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Maryland’s Division of Pure Sources introduced a brand new state-record sheepshead was caught Sept. 17 from Tangier Sound. Angler Brian Summerlin from the small city of Princess Anne in Somerset County caught the fish from Chesapeake Bay’s jap shore waters, simply north of the Virginia state line.
“I assumed it was a black drum at first, as a result of method the fish was combating with some massive head shakes, however then I noticed it was a really giant sheepshead because it surfaced close to the boat,” Summerlin mentioned.
Summerlin knew his oversize fish was a contender for a state document after noting the present Maryland fish stats on-line. He then took his catch to Sea Hawk Sports activities Heart in close by Pocomoke Metropolis, the place it was unofficially weighed and photographed.
From there Summerlin transported his record-size sheepshead to the Kool Ice and Seafood Firm within the Chesapeake waterfront city of Cambridge for official measuring. There it tipped the licensed scales at an official 16.6 kilos, with a size of 26.25 inches.
It tops the earlier Maryland sheepshead document weighing 14.1 kilos, caught Aug. 9, 2020 by Daniel Mastronardi Jr. from southern Chesapeake Bay, who was utilizing a crab for bait in 15 ft of water. (Curiously, Maryland retains separate information for various water our bodies; Summerlin’s qualifies because the Chesapeake Bay document. One other state-record sheepshead for the Atlantic division that weighed 18 kilos was caught within the Ocean Metropolis Inlet in 2017.)
Summerlin additionally used a gentle crab for bait, and his new sheepshead document was caught in 15 ft of water, too. The crab was fitted to a sliding sinker “fishfinder rig” with an 8/0 circle hook. He used spinning deal with with 60-pound check braided line and a 60-pound check fluorocarbon chief.
Summerlin had been catching a combination bag of black drum, striped bass, bluefish, and different species earlier than boating his state record-breaking sheepshead.
Sheepshead are a highly-sought marine sportfish, avidly focused by anglers all through their inshore, and near-shore ocean vary. They’ve light-colored delicate flesh and are valued as desk fare.
Sheepshead have enamel that look oddly much like sheep’s enamel, therefore their frequent title. They’ve laborious plates of their mouths for crushing shells when feeding on oysters, mussels, snails, barnacles, and different crustaceans. Their enamel and laborious mouth construction make them notably troublesome to hook, and they are often spooky, stealthy targets for anglers, who goal them round submerged rocks, pilings, bridge abutments, and reefs.
Sheepshead vary extensively all through the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, extending as far south as Brazil and north to New York. A lot of the angling effort for sheepshead is within the southeast, from Maryland by the Carolinas and Florida and alongside the Gulf Coast, although document fish have been caught as far north as New Jersey.
The IGFA all-tackle world-record sheepshead weighed 21-pounds, 4-ounces, caught by Wayne Desselle in New Orleans in Apr. 1982. He was utilizing 20-pound check line and shrimp for bait.
Other than Desselle’s all-tackle 21-pound 4-ounce fish, Summerlin’s 16.6-pound Maryland document sheepshead is bigger than another present IGFA line class document.
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