Gary Tyler / Maryland Department of Natural Resources
One Maryland angler made history late last month when he landed a beefy 38-pound Yellowedge Grouper which has officially been awarded the state’s first-ever fishing record for that species.
On the one hand, it might seem easy to land a state fishing record for a species that has never been certified in that state but on the other hand, this is a fish that’s very rarely found in the state of Maryland. The traditional range for Yellowedge Grouper is from North Carolina all the way to Brazil but they are sparsely caught or heard of north of N.C. which makes this a particularly special catch.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources shared a press release of this rare grouper which tipped the scales as 38.0 pounds. For context, the IGFA fishing world record for Yellowedge Grouper is a 48 lb 9 oz fish caught by angler Tyler M. Kennedy off Dauphin Island, Alabama in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2012, so this fish was just about 10 pounds off a world record and an absolute specimen of a fish.
Jian Feng Li was the angler on the reel while fishing onboard Capt. Chase Eberle’s charter boat Tiderunner. The group started the day fishing for mahi-mahi but eventually dropped strip baits of false albacore (a tuna subspecies) down 420 feet at Poorman’s Canyon off of Ocean City when they hooked up to this new state record fish.
According to the fishing report, four fishermen on the boat hooked up to big fish and three of those four were broken off. Grouper often love to hug structure like rocks, reefs, ledges, etc. and are quick to retreat into that shelter once they are hooked so when an angler sets the hook it is an immediate battle of muscle to rip that fish up higher in the water column.
Maryland DNR biologist Gary Tyler who took the photograph above was on hand at the Sunset Marina in Ocean City, Maryland to certify the fish’s weight on a certified scale and to certify the species which is quite rare in the ‘Free State.’
It will be interesting to see if other anglers in Maryland attempt to target Yellowedge Grouper as a species after this new state record. While they are quite rare, it’s obvious they can be found in the waters of Maryland. Whether or not there’s another state record lurking out there remains to be seen.
All grouper are delicious to eat but Yellowedge Grouper are known for tasting similar to a cross between halibut and sea bass, two highly-sought after fish for eating.