Photo: Joel Kayakangler Facebook page

Joel Abrahamsson, from Gothenburg, Sweden, recently caught a 15′ long 1,247 pound Greenland shark while fishing from a kayak near the island of Andoria, in Norway.  The catch sets a new world record for a fish caught with a rod and reel from a kayak.

The Greenland shark is very rare, living in the deep and cold waters of the Arctic.  To catch the shark, Abrahamsson lowered 1,600 of line, baited with eight pounds of coalfish as bait, from his kayak.  When the shark bit, it took Abrahamsson an hour and a half to reel in the huge fish, which weighed as much as an adult polar bear and is believed to be up to 200 years old.

Abrahamsson was accompanied by a support boat staffed by marine scientists from Havfiskeinstitut Norge. The scientists measured the shark, before releasing it.   The Greenland shark is a protected species.  As the weight of the shark was estimated  based on its size and standard weight formulas rather than by using a certified scale, the record remains unofficial. The largest fish caught from a kayak and measured by a certified scale remains the 225-pound blue marlin caught off the big island of Hawaii in 2010 by Andy Cho.

Joel Abrahamsson and a friend celebrate kayak fishing history “Norway-style.”

“It is hard to compare different species. I am sure a marlin a quarter the size of this Greenland shark would be at least equally tough to fight. I think it is hard to guess a general weight maximum,” Abrahamsson is quoted as saying. He also laid out a new personal goal.

“My next dream is to catch a 225-pound Atlantic halibut,” he said.

Abrahamsson was fishing from a Jackson Big Rig fishing kayak when he caught the shark.