african pompano--if we had only known..

[uncdub13]

Fished out around WR-4 out of masonboro inlet on thursday. Ended up boating two african pompano, first was on 20 lb king tackle and the second i got on 15 lb spinning gear (4500 baitrunner). Pretty good fighters and we just assumed these fish were about average size. Kept the first one which we later measured 39" long with a 29" girth but never weighed it. I released my second one with a rough measurement of 42" x 30". We estimated the fish to be 35-45 lb range. Well i stuck those numbers in the ol trusty formula and got 41 and 47 pounds. Here's the pics, yall tell me..

http://www.marker39.com/forum/upload/uncdub13/2006-06-15_224217_drew_dustin.jpg

http://www.marker39.com/forum/upload/uncdub13/2006-06-15_224316_42pounder2.jpg

http://www.ncwaterman.com/forum/uploads/fishinAA/fishinAA_88839341drew2.JPG

Well, here's the thing....tonight i was looking on the NC state records..african pompano is 40 lb 10 oz:--| . Guess we'll never know for sure:rolleyes: .

[catman]

WOW! Those are some awesome looking fish. Congrats on a great catch. My guess is that you guys had a record(s). At least they're free to be caught again. WTG guys.:) :)

[RuddeDogg]

Beautiful fish. Way to go!!!!

[uncdub13]

ahh that's not what i wanted to hear! you're supposed to tell me they dont look quite that big.:mad: ;)

guess we can just keep kickin ourselves about it for a while.

[Bassboy]

One of my friends went on a spadefish trip and took his fly rod and caught a bunch of them. When they get done fishing they clean all the spades for eating later. AFTER he eats the spades he looks up the tippet class records for the size tippet he was using... He had atleast 3 WORLD RECORDS! that he ended up eating! Said that none of the existing records were even close to the size of the ones he caught. Talk about bad timing atleast you let yours go so you can tell people you did it to be conservative or somethin sorry about the luck man but good catch either way

[uncdub13]

yikes, world records:eek: . come to think of it, the NC spade record is only like 10 lbs...i know we've seen some around that size while diving these past few weeks...hmmm.

[Bassboy]

Yeah man always try to keep up with the records or know someone reliable who does because as what happened to you, you never know what your going to catch or how it will be done, and on a further note always check the records BEFORE you eat the fish. Good luck next time out

[uncdub13]

yeah i hear ya. my roommate was rippin on me sayin "dude yall had 3 people on the boat who are obsessed with fishing and you still didnt know??"

on the bright side, i released the bigger one and i think i'm goin back out there tomorrow:rolleyes: .

[murphman]

Nice fish!:)