Best World Record Of All World Records For Donna Pascoe Of Fishingpro

FishingPro is part of Gladiator Marine, a respected family business of 20 years’ standing, run by husband and wife team, Ken and Donna Pascoe and this year Donna has totally outdone herself, even by her standards. We knew Donna was good when she bagged the World All Tackle and Women’s 60kg world records for the 411.6kg tuna she caught last year and we really sat up and took notice when she was nominated as one of the top ten catches for last season by the International Game Fishing Association. Now a panel of foreign judges have deemed the catch worthy of the prestigious ‘Best World Record’ award recently presented to Donna at the International Gamefish Association Awards in Florida. Now we know that Donna and the FishingPro team are really, really good.

The IGFA compiled a handful of what they considered to be the “best” world record catches of the past year. These catches were chosen based on criteria such as the difficulty of the species, the size of the fish, the tackle used, and the history associated with that particular record.

As the NZ Herald reported last week, Ms Pascoe was “blown away to have been chosen from more than 800 other candidates for the award which covered the 2014 season and took a range of factors into account. In her case, it was partly the dramatic conditions the tuna was landed in – the winds were blowing about 36 knots and the sea was rough when her reel started shedding line that February morning.

“Over the next few hours, she stubbornly fought to bring in the fish, which she at first figured was probably a huge blue or black marlin It wasn’t until it was wrenched in closer to her 17m boat Gladiator that Ms Pascoe realised it was a Pacific Bluefin tuna, rarely caught in that area. American crews at the awards dinner, where she sat beside the association’s president, were fascinated by the tale. ‘Everyone was coming up to me and saying, “How did you do it?” They could only dream of catching a fish that big.’”

FishingPro’s boat, Gladiator is now up and running on beautiful fresh engines in time for some epic fishing and the potential to add a world record or two for Donna and her husband, Ken and their crew. As FishingPro’s Marcus Hazeldine reports, “Along with a steady and busy schedule of winter maintenance and cleaning we will hit the ground running for the upcoming corporate season here in Auckland followed by another successful season in the Far North. Without doubt it's Gladiator's commitment to the highest quality boat maintenance and upkeep, along with the crew dedication and passion to offer fantastic fishing and experiences to everyone who steps on board that the boat secures itself right at the top of the list as New Zealand's premier charter boat.”

To find out more about Gladiator Marine please go to http://www.fishingpro.co.nz   .