MIRI: A fisherman from Kampung Muhibbah in Kuala Baram landed a 200kg swordfish, which was caught in his fishing net near Baram A-Baram B oil rigs off Kuala Baram yesterday.
Hifni Ramli, 49, claimed it was the shock of his life to net a big fish.
The swordfish was in the fishing net when I came back to check this morning at 6am (yesterday), Hifni told The Borneo Post yesterday.
According to Hifni, he went out to sea in his 40hp fibreglass boat at about 5pm on Sunday.
He disclosed that it took him about 30 minutes to drive his boat from Kuala Baram river mouth to the area between Baram A and Baram B oil rigs.
Hifni said he released 20 rolls of fishing nets at about 6pm and pulled them out at 10pm.
He said he continued to release the fishing nets at 2am and returned to check on them at 6am yesterday.
My friend and I were surprised to see the swordfish entangled in one of the fishing nets and took about 30 minutes to bring in the big catch to the boat, Hifni disclosed further.
He said the fish was six-feet (1.8m) long and weighed 200kg, and had a long mouth.
Earlier, Hifni said, they had no idea how big the fish was until they pulled it out from the sea and landed it in the boat.
The swordfish is named after its bill, which resembles a sword.
This makes it superficially similar to other billfish such as marlin.
They commonly reach 3m in length and weigh 650kg.
During the day, swordfish swim down to depths of 600m but feed closer to the surface at night.
An angler, Reduan Sahari, said if there were sightings of swordfish in Miri waters, it could be one of their next targets for sports fishing.
It is very interesting to catch a swordfish with fishing reels as it can take up to few hours to tame the fish, he said.