State record gag grouper and queen trigger caught
The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries officially certified two state record fish catches on Friday, July20.
A Jacksonville man broke the state queen trigger fish record with a 10
pound, 11 ounce fish caught July 3, and a Newport man established the
state gag grouper record with a 43 pound, 8 ounce fish caught May 12.
Benjamin Peterson of Jacksonville caught the queen trigger 55 miles out
from New River Inlet using squid as bait on a Shimano Trevela rod and
Shimano Sarasota 18000 reel with Power Pro 65-pound test braided
fishing line. The fish measured 23.5 inches fork length (tip of the
nose to fork in the tail) and had a 22-inch girth.
Peterson’s queen trigger replaces the previous state record of 10
pounds, 5 ounces, set in 2011. The world record queen trigger was 14
pounds, 3 ounces, when it was caught in Mexico in 2009.
David Abernathy of Newport established the state record for gag grouper
with a 43 pound, 8 ounce fish caught off Morehead City using a Roscoe
jig on a Shimano Saragosa reel and Star Spinning rod with a 65-pound
test fishing line. It measured 45 inches total length (tip of the nose
to tip of the tail) and had a 31.5-inch girth.
North Carolina previously did not have a state record gag grouper.
To establish a state record fish, the angler must submit an application
that is then reviewed by N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries staff and a
N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament Advisory Board. The fish must be
exceptionally large for North Carolina waters and within a reasonable
range of the world record.
The world record gag grouper was 80 pounds, 6 ounces, caught off of Florida in 1993.
For more information, contact Carole Willis, division sportfishing specialist, at 252-808-8081 or carole.y.willis@ncdenr.gov.
Download photos of Peterson and Abernathy with their catches at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/2012-nr-072412-photos.
