In total darkness and under demanding conditions, Sebastian Rinaldo Pedersen (26) pulled ashore the 190-centimetre-long and 37.3-kilogram long eel. Probably the longest that has been taken on a pole in Norway, according to an expert.
The hobby fisherman was outside Bud Camping in Møre og Romsdal when he landed the giant snake. When the 26-year-old made the trip from his home in Stavanger this week, it was actually to catch skelblosme.
– I got the shell tusk on the first day, so then I decided to fish for a different species.
Pedersen’s hobby is species fishing – which is about catching as many different species of fish as possible. He hasn’t passed his boating test yet, so the fishing was done in a 14-foot dinghy.
Fought for 20 minutes
While the wind hit the bow of the boat, the 26-year-old dropped anchor. To catch the snake, he used a luminous snake – called a «lightsleeve» – and a mackerel on the hook. Then he sat down to wait.
LONGER LONG THAN LONG: The long long which Sebastian Rinaldo Pedersen pulled ashore outside Bud in Møre og Romsdal is longer than the fisherman himself. Pedersen (on the right) is 170 centimeters tall, while the long one measures 190 centimeters. Photo: Kristina Vaseng/private
– It was challenging enough because the boat was so small. If the boat had been bigger, it would not have been particularly difficult, says Pedersen to VG.
He fought for around 20 minutes to get the fish on board the dinghy.
– He didn’t want to go anywhere, and started swimming quite vigorously and pulling out the line. But once you get it far enough up, it explodes due to the pressure and floats to the surface, says Pedersen.
Lange is a species of fish in the tusk family. It thrives at depths of 300-400 meters, but can go as far down as 1,000 meters, according to Wikipedia.
Trouble with weighing
When the fish was safely on board – it had to be measured and weighed, of course. Easier said than done.
– The weight I had on board the boat was only 23 kilos. I managed to lift the head of the fish, then the weight was knocked out.
When he landed the fish, he had it hoisted up by tractor and then weighed and measured, thanks to two measuring tapes.
LEGENDARY LONG LANGE: In order to weigh the giant fish, it had to be hoisted onto a tractor – and Sebastian had to use two measuring tapes.
– How often do you weigh fish with a tractor?
– No, this is the first time, says Pedersen.
The 26-year-old is active in the species fishing community. At the time of writing, he has taken 138 different species. The best in Norway are just over 150 different species, VG is informed.
Expert: – Big catch
Former journalist in hooked.no, now employed by equipment manufacturer Seeberg, Endre Hopland, describes the capture of Sebastian as sensational.
– The Norwegian records are measured in weight – and not in length. But in comparison, the official Norwegian record weighed 46.2 kilograms and was «only» 182 centimeters long. I have a very good overview in Norway, and I don’t know of anyone who has caught one that is longer, says Hopland, who was also the first to mention the catch on Seebergs websites.
He says that the fish Pedersen caught would probably have been a Norwegian record if it had been caught around four months later.
– The heaviest are usually taken just before spawning and are full of roe. Had it been in season, the fish Sebastian would have probably weighed over 50 kilos, perhaps as much as 60 kilos, says Hopland.
He estimates that eels of around 40 kilos are caught in Norway approximately every three years.
Published on VG by Preben Sørensen Olsen
10. november 2022
