In January, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries certified a new state record for white marlin. Neil Manning of Ashburn, Virginia, landed the 138-pound fish on November 16, 2015, while fishing off Hatteras, North Carolina, aboard Fin Again with Capt. Kenny Koci. They were targeting blackfin tuna and amberjack over a wreck with live menhaden when the big white struck. After a 30-minute battle, the crew had the fish boat-side. Koci then noticed rounded fins, indicative of a white marlin — not a small blue — so the crew made the decision to take the fish as a possible state record.
On deck, it measured 85 inches from the tip of the lower jaw to the fork of the tail, with a girth of 37 inches. Manning’s white marlin topped the previous North Carolina state record, caught in 1976, by 20 pounds. Biologists with the Division of Marine Fisheries also certified the catch as a white marlin and not a roundscale spearfish.
