The NC Division of Marine Fisheries recently certified the first Pompano Dolphinfish State Record (Coryphaena equiselis)and he could break the world record.

Charles Kenneth Noonan of Sumter, SC caught the 11-pound, 5.4-ounce fish from an abandoned raft about 42 miles off Ocean Isle Beach on June 8.

Noonan said he is applying to the International Game Fish Association for certification of the fish as a World Record All Tackle. The current world record certified Pompano Dolphinfish weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was caught off Maryland in 2008.

The Noonan fish measured 30.5 inches in fork length (from the tip of the nose to the fork of the tail) and had a girth of 17.25 inches.

He caught it with an Okuma Cedros PCH 7ft custom rod and an Okuma Cedros 8000 reel using a dead ballyhoo on a 60lb power pro braid.

He was fishing with Captain Tyler Hailey and First Mate Bailey Auten of the Salt Fever Guide Service at Ocean Isle Beach. They were aboard the Glory Daze, a 37-foot Freeman Boatworks catamaran.

To establish a state record, fish must be weighed on certified scales at an official North Carolina weigh station, and the angler must submit an application to the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries which is then reviewed. by staff. The fish must be exceptionally large for North Carolina waters and within a reasonable range of the world record.

For more information on state record fish, go to the division’s State Saltwater Records webpage or contact the North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Tournament staff at [email protected] .