LEWES, DELAWARE (11/17/2015) A 24.8-pound bluefish was caught after it grabbed a black sea bass the angler had already hooked and was reeling in, state officials said today, breaking a 35-year-old record in the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament .
The 43-inch bluefish was caught by Dr. Luis Mispireta of Stevensville, Maryland, aboard the Katydid charter boat at Delaware Reef Site 13, about 26 miles off Lewes in the Atlantic Ocean.
The site, known as the Del-Jersey-Land Reef, is one of numerous artificial reefs created by the Division of Fish & Wildlife, which says it is the largest such reef on the Atlantic Coast. The centerpiece is a former destroyer, the USS Arthur W. Radford, sunk in 2010.
The new record is almost 3 pounds larger than the previous record 21.9-pound bluefish, caught in 1980 by Bill Thoroughgood of Rehoboth Beach.
Mispereta’s bluefish hooked itself after latching onto the black sea bass, Fish & Wildlife officials said in a news release, and “the bluefish was landed after a fight befitting its record size.”
The record catch was first confirmed by Joe Morris of Lewes Harbour Marina and verified by Fish & Wildlife Natural Resources Police Officer Joel Brosius.
Capt. Brent Wiest was piloting the Katydid and Chris Vann was the mate.