Angler battles 4-foot behemoth for 45 minutes off NC coast — and shatters record

Miami Herald

21 hours ago

An angler spent 45 minutes off the coast of North Carolina reeling in a fish as his buddies kept hauling in their catches, making comments about how long it was taking him.
They didn't know the fish on his line was a North Carolina state record.
Warren Poirier of Charles City, Virginia, shattered the previous state record for Almaco Jack by a whopping 23 pounds with his fish weighing over 56 pounds and measuring 46 inches in length, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality's Division of Marine Fisheries announced June 27.
'We were finishing up the day, and I had told the captain the day before that if we had the time, I wanted to catch a big jack because I wanted to mount one,' Poirier told McClatchy News.
On June 7, Poirier set out with Captain James Bowman and other anglers from a Hatteras marina in the Outer Banks.
Upon Poirier's request, Bowman took them to another spot late in the day, and one cast from Poirier's line was all it took.
'I jigged the bait off the bottom, this fish hit it, and it took 45 minutes to get him in because it was light tackle, light rod and spinning reel,' Poirier said. 'He almost took all the line off the reel.'
He said his buddies were giving him a hard time as they caught multiple fish apiece in the time it took him to bring the big fish into the boat.
By the time he hauled it into the boat, he was exhausted, and everyone was celebrating. But they didn't realize just how significant the catch was until they brought it into the marina.
'We put the fish out on the dock and one of the other captains came up and said 'Oh my God, that's the biggest Almaco Jack I've ever seen in my life,'' he recalled.
They started looking up the state record and realized Poirier's fish easily beat the 33-pound record set in 2024.
'Ironically it worked out, because I wanted a big jack,' he said.
He added Bowman was thrilled and said he'd take care of the fish as officials worked to certify the record.
'He wanted me to get that record as much as I did,' Poirier said.
He thanked the captain in a Facebook post, saying he made it happen.
Poirier caught the record jack with a Shimano Trevala rod and Saltist 5000 reel with 80-pound braid, according to the state marine fisheries division.