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Generally the largest fish come from sudden locations. Such was the case when Washington angler Wade La Fontaine caught a record-breaking mahi mahi off the coast of southwest Washington on Aug. 23. The 48-inch-long fish weighed 21 kilos on the nostril, which simply broke the standing state document of 16.27 kilos. The Washington Division of Fish and Wildlife licensed La Fontaine’s new document Wednesday.
La Fontaine caught the document mahi whereas on a constitution journey with Far Corners Adventures Sportfishing. With Capt. Keith Johnson on the helm of the Tunacious, the group left Westport on Friday morning and ran about 42 miles offshore. They have been trolling with synthetic squid baits within the hopes of hooking a tuna, salmon, or lingcod. Neither Johnson nor LaFontaine anticipated to reel in a mahi mahi, and once they gaffed the brilliantly coloured fish along side the boat, they have been blown away.
“[Keith and I] each misplaced our voices screaming after it was on the boat!” La Fontaine wrote on Fb. “Endlessly grateful!”
They have been shocked as a result of mahi mahi (also called dolphinfish or dorado) aren’t caught off the Washington and Oregon Coasts fairly often. The species prefers hotter water temperatures, and so they’re extra intently related to Mexico and different waters additional south. Capt. Johnson did be aware, nevertheless, that the water temps that day have been round 70 levels, which is hotter than common.
WDFW identified in a press launch that the species is simply “sporadically caught by leisure and industrial fishers” in Washington. Solely a handful of mahi mahi catches have been recorded final 12 months, in keeping with the company, and people fish have been all noticeably smaller than those pulled from typical dorado waters.
“Most mahi mahi caught off our coast are smaller fish within the 6- to 12-pound vary,” WDFW defined. “La Fontaine’s fish was extra harking back to giant dolphinfish caught within the waters off southern California, Mexico, and Hawaii.”
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La Fontaine advised WDFW that he plans to memorialize his document catch. However as a substitute of getting a reproduction made, he’s getting inked up as a substitute.
“I’ll be getting one other tattoo of a mahi!” he mentioned.
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