New state record bluefin tuna caught off Oregon Inlet

Published 12:28 pm Wednesday, April 11, 2018

: A NEW BLUEFIN Tuna state record was set when Scott Chambers (kneeling left), reeled in the 877-pound fish off Oregon Inlet. He was fishing aboard the A-Salt Weapon out of Pirates Cove Marina. The fish caught March 17 bested the previous record by 72 pounds.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries has certified a new state record bluefin tuna.

Retired Army General Scott Chambers of Townsend, Delaware, reeled in the 877-pound fish March 17 after fighting with the fish for two and a half hours off Oregon Inlet. It measured 113 inches curved fork length

A NEW BLUEFIN Tuna state record was set when Scott Chambers (kneeling left), reeled in the 877-pound fish off Oregon Inlet. He was fishing aboard the A-Salt Weapon out of Pirates Cove Marina. The fish caught March 17 bested the previous record by 72 pounds.

(tracing the contour of the body from the tip of the nose to the fork in the tail) and had a girth of 79 inches.

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He caught the fish using trolling dead bait on 130 pound line test on a 130 Shimano rod and reel aboard the charter boat A-Salt Weapon fishing out of Pirates Cove Marina in Manteo.

Chambers’ fish broke the former state record bluefin tuna by 72 pounds. That fish was caught off Oregon Inlet, as well, in 2011. The world all-tackle record bluefin tuna was 1,496 pounds and was caught off Nova Scotia in 1979.

The record setting bluefin tuna was the second massive fish brought to the Pirates Cove docks in March.

On March 10, Captain Toby Russ and mate Steven Jones landed a massive bluefin tuna, aboard the Haley Addyson, out of Pirates Cove Marina. The crew brought in the 613-pound dressed fish after a two and half hour fight.