This brute was caught just 3 weeks after Jeff Wright of Cambridge, MA, caught a 72.8 pound fish to break a 34-year long standing record set by Kim Lawson in 1985. On August 16, 2019, Kristi Frashure of Pasadena caught a 74.5-pound bull while participating in the Poor Girls Fishing Tournament in Ocean City, MD. This year, two record breaking dolphin were caught in Poor Man’s Canyon off Maryland, which set new state records for the Old Line State. East Coast and, for offshore fishing, it consists of numerous offshore canyons that vary in size, distribution, and location from Norfolk Canyon in the south to Hydrographer Canyon (and others beyond) in the northeast. The Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) makes up a massive part of the U.S. Congratulations to each of the vessels and anglers for catching these massive bulls in 2020. In 2019, we observed out of season catches of big bulls at FADs off the north coast of the USVIs and south coast of the Dominican Republic. However, in early March of 2019, angler Dylan Louis caught a ~72 lb fish off Port Everglades, which was and remained as the largest for the year off Florida. Last year, the top two largest fish were caught in the MAB between late July and mid-August, which is consistent with this year’s timing. Caribbean Sea occurred during late January and early February, and only five months later, the largest fish occurred along the U.S. In 2020, take note that the largest observed fish within the U.S. Less than two weeks before Hook N’ Cook caught its big bull, Captain Emmanuel Markham had a stellar day south of La Parguera, Puerto Rico, in late January and caught another massive fish that weighed 53 lbs after it was gutted. Caribbean Sea, Captain Colt Cook and angler Alex Zimmerman enjoyed catching a 63.7 lb beast just a few miles north of St. The latter represents one of the larger fish observed in the Keys over the last several years. Further down the coast, Florida state waters produced at least one 70+lb fish in 2020 and several others in the 50+lb, range including the Slay family’s 58.90 lb fish caught off Cudjoe Key in the Lower Keys. After all, that is only 12.5 more pounds than Wagner’s fish! Given that, last year, two anglers within 3 weeks of each other caught similar sized bulls in the same canyon, we might be documenting a new trend within the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB). Who knows, maybe in 2021, we will receive word that the long-standing world record, which still stands at 87 pounds, will be surpassed. Backlash’s fish established a new tournament record at the White Marlin Open and is the third 72+lb fish to be landed in Poor Man’s Canyon off Maryland in the past two fishing seasons. Note that La Calankita’s fish is whole weight gutted, which points to the importance of gathering weight measurements of massive fish before they are processed. As part of our annual tradition, we are excited to share our list of the top five largest bullswe observed through social media in the Western Central Atlantic Ocean in 2020. For scientific purposes, it is important to document landings of large individuals to examine seasonal, interannual, and decadal trends by location. For most that fish offshore, acquiring a coveted record, such as largest dolphinfish, is nothing short of spectacular and only a few will have the opportunity to ink their name somewhere in a record book. Catches of massive bull dolphin are exciting to report because, most often, they represent a state or tournament record, boat record, or angler record ( click here for a table we maintain).
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