World's largest fishing lure, at 355 pounds, is a real whopper

If there's a fish that would even consider attacking the world's largest fishing lure, a much bigger boat is in order.

That's because the lure, recognized recently by the Guinness World Records, is 10 feet, 10 inches long, 17.75 inches wide, 14.625 inches thick, and weighs 355.2 pounds.

Thankfully, the lure was built specifically to set a record and not to raise monsters from the deep. But like a monster game fish the lure, which hangs on display at S.S. Spitfire Mercantile in Destin, Fla., causes the jaws of passersby to drop.

"It's been incredible," store owner Mary Ellen Davis told the Destin Log. "I really thought it was going to be kids, and it's been grown men hanging on it, literally hugging it, taking pictures."

The lure was patterned after a 5 1/2-inch Flatliner lure made by David Partridge and designed to mimic a struggling baitfish. The smaller lures are used to catch bass and other small game fish. The giant version was built, over 10 months, by Mark Davis of S.S. Spitfire Mercantile.

According to a Guinness community blog post, to qualify as a first-ever record the minimum requirement was set at 10 times the size of a standard lure. The the Flatliner comes in "at a whopping 24 times the size of a standard lure and is the yardstick by which future records will be measured. The reasons behind creating a large fishing lure were many.

"Firstly, it was a natural fit for the area. The Destin area is known as the 'world's luckiest fishing village' due to the quality and variety of fish found in this section of the Gulf of Mexico. As such, it only makes sense that the world's luckiest fishing village would create the world's largest fishing lure."

The lure has even inspired a drink at a local marina bar. The Flatliner libation is a mixture of orange juice, cranberry juice, lime juice, grenadine and coconut rum.

-- Image showing onlookers posing with giant lure is courtesy of Guinness World Records