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State Record Yellowfin Grouper
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Mike Hall, Jr. of Hampstead caught the new state record Yellowfin Grouper (aka Fireback grouper) jigging off the coast of Topsail Island. Mike is a senior at Topsail High School and was fishing with his dad and David Mason aboard David’s boat the “Knot Kiddin”. He was using the Roscoe Jig from Blue Water Candy Lures.
They had been trolling all day without much luck. They decided to make one last stop and do a little bit of jigging. When Mike pulled up the fish, he knew he had a very nice grouper but had no idea it would beat the world record Yellowfin Grouper by half a pound. They proceeded back to the dock and didn’t even have the fish weighed until the next day.
When they weighed the fish the next day they learned that they had a record setting fish and called the NC Divsision of Marine Fisheries who sent a Biologist over to check the fish and certify it for the record. As it turns out even though the fish beat the world record by 8 ounces, the IGFA rules diswalified it from the record because when the fish was first hooked up the rod was passed to Mike from his dad. IGFA rules require that only one angler can touch the rod for the fish to count as a world record. Mike will hold the state record as NC has no such arcane rule.
On a side note, the new Roscoe Jig from Blue Water Candy now has been used to catch to new state record fish, this grouper and an Amber Jack caught last month. Way to Go ROSCOE!
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