The story of the iron-arm fisherman

On 18 August 1900, the world’s heaviest recorded fish was caught with rod and reel off Catalina Island, California, by Franklin Schenck of Brooklyn. Pictured is the black sea bass that weighed 174kg and was captured with a 21 thread Cuttyhunk line after a 20-minute fight. Schenck beat last years catch by 14 pounds, as T.S Manning caught a 370 pounder after putting up a two-hour fight on 16 September 1899.

Schenck was born in 1836 in Brooklyn, New York and is commonly known as the fisherman who caught the world’s heaviest sea bass in 1900. Schenck was also a member of the Santa Catalina Island Tuna Club, where he took pride in every catch. He first joined the club on 12 July 1898, where he first went out onto the Catalina Island River and caught his first catch that weighed 38kg.

Many of his friends referred to Schenck as the ‘veteran of tuna fishing’ because of how easy he made fishing look. According to other members of the club, Schenck used to visit Catalina every summer to engage in fishing trips that he regularly called ‘the greatest spot on earth’. Over the summer of 01′, he caught more than 19 fish – which tended to make other club members envy him, due to his overpowering confidence and ability to catch the fish with ease.