While we were fishing for tautog on Super Bowl Sunday, Johnny Boyd caught a hake. There are numerous species of hake and I cannot tell them apart. Typically, we clean the fish at the dock when we get in. Being in a hurry to get home for the Super Bowl, we just took the fish home to clean later.
Doug Olander, Sport Fishing Magazine, saw a photo of the hake and said that he thought it was a Carolina hake and if so, it would be a new world record. Jason Schratwieser, IGFA, agreed that it was a Carolina hake.
It was probably going to be too late but we contacted Johnny to see if he had cleaned his fish yet. It was still in the cooler and he was going to clean it after work for his dinner. Well, don’t do that.
We took the fish to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission where the fish was weighed by Tournament Director Lewis Gillingham and witnessed by the VMRC Commissioner, John Bull, and the Fisheries Chief, Rob O’Reilly. We then took the fish to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science where the species was confirmed as Urophycis earlii , the Carolina hake.
The application is being filled out and if approved, Johnny’s 5.68 pound hake will be the new, IGFA All-Tackle World Record Carolina hake and it will be the 11th All-Tackle World Record caught on the Healthy Grin. VIMS really wanted to keep the fish to add to their collection. Johnny said that he could eat something else for dinner and he donated his fish.
