Angler’s unusual catches include a bizarre, world-record fish
As others reeled in grouper while bottom fishing, one angler landed three unusual fish, including one at first thought to be a parrotfish (...)
On a day spent bottom fishing with Capt. Hiroki Toma and a friend off the North Carolina coast, Dr. Bob Timson came out on top when it came to unusual catches, and one of them turned out to be a world record—by a pretty large margin.
While the other anglers reeled in a few grouper in a spot offshore from Cape Fear Inlet, Timson landed a greater soapfish and a spotted scorpionfish, but it was a bizarre and colorful fish, thought at first to be a parrotfish, that got Timson’s attention, as reported by Carolina Sportsman.
Timson wasn’t sure it was a parrotfish, so once they were within cellphone range, Timson looked up the fish and discovered it was a Spanish hogfish, and his was bigger than those he saw online. This prompted him to check the world record for the species and found it was only 1 pound, 8 ounces. On the boat scale, Timson’s fish weighed over 2 pounds.
Back on shore, Timson double-checked with a friend, Craig Thompson, holder of the world-record creole fish, and he confirmed the species as a Spanish hogfish.
They then tracked down a certified International Game Fish Association scale at Island Tackle and Hardware in Carolina Beach, and drove there early the next morning with the catch iced down to preserve its weight.
When they finally put the fish on the certified scale, it weighed 2 pounds, 11 ounces, shattering the world record by more than a pound.
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Timson filled out the proper paperwork and submitted his catch to the IGFA for verification as a record. Last week, Timson’s IGFA world-record certificate arrived in the mail.
Now that it’s a world record, Timson plans to submit his catch as a state record to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.
What makes Timson’s fish story even more interesting is how the world-record fish was caught.
“We were fishing in 200 to 250 feet of water offshore of Frying Pan Tower when the fish hit,” Timson told Carolina Sportsman. “There really wasn’t anything special about the fight, except that once near the surface, it got a burst of energy and pulled some drag. We had been catching larger fish and were a little surprised at this. But some offshore bottom fish save a burst for when near the boat and we didn’t think anything of it.
“It hit a crab that one of the other fish had (coughed up). The crab was laying on the deck and looked good, so I put it on the hook and dropped it back down. That apparently was the right thing to do.”
Turned out to be world-record move.
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