Virginia Man Breaks North Carolina Bluefin Tuna Record

MOREHEAD City – A Virginia man set a new North Carolina state report for bluefin when he reeled in an 805-pound, 8-ounce fish off Oregon Inlet very last weekend.

Corey Schultz, of Waverly, Va., caught the fish Saturday aboard the Sea Breeze out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Middle. The fish measured 112 inches curved fork duration with a 76-inch girth.

Schultz caught the fish on a Shimano 80 rod and reel employing 130 line test with ballyhoo for bait.

“It was all that rod and reel needed, I can inform you that,” Schultz mentioned.

Schultz had caught a 350-pound tuna with the identical captain – Ned Ashby – final year and released the catch. Then, Schultz utilised a 50-wide reel.

This yr, he employed an eighty-wide reel.

“I knew within the very first number of minutes it was not the very same caliber fish,” Schultz explained.

Schultz said he fought the fish for about 2½ hours and had close to one,000 yards of line out. Everyone in the boat’s get together of six, in addition to the captain and mate, assisted to get the fish on board.

“It was an unforgettable knowledge, that’s for sure,” Schultz stated.

The previous North Carolina state record bluefin tuna weighed 744 lbs and was caught off Oregon Inlet in 1995. The International Game Fish Association report bluefin tuna weighed one,496 kilos and was caught off Nova Scotia in 1979.

For much more data, make contact with Carole Willis, sportfishing specialist and N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament Coordinator with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries at (252) 808-8081 or Carole.Y.Willis@ncdenr.gov.

File BLUEFIN TUNA: Corey Schultz, left, of Waverly, Va. and his fishing buddy Patrick Hughes of Minneapolis, Minn. celebrate Schultz’s North Carolina state report catch.