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IGFA All-Tackle World Record Fish

Every IGFA all-tackle world record certified by the International Game Fish Association - with angler name, catch location, date, and weight in both kg and lbs.

World Records

1,208 kg

Heaviest Catch

1865

Oldest Record

2020

Most Recent

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🏆 Heaviest 📅 Oldest 🆕 Most Recent 🔤 Name A–Z

20 records

Mekong giant catfish

Pangasianodon gigas

👤 Reported catch 📍 Chiang Khong, Thailand 📅 2005

CR 💧 Freshwater 645.95 lbs ALL

Arapaima

Arapaima gigas

👤 Jakub Vagner 📍 Rewa River, Guyana 📅 2009

DD 💧 Freshwater 350.01 lbs ALL

Wels catfish

Silurus glanis

👤 Attila Zsedely 📍 Po Delta, Italy 📅 2010

LC 💧 Freshwater 317.91 lbs ALL

Alligator gar

Atractosteus spatula

👤 Bill Valverde 📍 Rio Grande, Texas 📅 1951

LC 💧 Freshwater 278.99 lbs ALL

Nile perch

Lates niloticus

👤 William Toth 📍 Lake Nasser, Egypt 📅 2000

LC 💧 Freshwater 229.99 lbs ALL

Goonch

Bagarius yarrelli

👤 Jakub Vagner 📍 Ramganga River, India 📅 2009

VU 💧 Freshwater 164.91 lbs ALL

Mississippi paddlefish

Polyodon spathula

👤 James Depriest 📍 Oahe Reservoir, South Dakota 📅 2020

VU 💧 Freshwater 145.48 lbs ALL

Blue catfish

Ictalurus furcatus

👤 Richard Nicholas Anderson 📍 Kerr Reservoir, Virginia 📅 2011

LC 💧 Freshwater 144.01 lbs ALL

Flathead catfish

Pylodictis olivaris

👤 Ken Paulie 📍 Elk City Reservoir, Kansas 📅 1998

LC 💧 Freshwater 123.00 lbs ALL

Giant tigerfish

Hydrocynus goliath

👤 Raymond Houtmans 📍 Zaire River, Democratic Republic of Congo 📅 1988

LC 💧 Freshwater 97.00 lbs ALL

Lake trout

Salvelinus namaycush

👤 Lloyd Bull 📍 Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories 📅 1995

LC 💧 Freshwater 71.98 lbs ALL

Cachama

Colossoma macropomum

👤 Gilberto Fernandes 📍 Amazon River, Brazil 📅 1996

NT 💧 Freshwater 71.50 lbs ALL

Muskellunge

Esox masquinongy

👤 Louis Spray 📍 Hayward, Wisconsin 📅 1949

LC 💧 Freshwater 67.48 lbs ALL

Channel catfish

Ictalurus punctatus

👤 W. B. Whaley 📍 Santee Cooper Reservoir, South Carolina 📅 1964

LC 💧 Freshwater 58.00 lbs ALL

Northern pike

Esox lucius

👤 Lothar Louis 📍 Grefeern Lake, Germany 📅 1986

LC 💧 Freshwater 55.12 lbs ALL

Speckled pavon

Cichla temensis

👤 Andrea Zaccherini 📍 Rio Negro, Brazil 📅 1994

LC 💧 Freshwater 29.08 lbs ALL

Walleye

Sander vitreus

👤 Mabry Harper 📍 Old Hickory Lake, Tennessee 📅 1960

LC 💧 Freshwater 25.00 lbs ALL

Largemouth black bass

Micropterus salmoides

👤 George Perry / Manabu Kurita (tied) 📍 Georgia USA / Lake Biwa Japan 📅 1932

LC 💧 Freshwater 22.24 lbs ALL

Smallmouth bass

Micropterus dolomieu

👤 David Hayes 📍 Dale Hollow Lake, Kentucky 📅 1955

LC 💧 Freshwater 11.93 lbs ALL

American yellow perch

Perca flavescens

👤 C. C. Abbott 📍 Bordentown, New Jersey 📅 1865

LC 💧 Freshwater 4.21 lbs ALL

Fish World Records: The History, Science, and Legend of Record-Breaking Catches

Few pursuits in the natural world combine human determination, ecological knowledge, patience, and raw luck in quite the way that chasing fish world records does. The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) - the global authority on world fishing records - maintains meticulous records covering more than 1,000 species across dozens of line classes, tackle categories, and fishing methods. Behind each record entry is a story: a moment on the water when something extraordinary happened, when the fish of a lifetime appeared on the end of a line, and when everything had to go right for both the angler and the weigh station to produce a number that might stand for decades.

The International Game Fish Association and Its Standards

The IGFA was founded in 1939 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, championed by pioneering ocean conservationist and author Michael Lerner. Its founding purpose - to develop and maintain international fishing records while promoting the sport of fishing and the conservation of game fish - remains its mission today. The IGFA's headquarters is now at the International Game Fish Association Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum in Dania Beach, Florida, which houses an extraordinary collection of fishing history including tackle, trophies, photographs, and documented records dating back to the organisation's earliest years.

Record applications are subject to rigorous verification. The catch must be witnessed, the fish weighed on certified scales, and the terminal tackle (line, leader, hook) submitted for laboratory testing to verify it meets the appropriate line class standards. The angler's equipment must comply with IGFA regulations throughout the fight - rods held continuously, gaffs used only in legal positions, no prohibited assistance from other anglers during the fight itself. A false claim, once investigated, permanently disqualifies the applicant from future record consideration.

Records are maintained across multiple categories. The All-Tackle record - the heaviest specimen of a species ever landed on any tackle, the category most people know - is the most prestigious. Line class records cover catches on lines tested to specific breaking strengths (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 30, 37, 50, 60, 80, and 130-pound classes), allowing lighter-tackle catches of large fish to be recognised on equal terms with heavier gear. Fly fishing and tippet class records cover catches on fly tackle, while junior angler records recognise achievements by anglers under 16.

The Heaviest Fish Ever Caught on Rod and Line

The greatest fish world records in absolute size are held by species whose sheer scale defies imagination. The black marlin (Istiompax indica) all-tackle record - 1,560 pounds (707.6 kg) - was set by Alfred Glassell Jr. off Cabo Blanco, Peru on August 4, 1953, and remains one of the most storied catches in game fishing history. Cabo Blanco in the early 1950s was the pre-eminent big-game fishing destination in the world, attracting Ernest Hemingway among others, and Glassell's catch came at the height of this golden era. This record has stood for over 70 years, suggesting it may never be broken.

The Atlantic bluefin tuna record - 1,496 pounds (678.6 kg), set by Ken Fraser at Aulds Cove, Nova Scotia in 1979 - is similarly remarkable for its longevity. Northern bluefin aggregate in the waters off Nova Scotia in late summer, feeding voraciously on mackerel and herring before their southward migration, and reach weights unmatched by any other commercially fished species. Fraser's fish took hours to subdue and remains one of the great achievements in game fishing.

For freshwater species, the Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas) holds claim to the largest freshwater fish ever documented - a specimen weighing 646 pounds (293 kg) caught in the Mekong River in 2005 - though this was not taken on conventional sport fishing tackle. Among confirmed IGFA records, the arapaima (Arapaima gigas), the giant freshwater stingray, and the Nile perch represent the largest freshwater records on rod and line.

Records by Fishing Method: Fly and Light Tackle

Some of the most technically impressive fish world records are not the heaviest catches but those achieved with the lightest tackle. Landing a large fish on ultra-light line requires exceptional angling skill - maintaining constant but appropriate pressure, reading the fish's movements, and keeping tension on a line with a breaking strength sometimes measured in single-digit pounds against a fish weighing hundreds. These records are treated with special admiration in angling circles precisely because the achievement is almost entirely one of skill rather than equipment or brute force.

Fly fishing records occupy a distinctive place in the record books. Catching any saltwater species on fly tackle - requiring the fish to come within casting range, the fly to be presented naturally, and the entire fight conducted without reel drag that compares to conventional tackle - is challenging under any circumstances. Records in tarpon, bonefish, and permit on fly are considered among the most technically demanding in sport fishing, attracting specialists who devote careers to these single-species pursuits.

Conservation and Catch-and-Release

The relationship between world record fishing and conservation has evolved considerably over the IGFA's history. In the mid-20th century, bringing large fish to the dock and hanging them for photographs was the norm regardless of the species' conservation status. Today, the IGFA actively promotes catch-and-release and maintains separate record categories specifically for fish released alive, recognising that the greatest game fish are too valuable to be killed for a record. Many species that are the subjects of record attempts - blue marlin, giant bluefin tuna, tarpon - are the same species under significant conservation pressure, making catch-and-release not just ethically desirable but essential for the long-term health of the sport itself.

Modern tagging and satellite tracking programmes have revealed extraordinary things about game fish movement and biology that have transformed conservation strategy. Atlantic bluefin tuna tagged in Gulf of Mexico spawning grounds have been tracked crossing to the Mediterranean and back within a single season - knowledge that transformed international fisheries management and underpins trans-Atlantic cooperation that has allowed eastern Atlantic bluefin populations to begin recovering. The fish that inspire world record attempts are the same fish that drive scientific interest and conservation investment.