iStockphoto / Lucas Conaway
Ask pretty much any serious saltwater fishermen in Florida what their personal best snook is and they can likely give you a length and weight of that fish. While there are countless other highly sought after fish species here in Florida where I was born and raised, no fish captivates Sunshine State anglers like the snook.
So to see a new world record snook like this, albeit a different subspecies than what we have here, is pretty mind blowing.
New World Record Snook Caught In Mexico
Angler Roman Duenas Marquez of Baja California Sur, Mexico landed his world record snook on July 1st. The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) which certifies fishing world records and maintains the database of world records just made his catch official.
There are 10 subspecies of ‘snook‘ eligible for fishing world records: Atlantic Snook, Pacific Snook, Common Snook, Fat Snook, Mexican Snook, Pacific Black Snook, Pacific Blackfin Snook, Pacific White Snook, Swordspine Snook, and Tarpon Snook.
At first glance you might think you need a degree in Marine Biology to identify the subspecies you’ve caught but the reality is the subspecies are typically pretty spread out from one another, and when they’re not, they often have distinct markings. Add in the fact that most fishermen are completely obsessed with fish and fishing and the knowledge of the subspecies comes naturally over time to those that need it.
Fish of a Lifetime
According to the IGFA, Roman Duenas Marquez was fishing with a Jansen Tackle mullet lure off the beaches of Todos Santos in Baja California Sur, Mexico when the fish struck his lure. He was fishing with a Penn Carnage III rod and Spinfisher VII reel.
A snook this large must’ve felt like a small whale when it hit that bait on his spinning rod!
After landing the fish, he took it to a nearby tackle shop, Minvervas Baja Tackle, which maintains a certified scale. There he was able to take the accurate and certified measurements necessary in order to submit his Pacific White Snook for a new IGFA fishing world record. Check this thing out again:
That is truly a once-in-a-lifetime catch! It doesn’t even look real to me…
For context, the Pacific Black Snook was previously the largest of the 10 subspecies but not by much.
The current IGFA fishing world record for Pacific Black Snook is 59 pounds, 8 ounces. That fish was caught in Quepos, Costa Rica in 2014. This new Pacific White Snook topped that overall poundage by 1 pound, 5 ounces, making it the heaviest snook ever weighed and recorded on a certified scale.