Monster Fish Battles: Giant Squid, Tiger Sharks, and Colossal Catches

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:01]Damn, it's huge.

[00:00:02]>> Wrestling massive tiger sharks. Get him.

[00:00:07]>> Three feet wide mouth with 2-in teeth trying to take your arm off.

[00:00:12]>> Battling stingrays with razor sharp whips.

[00:00:18]>> Oh my god, it's enormous.

[00:00:20]>> Where's the fish?

[00:00:21]>> All right, everybody stay cool now.

[00:00:22]>> Wrangling eels [music] thicker than tree trunks.

[00:00:25]>> Oh, there he is. That's a big one. take chances with [music] it and you've lost your foot on >> or you've had a large chunk taken out of your leg [music] >> and capturing the biggest squid on the planet.

[00:00:42]>> Tentacles hanging on to the side of the ship and wrapped around the gaffs and everybody yelling and screaming.

[00:00:50]>> Unbelievable battles [music] between the world's most amazing anglers and whopper fish.

[00:00:58]Unhooked. Monsters of the deep.

[00:01:21]Majestic, prehistoric, colossal beasts of the deep. Our attraction to them is primal.

[00:01:32]Their sheer power and speed inspiring awe and commanding respect.

[00:01:38]But as these alpha predators struggle to survive in a changing world, we strive to understand and protect them.

[00:01:47]>> There he is. That's a big one. Big one.

[00:01:49]>> There is a sense when you're in the presence of these animals that here's something a lot bigger than me. Who is completely at home in this habitat? And for some passionate sportsmen, encountering them face to face in Pulse Racing Showdowns is the ultimate thrill with Monster Fish. We humans are temporary visitors.

[00:02:26]January 2007, New Zealand sea captain [music] John Bennett sets out for a 3-month fishing expedition to one of the most [music] unforgiving places on Earth, [music] Antarctica.

[00:02:46]It's sort of 24-hour daylight and sun's up all the time and uh icebergs and and sea ice everywhere and freezing conditions.

[00:02:59]Captain Bennett's 180t long vessel is on the hunt for the commercially popular tooth fish.

[00:03:07]>> But something's wrong. Deck hands repeatedly see evidence of competition for the fish below.

[00:03:14]Over one mile beneath the surface, something huge is stalking their catch.

[00:03:20]>> 30, 35 kilo fish would come up with huge big sucker marks all over it. Some of them were bitten in half and and big chunks eaten out of them. Probably one in every three or four fish would be damaged like that.

[00:03:33]>> But nothing could prepare them for what happens next.

[00:03:37]>> Have a look at that. The morning of the 26th, commotion breaks out on deck as a large object appears at port side.

[00:03:46]>> Spec fish.

[00:03:47]>> The deck hands can't [music] believe their eyes. Beside the boat, knowing on a toothfish, is the biggest squid anyone's ever seen.

[00:03:56]>> A handy.

[00:03:57]>> Incredibly, the creature's risen 6,000 ft to the surface, and it's still alive.

[00:04:10]A tentacled beast nicknamed the Kraken has haunted seafarers for centuries.

[00:04:17]Yet, it may actually be real.

[00:04:20]The colossal squid.

[00:04:24]The old woodcuts and illustrations of of giant squid attacking ships and uh pulling people off the decks and under the water are pretty exciting, pretty telling. Squid are some of the planet's strangest creatures. Boneless, gelatinous, soaring through the ocean, powered by an undulating water jet propulsion.

[00:04:46]Equipped with two feeding tentacles, they hunt with eight grasping arms outstretched, wrapping victims in a sucking deadly embrace. Their arms are so strong, some squid species have even been known to walk along the bottom of the ocean, focused on the hunt. And once caught, squid prey are pulverized. These predators slice into their meals with flesh cutting bird-like beaks.

[00:05:14]Squids who have just captured a fish will manipulate the fish so that the beak can bite just behind the head sever the spinal cord and render the fish immobile while they take their time and and ingest it.

[00:05:29]When [music] threatened, squid use an ingenious defense mechanism. Fountains of ink shoot out, leaving a cloud as a decoy. They can even manipulate their own skin to blend into their surroundings. Squid can create skin patterns and coloration at will.

[00:05:48]>> Squids can put stripes along their bodies. They can put hash marks, blotches, or they can contract all of the chromataphors and all of the color will disappear.

[00:05:59]But one squid trumps them all. The colossal. Living a mile below the surface. No biologist has ever studied them in their natural habitat. Yet, evidence of squid remains found inside the bellies of their only adversary, the sperm whale, is shocking.

[00:06:18]The legendary colossal squid can stretch long as a city bus weighing over half a ton.

[00:06:26]An animal like the giant squid or the colossal squid may live for 3 years, but probably not much longer than that. What that means is that these animals grow incredibly fast. Probably the fastest growth rates of any animal on Earth.

[00:06:44]>> For centuries, capturing this legendary ocean goliath was considered impossible until one fishing expedition dared to defy the odds. It's not a good look when you're talking to the boys in the pub when you get home about the the world's first and only colossal squid that got away. And I can just hear them saying now, "Yeah, right." You know >> there's a hand here. Mike here.

[00:07:10]>> Now back on the boat. As the deck hands stare in wonder at the mythical beast, they've got to move fast.

[00:07:16]>> Hit it here.

[00:07:17]>> Using pole gaps, they scramble to secure the squid to the vessel.

[00:07:21]>> It's huge. Grab it in the net there.

[00:07:24]Hurry up. We're going to lose it.

[00:07:26]>> The men struggle to hang on, but the creature's jellyike body makes wrangling it next to impossible.

[00:07:32]Unbelievably, the squid's tentacles begin winding around the gaffs.

[00:07:38]>> They were hanging on to this massive creature. Um, and the squid's tentacles were moving around the gaff. So, needless to say, my first thought was, careful. This might, you know, fight back.

[00:07:51]>> Jack, go get the captain.

[00:07:53]>> Roused from his cabin, Captain Bennett arrives on deck to a surreal scene.

[00:08:00]>> Bloody hell. to see something like that alongside the ship. Tentacles hanging on to the side of the ship and wrapped around the gaffs and everybody yelling and screaming and I didn't really know what to do first.

[00:08:12]>> The ship is navigating a treacherous ice field. A decision has to be made. Stop the boat and save the squid for science or let it loose.

[00:08:22]>> I knew that we had something special here and this was the first live colossal squid ever to be caught. Our reaction was to um sort of retain it in uh in the best condition that we possibly could. So that was going to be our challenge for the day.

[00:08:42]>> The captain decides to preserve the squid in the ship's holding well. But stopping the 1300 ton vessel to pick up a sea monster was not in his plans. It's a daunting and dangerous [music] task.

[00:08:54]The outside temperature is 28°. The water, a minefield of jagged icebergs.

[00:09:00]And as the crew strives to hold on to the squid, their gaffs keep sinking into its flesh.

[00:09:07]>> At one stage there, we thought we were going to lose it. The gaffs weren't holding on well enough. We thought it was going to get free.

[00:09:14]>> You guys got it. Can we hold it there?

[00:09:16]>> The ship was still slowly moving through the water. The mate was driving, so he had to pull a pitcher stern and slow it right down so that we that we weren't moving at all. That was tricky.

[00:09:27]>> With the pressure on, the first mate manages to bring the boat to a grinding halt.

[00:09:33]>> Incredibly, the deck hands still have the squid hooked, but a successful catcher is far from certain.

[00:09:41]>> We had the squid alongside. It was secure, and now we had to get it on board. We knew what we uh wanted to achieve. It just didn't quite know how to do it.

[00:09:50]>> Let's go check it out. Eh, >> it came up to the surface and seemed to intake a lot of water. And at that stage its bulk increased just about by double.

[00:10:00]And it was then that we realized just how big it was. It was enormous. It really was. It was huge.

[00:10:05]>> You go get the net. Jack, can you go get the rope to me?

[00:10:08]>> Using a net as their only option.

[00:10:11]The crew quickly lowers a gangway net alongside the boat.

[00:10:16]Yet the otherworldly creature eludes all efforts to wrangle it.

[00:10:21]>> He's hanging on to the side of the the ship. And of course, anything that gets close, that includes the net. So, it was sort of encouraging to let the side of the ship go and not to touch the net.

[00:10:32]And as we slid it down under, one really excited crew member suggested he should get in the water.

[00:10:38]>> I'll put a suit on dropped.

[00:10:40]>> No, no, we'll get you.

[00:10:42]>> If you do that, you'll be gone.

[00:10:44]>> No way. Absolutely not. You know, it was far too dangerous. He could have got um you know forced under stuck between the the ship and the squid and and probably bitten or or eaten.

[00:10:56]>> Repeatedly. The squid resists entering the net, but the crew refuses to quit.

[00:11:01]>> Hold it, fellas. Hold on to it.

[00:11:03]>> After three tense hours, the team's skilled maneuvering pays off. They've got the mysterious monster engulfed.

[00:11:11]>> Hold it.

[00:11:11]>> It was just a big adrenaline rush. And uh to to know that we've got, you know, one of the first live colossal squid alongside the ship here. And um it was uh it was special. It was a moment that I'll never forget.

[00:11:25]>> It's heavy. That squid is real heavy, Philip.

[00:11:28]>> But now there's another challenge hauling the Leviathan aboard. The squid's so gigantic, the crew needs a massive winch to bring it into the boat.

[00:11:43]At last, they've done it. It's the largest colossal squid ever caught.

[00:11:50]Spread out on the deck, the crews dumbruck. They're the first people ever to lay eyes on a living specimen.

[00:11:58]Estimated at over 1,000 lb, stretching more than 30 ft long. The size is jaw-dropping.

[00:12:06]>> This is awesome. It's it's a mysterious creature that we we haven't uh had the opportunity to to examine and here it was right for us. I'm going to have so much fun describing the colossal squid to the grandkids in the future. I'm going to live on that one for a long time.

[00:12:29]Today, [music] the phenomenal beast is preserved for posterity at New Zealand's Tapa Museum. A stunning glimpse of a deep ocean universe and a reminder [music] of the importance of protecting these monster fish for the next millennia.

[00:12:53]In a world of whopper fish, these ravenous beasts make the list of the planet's most dangerous predators.

[00:13:01]Lonewolf hunters, they have one mission.

[00:13:04]destroy and devour the tiger shark.

[00:13:10]>> The strength of that bite you would not be able to pull out without leaving a substantial portion of yourself there with the shark. They are very powerful, truly titanic and unchanged for millennia. The largest tiger shark reportedly measured close to three and a half tons, stretching as long as four surfboards.

[00:13:36]Even an average specimen can grow 14 ft from tail to tip. Big as a car with teeth.

[00:13:46]To feed their enormous size, tigers devour like garbage disposals, cans of food, old scrap metal, discarded car tires, and occasionally an unlucky individual.

[00:14:05]Humans are not first on the menu, but tigers are second only to great whites [music] in the number of vicious human attacks.

[00:14:14]Sharks certainly can let go after they bite down on something if they decide it's not something that that they want to eat. But tiger sharks in particular are notorious for eating anything and everything that that they encounter. And further fueling their predigious appetites are teeth built like carving kitchen knives. The front edge pierces and holds prey while a jagged rear edge saws through flesh and bone. This double design allows tiger sharks to shred prey other sharks can't penetrate.

[00:14:46]Even rocksolid sea turtle shells can't keep a [music] tiger from its next meal.

[00:14:55]And even for pro anglers, wrangling a fighting tiger takes a staggering amount of skill and nerves.

[00:15:02]>> I can't hold this thing.

[00:15:04]>> With shark fishing, the danger is when when they come to the boat cuz they'll they attack you. They, you know, they charge the boat. They try to, you know, bite you and it's just they're insane when they come to the boat. It's prehistoric.

[00:15:20][music] July 16th, 2005, [music] Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

[00:15:29]Sport fisherman Ivo Allen charters a boat to travel off the coast. His mission to do battle with [music] the biggest, most fearsome predator he can find. So, it's nice to kind of add to the chum slick some fresh scent in the water from these fish we're catching now. We're just wasting time if we don't have chum going in the water at 24/7.

[00:15:48]Ivo and his crew [music] are competing in a two-day monster shark tournament with a $260,000 grand prize. Yet, the contest combines science and sport as [music] the team plans to tag, measure, and release smaller sharks for the National Marine Fisheries [music] Apex Predator Program.

[00:16:07]You catch them, you reel them in, and then what we do is we tag the fish.

[00:16:10][music] We measure it as best as possible because they're pretty feisty when they come to the boat. We try to calculate the weight of the fish, and then we cut the leader. By building research into the tournament, scientists are able to raise conservation awareness [music] and protect species increasingly threatened in commercially overfished waters.

[00:16:31]>> Nice job, guys.

[00:16:32]>> Good job. Good work. Now it's midday on the last day of the tournament. The anglers have caught, tagged, and released nine sharks.

[00:16:41]>> It's yours.

[00:16:42]>> But they've yet to land the monster specimen that could win the contest.

[00:16:46]>> I'm not marking a thing, man.

[00:16:48]>> Already 20 m offshore. Ivo and the captain make the decision to head even farther out to sea.

[00:16:54]>> Those clear those rods right now.

[00:16:57]>> I said, "Let's go." Everybody looked at me like I was crazy. You know, my mates were second guessing me.

[00:17:02]>> We're going. We're going.

[00:17:04]And we ran for 2 and 1/2 hours and it was it was silent on in the cockpit. I mean, people just gave up. The team circles a four mile area, dispensing a steady stream of chum.

[00:17:18]Hopes are high for attracting a shark, but there's little time left.

[00:17:24]The anxious crew scans the water.

[00:17:27]>> Do you see him out there, Brian, or no?

[00:17:38]Suddenly, an explosion hits the surface.

[00:17:41]>> Can you tell what it is?

[00:17:42]>> I can't get real good looking.

[00:17:44]>> Something enormous has just taken the bait and the line is ripping off the rod with astounding speed.

[00:17:51]>> A lot of people ask me, "What did it feel like?" You take your line with a hook on the end and go and stand on the side of the freeway and you hook a car that's going by at 30 mph. That's exactly what it's like cuz it was just hold on for dear life.

[00:18:03]>> Very dangerous guys. Be real careful.

[00:18:05]>> At the mercy of a gigantic fighting fish, the crew scrambles to clear the deck. They know all too well if the lines get tangled, the monster shark can break away.

[00:18:16]>> I don't care if he's pulling. You pull back.

[00:18:18]>> But against a whopper, just staying upright is a backbreaking struggle.

[00:18:23]>> At that point, I'm not even fighting the fish. I'm just holding on.

[00:18:26]>> Come on. That fish is tired. Dive. Let's go.

[00:18:29]>> You know, trying being from pulled overboard. Waves are crashing into me, crashing over me, and it's I mean, it's a surreal experience. It's total adrenaline.

[00:18:38]>> How many feet we got?

[00:18:39]>> The tension on the line is unbearable.

[00:18:42]Ivo straining for any leverage he can get to gain some slack. The captain decides on a reckless gamble, reversing course, heading towards the shark.

[00:18:54]>> Get that slack up.

[00:18:57]Gunning the boat, he backs down on the thrashing predator.

[00:19:00]>> Fish is going all over the place here.

[00:19:02]>> Approaching an enormous angry tiger shark is never a good idea, but the team's determined to win.

[00:19:10]>> Getting ready to get him, guys.

[00:19:11]>> Incredibly, the captain's maneuver works. Tension is off the line, and Ivo fights back by reeling in the slack.

[00:19:19]He's got a chance, but it's still a muscle burning battle for every inch of line.

[00:19:24]>> Where's the fish? All right, everybody stay cool now. Everybody stay cool.

[00:19:28]>> I was thinking about quitting. I mean, it's like, I can't do it. There's no way. This fish is just too big. And everyone's screaming at me, you know.

[00:19:34]You know, look at the time. Look at the time.

[00:19:37]>> Finally, a breakthrough. After 30 grueling minutes of arm-wrenching work, the team gets a first glimpse of their adversary. It's a chilling sight.

[00:19:47]>> Damn it, it's huge.

[00:19:48]>> The fish comes up and it goes dead silent.

[00:19:52]Everyone's just sitting there looking at the water like, "Holy, you know, what did we just catch?"

[00:19:55]>> You let me know that fish.

[00:19:58]>> What the hell do we have on the end of the line?

[00:20:01]>> GET IT.

[00:20:03]>> Jay just looks at me. He goes, "Big fish." And he and he looks scared.

[00:20:08]>> It's the winner.

[00:20:10]>> It's a tiger shark. Over 17 ft long.

[00:20:15]The notorious predators only a few feet from the boat and extremely agitated.

[00:20:20]The colossal creature's powerful jaws are lashing out at anything and everything.

[00:20:26]It even bites down on the boat's motor.

[00:20:30]You have the 17 ft shark with with a mouth that's 3 ft wide is, you know, jumping up onto the boat trying to bite anything it can.

[00:20:40]I'd never seen a shark so close to the boat of that size. So, so I was a little bit horrified.

[00:20:47]>> I can't hold this thing now. Though tired from the fight, the thrashing shark is still incredibly dangerous. The first mate stands ready with a rope and a large gaffing hook.

[00:20:59]>> All right, everybody pay close attention, guys. I want everybody paying real good attention.

[00:21:04]>> You fall in the water, you're dead. Cuz it's it's biting everything they anything it can bite to get away, it's going to bite. So, if someone fell over, they would have lost a leg or an arm or something. In a life-threatening lunge, the first mate reaches into the ocean and grabs the enormous shark's tail.

[00:21:21]>> Pull tight. Pull tight. Pull it tight.

[00:21:23]>> Moving quickly, the team secures the fin to a tower on the back of the boat.

[00:21:30]They've done it. The crew is ecstatic.

[00:21:33]They've captured a,200 lb tiger shark.

[00:21:37]>> I was just jello. My arms were killing me. My legs were killing me. I mean, there wasn't any part of my body that didn't hurt. It was just painful. But the exhilaration, everyone just picked me back up. They just they grab me from the deck and they're hugging me. They're giving me high fives. And it was just it was crazy. [music] But now the race is on. As the team speeds back to shore, the enormous Tiger surfs the boat's wake. They're over 70 m from the docks with just over 3 hours left before the tournament deadline.

[00:22:09]>> We're all just looking at our watch. No, no one's saying anything. We're just [music] looking at our watch.

[00:22:16]It wasn't going to happen.

[00:22:22]>> We got the winning fish. There's no doubt about that. But I don't know if [cheering] it's going to >> arriving just moments after the 6:30 cutoff, the anglers miss out on a quarter of a million dollars.

[00:22:39]Yeah, it really laid on my shoulders. If I could have gotten it in a little quicker, you know, 6 [music] minutes sooner, >> we were one.

[00:22:48]>> Though the shark didn't survive the journey, >> biologists on hand dissect the 12,200 lb tiger for vital research.

[00:22:55]>> 5.8.

[00:22:57]It's the biggest specimen the Apex Predator Program has ever seen and an invaluable opportunity to better understand [music] these magnificent and deadly monster fish.

[00:23:17]Rivergoers beware.

[00:23:20]Gigantic bottom-dwelling booby traps lie hidden beneath, cleverly camouflaged, buried under muck and mud.

[00:23:28]The giant freshwater stingray, they can settle down and cover themselves with sand in order to disappear and be invisible to their predators or to their prey.

[00:23:41]Discovered only 20 years ago in Southeast Asia, the giant freshwater stingray has reached superstardom as one of the largest known freshwater fish.

[00:23:52]Specimens have stretched as long as a limousine, up to 17 ft from nose to tail.

[00:23:59]Scientists speculate they get even bigger. Super sized rays weighing over half a ton.

[00:24:07]When threatened, this alpha predator has a secret weapon.

[00:24:13]Projecting from the base of its tail is a spear-like barb over a foot long. To seal the killer deal, it's lined with hooks. If you step on it and the barb pierces your skin, then you're going to get some of that toxin in in your own tissue and it can be really nasty. The ray's flattened surface area picks up resistance as it's pulled upwards, turning these behemoth beasts into dead weight for anglers. It's a backbreaking struggle.

[00:24:53]I believe that the giant freshwater stingray is comparable with anything in marine waters. For a freshwater fish, it is the ultimate the ultimate capture.

[00:25:23]>> [music] >> March 2008, the Bonpekang River, 50 mi southeast of Bangkok, Thailand.

[00:25:35][music] Stomping grounds of the giant [music] freshwater stingray.

[00:25:44]Local fishing guide Buddhaai Boy Kuinsan has pioneered search strategies for giant rays in Asia.

[00:25:54]Today, Boy and his friends head out on a quest to break their personal record of 400 lb. The goal, the ultimate whopper.

[00:26:08]>> The giant stingray is like a dinosaur hiding at the bottom of the river.

[00:26:12]>> But if he's out there, we will find him.

[00:26:16][music] >> Catching these dinosaurs takes a team effort. Boy's technique involves baiting a series of rods with snake head fish and spreading them out across the river.

[00:26:37]The men wait and watch.

[00:26:43]>> There's a sudden tug on the line.

[00:26:48]Boy scrambles to gain leverage, but the powerful pull is stronger than anything he's ever felt.

[00:27:01]Chaos breaks out on the boat. The massive stingray is like a motor beneath the water, towing all four passengers upstream.

[00:27:12]It was a gigantic fish. It pulled the boat up and down the river, like five or six guys, all like holding on for dear life to this this giant fish.

[00:27:25]Abruptly, the stingray grinds to a halt.

[00:27:30]The fish is stuck like a plunger to the riverbed, refusing to budge.

[00:27:37]But boy also refuses to give up.

[00:27:42]He marshals all of his strength.

[00:27:53]Characteristically, they clamp themselves onto the bottom of the riverbed. Very hard to shift these fish when they do that. You could be talking about a 200 kilo fish with possibly 200 kilos of mud and debris on top of it.

[00:28:05]You know, >> to hold that rod with such huge fish on the other side of the line. You can't imagine how hard it is. It's like carrying a big rock on your shoulder and running around.

[00:28:31]>> Nearing total exhaustion, boy reluctantly passes the rod to another team member.

[00:28:47]The men take turns fighting the fish for three grueling hours.

[00:28:53]Their arms are trembling, their bodies tense with the prolonged struggle. The four anglers combined are no match for the gargantuan [music] ray.

[00:29:03]With each passing second, one moment of lost concentration, [music] and the final snap, the worn out anglers are desperate for any help [music] they can get.

[00:29:17]>> Locals on the riverbank hears for help and spring into action.

[00:29:26]>> No, come on.

[00:29:28]>> A small craft brings reinforcements to the fight.

[00:29:34]Incredibly, the battle wears on for three more excruciating hours as the new crew takes turns on the rod. It's now 10 men versus one fish.

[00:29:49]>> I was just staring at the line. Please don't break. Please don't break. I have to see you. I have to see how big you are.

[00:29:58]Then without warning, the race suddenly surfaces.

[00:30:03]>> Come up now. Come up now.

[00:30:06]>> It's colossal. Twice the size of the boat.

[00:30:12]>> The stingray grows tired. But before the men can land it, the exhausted anglers must risk their lives.

[00:30:20]>> The ray's huge toxic stinger whips at the surface. Working fast, Boyd grabs the ray and another angler lunges for the lethal harpoon.

[00:30:30]>> The tail was flailing around. The guys grabbed the tail underneath the barb at the base of the tail and quickly wrapped a bandage around the barbs on the tail.

[00:30:41]>> The dangerous tail subdued, the men now face a final challenge. Landing a fish the size of a refrigerator. The rays too big for the net and the boat. The crew's only hope is to ground the monster ray in shallow water.

[00:31:00]As Boy and [music] his team holds on to their prized catch, they slowly drag it to the shoreline.

[00:31:12]At last, they've landed the biggest [music] ray they've ever seen.

[00:31:18]The stunned crowd stares in wonder at the [music] colossal beast. It's truly a dinosaur. Weighing a/4 of a ton with a wingspan of over 7 ft.

[00:31:30]The prehistoric weighs a world record freshwater catch on rod and reel.

[00:31:36]I've shared this feeling with all the team. It's like a a feeling of relief that you've actually managed to get the fish up without losing it. Uh elation and or just at the sight of the creature, you know.

[00:31:52]But [music] this mighty stingray belongs in the river. The team unhooks the fish of a lifetime and watch and wonder as it swiftly returns to its underwater layer.

[00:32:12]>> Among the ocean's mightiest monster fish, they're Blitz Creek bullies. Pure muscle packed into a compact killer package.

[00:32:21]Fearless, aggressive, outmaneuvering the competition, they swoop in at turbo speed, decimating prey. The giant travali.

[00:32:33]>> The giant travali makes me think of a shelby cobra. A lot of power into a pretty small package that accelerates like nobody's business.

[00:32:43]Tropical Pacific alpha [music] predators, giant travalis patrol reefs with attitude. Capable of reaching nearly 150 lbs, stretching over 5 ft long, combative travalis harass everything in sight, even sharks. Here, a travali takes food right out of a barracuda's ripping jaws. They'll strike from the blind side of of the prey, whether it's bright light or dark water.

[00:33:11][music] They take advantage of the natural surroundings to make themselves invisible until they're too close to be avoided.

[00:33:21]And behind every bully, there's a formidable weapon. A thick muscular body focuses power through a narrow area known as the codle podunkcle, giving giant travalis powerful tail fins and stunning speed.

[00:33:38]With such aggressive power, the giant travali is one of nature's toughest targets, turning a catch into a contact sport. Sometimes it'll just smack you into the side of the boat. It'll it'll strike so hard. The intensity and the adrenaline pump these little 150s at the 150s. I don't know. They seem to pull some strikes. I don't know what >> January 29th, 2008.

[00:34:08]>> New Calonia in the South Pacific. Aussie angler Luke Worst sets out with friends to chase the giant Travali, called GT for short.

[00:34:22]For passionate fisherman like Luke, this muscular fish is a fierce opponent that must be treated with respect.

[00:34:32]>> The GT, they are a gangster of the reef.

[00:34:35]They are so tough. I have such a mutual respect for this fish.

[00:34:39]>> Nice one, mate.

[00:34:40]>> It's my life. GT fishing is my life.

[00:34:43]>> And catching [music] this bad boy of the reef is no easy task.

[00:34:49]>> I specifically am training just for GT fishing. Cramps up there, cramps in the bicep, and cramps up here, cramps in the forearm.

[00:35:00]>> If you're not in shape, GTS will find your weakness.

[00:35:05]>> The environment alone is challenging.

[00:35:08]I'll just take the boat over here and just spin it around back into the wind just to give you a good angle.

[00:35:12]>> GT live a few miles offshore, often amongst huge waves. There's >> a bit of a bomie just coming out there.

[00:35:19]>> Yep.

[00:35:20]>> Out here, Luke and his friends throw cast after cast.

[00:35:26]And they aren't the only predators on the hunt for GT. Sharks also circle ominously beneath.

[00:35:33]>> Oh, look at him. Look at him. Look at him. Great shot. Great shot. Oh, it's so many sharkked him.

[00:35:40]>> We've just hit a patch of bait. Got our lure in the middle of it. Hooked up a GT. And as soon as we've hooked up, we've had a big shark. Big wher shark.

[00:35:50]Well, needs no words.

[00:35:56]>> As dusk approaches, the group decides to stop for the day.

[00:36:05]But Luke casts one last time.

[00:36:10]It's >> one last casting.

[00:36:14]>> Oh, yep.

[00:36:16][music] >> And quickly feels what he calls a slurping tug on the line.

[00:36:24]>> Sometimes a big GT can just maul and just throw up water everywhere and you know that's a big fish.

[00:36:31]Sometimes they can slurp it.

[00:36:35]>> This was one of those strikes.

[00:36:40]>> In an effort to pull the GT off the reef, the anglers gun the boat.

[00:36:48]>> But the Travali has other plans.

[00:36:54]>> Amazingly, the tenacious fish is [music] overpowering the vessel.

[00:36:59]>> It wasn't moving. If anything, the fish was pulling us back to the reef with the boat. As soon as they [music] pull you back to the reef, you're gone. They'll cut you off and you'll have lost all your hard work.

[00:37:10]>> That's a big one. Big one.

[00:37:11]>> To make matters worse, the giant travali is literally ripping the rod from Luke's hands.

[00:37:17]>> He's got that rod [music] dug straight into his gut like, you know, he's going to need surgery and remove it. He's holding on for grim life. Just trying to get as much gain on that fish as he possibly [music] can. The angller struggles to get his footing and stay in the boat, but his arms are losing sensation. In this brutal tugofwar, Luke is losing.

[00:37:43]There was a time when my back had almost given way. I was out of my fighting posture and I was pretty much buckled over the side of the boat. No angller ever wants to be that way. I thought I've I've lost my opportunity now.

[00:38:00]>> In a tense moment, the exhausted anglers nearly yanked into the sharkinfested ocean as Luke fights to stay focused. [music] The wrestling match rages for an excruciating 30 minutes.

[00:38:17]>> My muscles were full of lactic acid and they were ready to give up. Slowly but surely, I was able to start pumping and winding and slowly she started coming up.

[00:38:27]>> As the fish surfaces, the anglers [music] get their first glimpse of the heavy weight on the other end of the line. When I saw that fish for the first time, I I had no words. I was speechless.

[00:38:40]>> There he is.

[00:38:41]>> It's big. My god, it's a Goliath.

[00:38:46]It looked like a Volkswagen. The giant Travali is built on a monster scale, the biggest the group's ever seen. To get this behemoth on board, it'll take the strength of three men.

[00:39:00]As the 21 ft vessel bounces on the churning sea, the fishermen try to hoist the [music] Travali into the boat. With a final coordinated pull, at last, they've got it. [music] I'll get that.

[00:39:20]>> It was taking up all the space. We had We had no space to move. We just had this big slabsided GT and we almost didn't know what to do with it. It was up here.

[00:39:31]The giant Travali's over 130 lb and an estimated 5 ft long. A Goliath of the reef. It's the catch of a lifetime. But Luke is passionate about fish species survival. He knows he must release the GT as soon as possible.

[00:39:51]>> Pumping the fish's gills with seawater to keep it breathing, he carefully places his catch back in the ocean. Go.

[00:39:58]You reckon she's all right.

[00:39:59]>> Once we released that fish, she she gave a few kicks, but then she started to descend, but she didn't descend normally. She turned on her side and she was basically exhausted from the fight and dying. All right, honey.

[00:40:16]>> The anglers watch in horror as the GT begins to spiral to the bottom. Luke does the unthinkable. He dives into sharkinfested waters to save the fish.

[00:40:29]>> On board, his friends are in a panic.

[00:40:32]>> Hey, don't worry. It's only a fish, mate. Come on.

[00:40:35]>> Get out of the water.

[00:40:38]Get out of the water. The fish will be fine.

[00:40:42]I did think about it just as I was jumping in the water, but as soon as I was in, it was it's now or nothing. It's not a chance that I'll get again. And if I don't take it now and try to make a difference, then I'm not going to feel right.

[00:40:58]>> You're crazy.

[00:41:00]>> Ignoring his buddy's anxious cries, Luke cradles the massive GT in his arms as he struggles to move water through the giant fish's gills. They both become predator targets. You >> saw a shark before. Come on.

[00:41:13]>> At that point, you step into their realm. You are bait. So, uh, there's always that chance.

[00:41:21]>> It was a bit more difficult than I had expected cuz I'd already exhausted my energy so much that I was even struggling to swim myself. So, we were almost two of the same.

[00:41:34]>> Luke swims with the [ __ ] giant for 10 long minutes. Slowly, the GT shows signs of life.

[00:41:42]With a sudden, furious kick, the Travali darts away. Luke and his catch of a career have both survived intact.

[00:41:52]>> Once I got back in the boat, my arms were trembling, my whole body was trembling, and you know, they were calling me nuts, but they knew I'd done the right thing.

[00:42:04]Good on you, well done.

[00:42:17]September 8th, 2008. The English Channel, home to some of the most famous shipwrecks [music] of World War II.

[00:42:29]It's a big rat fishing today.

[00:42:31]>> And for modern anglers, the perfect place to hunt for an elusive opponent, the conga reel.

[00:42:36]>> So that means big eagle then.

[00:42:40][music] >> Now for the first time in 30 years, conger enthusiast and devoted shore fisherman Roger Beer will fish from a boat heading into the channel to chase this mighty fish.

[00:42:56]The expedition [music] starts slowly. Luring the conger is a painstaking art.

[00:43:02]The eel [music] prefers the safety of shipwrecks and must be coaxed out of any chosen hiding place. [music] Roger feels a nibble on the line. A conger is toying with his bait. You feel every little tap. And the ear was very slow biting. I just kept quiet because I thought, well, if I miss it, I won't have to say too much.

[00:43:26]Uh, so I just let him go and just let a bit more line off and for 15 20 minutes.

[00:43:31]Then he finally started going off and I just hit him like a steam train.

[00:43:37]>> The conger's ferocious jaws have locked onto Roger's bait. The fish is making a beline for the shipwreck.

[00:43:47]Roger must keep the eel off the grounded vessel without snapping the line. It's a delicate balance, a game that can end at any moment.

[00:43:57]>> It's either you hook the fish, land it, or the fish will get the better of you and snap the line, or the fish will get in the rocks. That's how good [music] they are. They're very, very cunning fish and very devious.

[00:44:16]The conger eel. These serpentine stalkers are like waterbound snakes.

[00:44:22]Famous for favoring shipwreck layers.

[00:44:25]They hide in cracks and crevices, waiting to lash out with brutal strength and a mouthful of cutting, crushing teeth.

[00:44:36]They resemble a big snake, a big python or anaconda. Lots of muscle packed into a a big long tubular shape. They're they're very impressive animals. [music] Able to reach lengths of over 9 ft, weighing more than 250 lbs. Congress are [music] like creatures from science fiction. The undisputed kings of a family of eels made up of over 100 different species.

[00:45:09]Eels are powerful predators.

[00:45:11]>> They're really good at at hiding out in the [music] dark uh behind some sort of cover and then striking out quickly to capture their prey.

[00:45:21]>> And if the first bite doesn't kill, the second one will. Eels use an extra set of teeth buried deep inside their throats called fingial jaws to snare and cut their meal, annihilating any hope of escape.

[00:45:40]For some anglers, this vicious creature is the ultimate adversary.

[00:45:45]Organizations like the British Conger Club chronicle the storied history of conger fishing as decades of sportsmen have devoted entire care >> that have disappeared.

[00:45:56]Fishing from small boats for conger and have never been seen again.

[00:46:03][snorts] >> Yeah, it's a fairly big one.

[00:46:11]Now back on the boat, Roger's experienced hand wins out. He keeps the eel in the open channel, but he soon [music] faces an even tougher test.

[00:46:20]>> Certainly tires you out.

[00:46:22]>> Endurance.

[00:46:25]>> The strength of the hooked conger is overwhelming. It's clear this is no ordinary eel.

[00:46:32][music] I was concentrating on uh being one jump ahead of the eel.

[00:46:38]After 10 minutes or so, your arms start to not belong to you. Uh so you've got to concentrate to get that bit of power back. It was very uncomfortable trying to land the fish.

[00:46:48]>> Not a bad one, Roach.

[00:46:50]>> Without warning, the eel suddenly surfaces. [music] There he is. Gord, >> it's shockingly huge. a whopper specimen stretching across the surface of the water like a giant snake.

[00:47:03]>> The fish as it came up to the surface, I have never seen anything like it. I've seen eels to 80, 90 lb, but this dwarfed it.

[00:47:10]>> God, it's bloody huge, right?

[00:47:12]>> Big one.

[00:47:13]>> But the coner doesn't stay up for long.

[00:47:15]With a sudden burst of energy, the eel makes a dash for the ocean floor.

[00:47:22]>> With luck, I managed to [music] get him up. But every time I got him up halfway, he went straight down again. He's diving. He kept going down again, then up, then down again.

[00:47:34]>> The line can snap at any moment. Roger struggles to stay as sharp and strong as the monster fish below.

[00:47:41]>> That's better, Roger.

[00:47:42]>> After 30 grueling minutes, a breakthrough.

[00:47:46]The eel bobs back on the surface, showing signs of exhaustion.

[00:47:50]>> He looks all right.

[00:47:51]>> But the battle isn't over yet. [music] To land the catch, Rogers got to get the dangerous fish into the boat.

[00:47:58]>> Most of the fish [music] are lost at the gaff because they're so powerful and they do a spin. Uh they can rip a gaff at your hand, pull you in. Ready?

[00:48:07]>> The anglers hold their breath as the captain readies the gaff. Any experienced eel fisherman knows the closer you get to these apex predators, the greater the risk of losing [music] your own flesh in their snapping jaws.

[00:48:21]You just keep away from its mouth because it's got big teeth.

[00:48:26]>> Big female.

[00:48:27]>> Marshalling his strength, [music] in one swift move, the captain hooks the gigantic eel and swings it into the boat.

[00:48:39]>> They've landed the Goliath Conger at last.

[00:48:43]>> Well, I save. That's a little bit bigger.

[00:48:46]>> The anglers are amazed. The eel's even bigger than they imagined. Cheers. Good one. Nice one, mate.

[00:48:52]>> Cracker Wy don't kick you.

[00:48:55]>> Over 9 ft long, weighing in at 109 lbs.

[00:49:00]It's the biggest conger captured off the coast of England in a decade.

[00:49:05]>> Oh, well, it was it was phenomenal. It was brilliant, you know. I just I just I couldn't believe that I'd done it on the first trip out.

[00:49:12]>> 200 110.

[00:49:14]>> That's all I need is 100 pounder.

[00:49:15]>> Biggest deal I've ever seen.

[00:49:17]>> Maybe a little bit bigger.

[00:49:26]Mammoths of the deep. They've inspired us, challenged us, and fed us for centuries. [music] Now, we must strive to protect and preserve these [music] colossal and mysterious creatures, ensuring there will always be a world full of monster fish.