A proud angler battled a massive swordfish for more than five hours before bringing his prized possession home in New Jersey.

Eric McDowell went out fishing with three crew members on November 4 to Tom’s Canyon, about 85 miles off Ocean City.

The men started their trip around 3.30am on McDowell’s 37-foot powerboat Valhalla, named Premium Time.

Around 11.30am, a swordfish took their bait, which started their more than five-hour-long fight to get the fish out of the water.

‘Those things are probably the strongest fish in the ocean,’ McDowell told Ocean City Sentinel.

‘I’ve been able to catch probably 1,000-pound bluefin tuna and blue marlin in excess of 500 pounds, but this is probably the strongest fish.’

The fish measured 14 feet in total length. It was 10 feet from the lower jaw to the fork of the tail and had a 4-foot bill.

Dan Pettit, who works at McDowell’s insurance firm, told NJ.com that the 622.5-pound swordfish they got to the Ocean City Yacht Club dock was a ‘catch of a lifetime.’

The crew, which also included Jason Olsen and Jacob Bowell, plans to submit the bounty for a state record, Pettit said.

Eric McDowell went out fishing with three crew members on November 4 in New Jersey when they caught a 622.5-pounds swordfish after more than five hours

The fish measured 14 feet in total length, prompting the crew to submit the bounty for a state record

Bringing the swordfish into the boat was a big task for the team, McDowell said.

It took them a lot of patience, he added.

‘You’re only getting maybe an inch of line back at a time and it’s a constant battle. We’ll get some line and the fish will take it back,’ the angler said.

McDowell said that the crew did not have an idea how big the fish was until it jumped out of the water.

‘Swordfish don’t tend to jump a lot out of the water. About an hour into the fight, it jumped half of its body out of the water, so we had a good idea it was a decent-sized swordfish.’

‘An hour later, that fish jumped straight up out of the water. Its entire body cleared the water, which is unique. To see a swordfish jump like that, we were pretty pumped, pretty excited,’ he said.

‘We traveled with that fish at least three miles,’ the angler added.

Talking about his vessel, McDowell called it ‘an awesome boat,’ which helped them carry the fish from about 1,200 feet of water to the dock. 

The catch was ‘possibly the biggest swordfish weighed in New Jersey,’ Pettit told NJ.com. 

‘We are submitting it for a state record,’ he added.

The earlier record for a swordfish is a catch that weighed 531 pounds, Pettit said.

The earlier record for a swordfish is a catch that weighed 531 pounds

The angler recalled getting back to the dock with friends and family waiting to celebrate the big catch.

‘I’ve been fortunate enough to do various fishing throughout the world,’ he said.

‘However, to catch that in our hometown, be able to put it up on the scale at the Yacht Club and have a lot of family and friends there was a cool experience.’

Jen Bowman, the Yacht Club’s services manager, told Ocean City Sentinel that it was exciting news for something like this to happen in their small town.

‘At 8.30pm in our normally quiet little town, there was suddenly plenty of excitement,’ she said.

‘As far as we know, it is the largest swordfish that’s ever been weighed in New Jersey,’ McDowell said as the crew now waits to see if they were able to set a state record or not. 

As for the fish, the angler said he gave it away.

When McDowell could not load the fish in his pickup truck, he cut it up at the yacht club and shared it with the neighbors.  

‘We’ve got a lot of happy friends and neighbors that we have given a lot of steaks,’ he said.