179 Marlin and 1 sailfish released in one day - Cabo San Lucas Mexico - World record

[Jared D]

Damn, I am trying to catch one Marlin... let alone 180 of em! Thats a life time of fish in one day! Congrats. It seems hard to believe BECAUSE its such an amazing feat!

[Captain Fred Archer]

I know each of the four anglers well. In fact, the big, 6'5" gorilla leadering in the pictures is David Brackmann, who I have known and have fished with since he was a very young man. That's his brother Steve standing next to him. David and I are very close friends...almost family, in fact. He calls me "Uncle" and I call him "Nephew". David and Steve's family own a 41 Cabo based in Cabo named "Caliente". Chris Badsy, the owner of ReelAx is a world class wheelman and angler. These are world class anglers and absolute class acts who are deadly honest. I have talked to David since his return from "the trip" and he is beat up, but still all wired up from the experience. There is no doubt in my mind that these guys did what they said they did. And they are all nuts enough to do it, that's for sure.

And I want to be there, down in Mex, where street justice still rules and you better be bad enough to back up questioning a man's integrity (God, I loved that!) or you better not do it and someone picks any one of these three and tries calling him a liar to his face. The cops will be there in a flash, but not to break things up. Oh no, they'll bet on who wins and the loser gets to go to jail. Ah, yes, Mexican justice! I'll be having dinner with whichever of my buddies wins - and win they will, not a shred of doubt.

To give you an idea of just what fine examples of our sport these men are, the kind of real toughness that counts and why I am so proud to call them my friends, two years ago ago they abandoned participation in the biggest tuna tournament out here that they had won and placed multiple times in before and had every expectation of winning again and after a team vote, ran relentlessly and hard, day and night, only returning for fuel and hitting the waves again in search of a team of fishermen, including a diabetic in dire need of insulin who were aboard a rat shit boat that ran out of fuel, battery power and didn't know where they were and began to drift off to nowhere with the diabetic getting sicker and sicker.

Chris not only went for them, he went the only way that he knows - like his was looking for his own family, with no regard for his new Rampage, the weather and raging seas. He stood at the wheel and drove like a highly skilled madman for hour after hour, non-stop, no rest, no nothing but squinty-eyed determination to find those others. He tore the hell out of his new boat, himself and the Brackmann brothers while they crashed through terrifyingly big, breaking seas looking for those lost people, peddle to the metal the whole way.

I'll tell you something here and now, if you're ever lost at sea, you want these guys looking for you, no matter the conditions, the money at stake (they had a contender fish aboard that didn't get weighed in, but they didn't care) coming for you like hellfire and thunder! I was there. We got our asses kicked in a 65 footer I was hired to run...and it got a lot worse at night.

And they found them, far, far away.

To hell with all of those damned marlin. Few could do what they did as far as catching all of those fish, but far fewer still would abandon a tournament that they could and maybe should win to do what my friends did those long, hard days and nights. It defined these men in my mind and my pride and admiration for them has no bounds.

Good on ya, guys.

Oh, yeah...nice buncha fish.

[POON MAN]

Fred that is quite the testimonial for these guy's

The few conversations that I had with your "Nephew" David left no doubt he was a world class Sportsman!!!!

[LuckyDrew]

LuckyDrew

I don't doubt that they did it, and it is a great accomplishment. But please don’t call me an idiot and tell me STFU.

If they were backing right up to the ball and dropping/casting live bait with 30 foot leaders very likely sometimes the leader never came off the rod tip. It happened to us in Isla.

If you didn't doubt it you wouldn't have come across the way you did. You offered no congrats, you emphasized 30lb, and you made a smiley face that was anything but complimentary. And now you're trying to spin out of it. Chris and David have too much class to get into with doubters. I don't have that problem.

[FASTWATER]

What a day my best day bill fishing I was toasted after a dozen sails in Zihue and I am one big boy as Box would say "THE HORROR"!!!CONGRADULATIONS

[anthony]

It is certainly quite an accomplishment to catch and release that many fish but....it doesn't take a lot of skill (IMO) to back into a bait ball and hook up bills. Congratulations to the captain and crew...but let's keep in mind HOW it was done...in Isla you are not even allowed to back up into bait balls, got to troll dead bait and they still have caught 50 or 60 sails in a day. Not bashing...heck, I would have loved to have been there for it!!

[Squidnation]

Just curious, what was the old record?

[chumtini]

I bet I'm not the only one that would LOVE to see some video from the cockpit! Please, please, please

[Finnseeker]

I bet I'm not the only one that would LOVE to see some video from the cockpit! Please, please, please

I will get footage and it will be sent to the admin guys here to put up so you can see all 8 camera's and cockpit chaos.

[SeaBiscuit]

It is certainly quite an accomplishment to catch and release that many fish but....it doesn't take a lot of skill (IMO) to back into a bait ball and hook up bills. Congratulations to the captain and crew...but let's keep in mind HOW it was done...in Isla you are not even allowed to back up into bait balls, got to troll dead bait and they still have caught 50 or 60 sails in a day. Not bashing...heck, I would have loved to have been there for it!!

Hello captain Anthony. Don't want to stir the pot, but I don't get your point. Why are people not allowed to fish bait balls with bait? Why must one "troll"?
Didn't Peter Wright and his crew do 71 giants in one day "chunking" shad off Hatteras. I think he generally "trolls" too, but didn't for that record.
I think that this is absolutely incredible fishing. I would love to experience it myself someday and if I can live bait them, the hell with trolling them up! live bait fishing is the most exciting way to fish in my opinion and will outcatch "traditional" trolling most days, most places. I love and respect tradition a great deal, but love to catch and this was some very serious catching.
Congrats to the crew again. Bring on the video!
SeaBiscuit

PS. I'd love to see the Mexican High Seas police preventing folks from backing up to a bait ball!