World Record Blue Bastard Caught! Does Craig Williams Hold the Coolest Title in Fishing?

Trophy angler Craig Williams celebrates his IGFA World Record Blue Bastard along the Australian coast. | IGFA | Craig Williams

What is a Blue Bastard? Funny but Accurate Name

Before anyone gets too worked up about it, blue bastard is genuinely the official name of this hard fighting species found along the coast of Australia from Rottnest Island, Western Australia, to Lizard Island, Queensland. The scientific name caeruleonothus is from the Latin caeruleo (blue) and nothus (bastard).

And it turns out, they are aptly named. First, they are a pale blue to silvery-grey color. Second, while other fellow members of the genus, sweetlips (again, not kidding around with the name), are generally known as fairly passive fish, blue bastards are quite aggressive toward their own kind. As documented on the Fishes of Australia website, individuals have been seen engaging in one-on-one conflicts, including locking jaws for prolonged violent struggles. Yep, aptly named.

So, now that any controversy around the name is cleared up, allow me to get to the real story.

A Blue Bastard glides along the sandy seabed, showcasing its natural environment and silvery-blue hues. | ala.org.au | Alex Hoschke

Craig Williams Catch of a Lifetime

Craig Williams, a prolific trophy angler and holder of many world record fish titles, has done it again. On August 26, 2024, while fishing in Dampier, Australia, casting a crab lure, Williams hooked into the biggest blue bastard he’d ever seen. When the fight was over, this an 8.94-kilogram (19-pound, 11-ounce) blue bastard not only topped his previous best but set a new IGFA All-Tackle World Record for the species. After confirming the weight on a certified scale, Williams released the fish, demonstrating the high level of sportsmanship that makes him one of the top anglers in the sport.

My Newest Fishing Obsession

Plus, the release of this world record fish means, at least in theory, it’s still out there and just getting bigger. I know for myself, and I suspect for a lot of my fellow anglers, “biggest blue bastard ever” would be one heck of a bullet point on my fishing resume. Even though I literally couldn’t live farther away from the waters this fish inhabits, catching the new record blue bastard is going to be somewhere on my mind from this day forward. Until that day, congratulations Craig Williams.

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World record tautog (blackfish) caught by Sam Alsop. | photo provided by Sam Alsop