish.
The 24-year-old Swede fought the gigantic fish for over an hour before finally getting the better of it — and when he weighed it, the fish tipped the scales at a whopping 101kg.
Because the halibut was so huge it couldn’t be pulled out of the water for photos — so Erik secured the halibut to the side of the boat using rope and jumped in in his drysuit instead.
“The fish was so powerful that it took me an hour to get the better of it.
“By the time I got the fish to the boat my arms were aching and my back was pretty tired as well.
“It was an unbelievable experience.”
An average Atlantic halibut can measure 4.5 metres in length, so looks like this fish still had some growing to do, and was set free after Axner had hauled it in, adding, “After we took some photos we released the fish to fight another day.
