iStockphoto / lillophoto
Within the saltwater fly fishing world angler Jeremy Block from Kenya is a living legend. Back in 2018, he became the first person to catch every billfish species on fly tackle in a single calendar year and now he’s made history again.
Last month in Kenya, Jeremy Block became the first-ever angler to catch a 100-pound swordfish on a fly rod. Previously, the IGFA fishing world record for swordfish on fly tackled was held by angler Fouad Sahiaoui who caught an 89-pounder back in 1998 on IGFA-approved fly tackle. On December 8th, Jeremy Block landed a 100 pound, 15 ounce swordfish on the North Kenya Banks to take over that fishing world record.
First reported by Marlin Magazine, the 100-pound and 15-ounce swordfish caught by Jeremy Block was hooked at 11:02 PM local time and miraculously only took the angler 32 minutes to get it into boat. Block shared his story with Marlin Mag where he notes that after the fight when trying to gaff the fish they missed on the first try and caused a big of mayhem.
The battle also started with the first-ever 100-pound swordfish on a fly rod charging toward the boat. Since they were fishing at night, this wasn’t immediately apparent and they flipped on the boat’s lights as the fish started peeling line. The captain wasn’t immediately able to kick the engine into gear and go after the fish to expedite the battle because he was worried they’d slice the fly line backing off in the dark.
When it was all said and done, he landed the first ever 100lb swordfish on a fly rod and it is now listed on the IGFA website as a pending fishing world record:
Angler Jeremy Block now holds three fly fishing world records for swordfish. He’s also the proud owner of 8lb tippet record for a 27lb, 9oz fish caught in 2021 as well as the 12lb tippet record which he set in March 2001.
I mentioned above that Jeremy was the first angler to catch every species of billfish on fly tackle in a single calendar year. Here he is celebrating that incredible achievement back in 2018:
He caught his Atlantic Blue Marlin and White Marlin in the Dominican republic. An Atlantic Sailfish was landed in Angola. Jeremy caught a Broadbill Swordfish in Kenya and a Short-Billed Spearfish off Hawaii which is really the best place in the world to target that species. He then landed a Striped Marlin in Port Stevens, Australia and completed the feat with a Black Marlin in Exmouth, Australia… All on fly tackle. Truly unreal.