47 -year-old Steve Wozniak, a lure fisherman from California, has traveled the world over, in his quest to catch as many different species of fish as possible. So far he managed to catch 1,000 species, from a colorful Threadfin Butterflyfish to a 410 kilogram shark.

Believe it or not, Steve Wozniak has spent the last 10 years, and $75,000 traveling to 63 different countries in the search for new species of fish to put on his list. He flew over 1 million air miles, and spent over 20,000 hours holding his trusty rod and hoping for a bite. But all his efforts paid out when he finally caught his 1,000th fish species, a Norwegian coalfish, and set a new world record.

Steve, the manager of a software company, caught his first fish when he was just five years old, and by the time he reached his 30s, he had already caught around 150 species of fish. His quest to reach the 1,000 mark started as a friendly challenge between him and a friend, over who caught the most species. He started thinking about it and decided that catching 1,000 different fish species was a goal worth achieving.

As his job took him all around the world, Steve Wozniak used the opportunity to go sea and coarse angling whenever he got the chance, and in 2006 he took a year off from work and managed to catch 180 different species. In the following years the number of catches steadily grew, until re finally reached his desired goal, in 2010.

Throughout the years, Steve managed to catch 33 different species of shark, 4 species of piranha, 14 varieties of puffer fish and the deadly lionfish and stonefish. He says his most dangerous catch was a 10-foot-long Mako shark. They are all priceless trophies for a fisherman, but Steve has thrown 90 percent of his catches back into the water.

Although he plans to temporarily hang up his rod and write a book about his incredible adventures, Steve Wozniak is already thinking about reaching 2,000 different fish species caught. He is perfectly aware that 1,000 species is more than anyone else has ever caught, but he’s thinking about the 31,400 species that he can still add to his list.

via Daily Mail