Ten Ugly Updates For Your Big-Game Bucket List

No beauty contests were won in the making of this journal post.

Picture your dream big-game trip. Bright sunshine? Sparkling seas? Spectacular surrounds? And stunning species leaping majestically at the end of your line? Yeah, we get it. Idyllic.

Billfish and bluefin may top your bluewater most-wanted list, but why not add something different to your lineup? Something bland, boring, or downright ugly? (Trust us, we’re going somewhere with this.)

We've compiled our favourite fugly but hard-fighting fish we'd happily hook up with on any offshore trip, with a view to bigging up our underwater underdogs. They won't be on any magazine covers soon, but these species will give you a real scrap, and a great story to tell your pals back at the bar…

Milkfish (Chanos chanos)

While their dopey, glazed eyes may give the impression of a sluggish, sloppy fish, algae-munching milkfish can run with the best of them. Their incredible high-frequency tail beat and massive stamina have earned them a reputation as the hardest-fighting fish on the fly in the Seychelles.

Dogtooth Tuna (Gymnosarda unicolor)

They're not the first species you think of when you hear "tuna!" – and with a mouth like that, they've got a face only a mother could love – but the dogtooth still deserves some appreciation. A telltale bolt for the horizon followed by a dread-inducing deep and circling dive makes them beasts to fight on the corals of the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

Cobia (Rachycentron canadum)

Nobody's ever been overly excited about finding a cobia. And then they hook one. Found in warm waters around the world, this beige brute hits hard and runs fast, with an aerial explosion or two for the luckier anglers. In February 2025, an 18-year-old angler set a new all-tackle record of 175lb 7oz off Rottnest Island, Western Australia, smashing the 40-year-old record by 40lb.

Pacific Halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis)

For something that looks more like a drunken manhole cover than a big-game target species, the Pacific halibut really makes up for its appearance in the way it battles. After you've broken its vacuum-like seal on the seabed, this slab of meat spins and whirls like a kite in a hurricane. Terrifying and fun in equal measure.

Goliath Grouper (Epinephelus itajara)

State of it. Basically a massive rock with a sad face and the ability to audibly bark when mad, the Goliath grouper isn't having any fun, unlike the anglers that hook into them. It's been a protected species across US waters since 1990, so this one's on a catch-and-release basis. Nothing pretty, nothing elegant, just an unstoppable plummet back to the structure it came from, like you just caught a falling jet out of the sky.

Black Drum (Pogonias cromis)

If you're going to feel sorry for any fish on this list, maybe it should be this one. How it earned its nickname "trash fish" is hotly contested, but a decade ago this bottom feeder with the wormy beard and bulldog fighting style underwent something of a reputational refurbishment as a sweet and more sustainable menu addition for restaurants in the American south

European Conger Eel (Conger conger)

The only fun thing about this slobby serpentine wreck dweller is its Latin name. Like a moray that's been left out in the sun and with a penchant for biting chunks out of unwary anglers, this is a great grey thing of nightmares. Even more so when it reaches record size: in 2001, a trawler off Cornwall famously netted one at 200lb. Anglers in the UK release the biggest breeding females on principle – congers spawn only once, at the end of their life, so put the giants back and let them get on with it.

Black Scabbardfish (Aphanopus carbo)

Freddy Krueger x saltwater = this. Nobody's actively targeting this deep-sea horror story, but if you happen to be hitting big blue marlin in Madeira and still have the energy for a novelty catch as the sun sets, then you may want to winch up this fangy freak from 800m deep and put this local delicacy on your dinner table. That is, if you never want to turn the lights off in your bedroom again.

John Dory (Zeus faber)

The hard-to-find John Dory looks like it was once a majestic fish that got pulverised by a heavy-bottomed frying pan. It's a mainstay of multi-species trips in Southern England and Ireland, while the largest IGFA-recorded catch – 9lb 1oz – was made off Mercury Bay, New Zealand. This ambush predator's markings are shrouded in biblical lore, though, so we'll leave the libellous abuse there for fear of receiving the Lord's wrath.

Atlantic Wolffish (Anarhichas lupus)

"Stone Biter" is an amazingly cool nickname. The Atlantic wolffish has earned it not through being a heavy metal singer or WWE superstar, though, but its three rows of crushing molars that rack up a scary 1,000psi bite. Specimens push 40lb and are notoriously aggressive on the hook, which is why you'll easily find a charter skipper in Norway or Iceland who'll get you on them. The reward? Some of the sweetest, lobster-textured white flesh in the North Atlantic.