Bluefish Records
Gator bluefish are one of the most exciting fights in the Northeast. Here is a look at the world and state record bluefish catches.
World Record
James Hussey holding his world record bluefish.
The world record bluefish was caught on Jan. 1, 1972, by James Hussey. Hussey was fishing at Hatteras Inlet in North Carolina, trolling plastic eels when a gigantic bluefish slammed his line. He fought the to-be world record for 15 minutes before hoisting it into the boat. Back at shore, the monster bluefish tipped the scales at 31 pounds and 2 ounces.
Connecticut
Charles Toth caught the Connecticut record bluefish in 1979. Toth was fishing in the waters of Long Island Sound off of Norwalk when he reeled in a 24 pound and 13-ounce bluefish.
Maine
Denis Moran caught the Maine record on Aug. 8, 1994. Moran was fishing out of Boothbay Harbor when he hooked up with his blue. It weighed 19 pounds and 6 ounces.
Massachusetts
Louis Gordon caught the Massachusetts state record on Sept. 11, 1982. Gordon was fishing at Graves Light, the outermost island in Boston Harbor. Gordon’s blue officially weighed 27 pounds and 4 ounces.
New Hampshire
Henry Krook from Durham caught the New Hampshire record on Aug. 23, 1975. Krook was fishing in Great Bay when he landed his 21 pound, 39-inch bluefish.
New Jersey
The New Jersey state record bluefish was caught in 1997 by Roger Katorsky. He was fishing at Five Fathom Bank, which is about 15 miles from Cape May. The shoal there is known for being a go-to bluefish haunt. Katorsky’s blue weighed in at 27 pounds and 1 ounce.
New York
Chris Voorhies caught the New York record bluefish on Nov. 6, 2015. Voorhies was fishing on the south side of Long Island, where a School of large blues were blitzing on bunker. He was throwing a Sebile Magic swimmer from shore when a 25-pound 4-ounce blue hammered his lure. After weighing and releasing the fish, he later learned that it had bested the New York state record by 4 ounces. The previous record had stood since 1998 and was held by Peter Weber.
Rhode Island
The Rhode Island record was caught in August of 1981 by D. Deziel from Woonsocket. Deziel’s bluefish weighed in at 26 pounds and was 39 inches long.
22 on “Bluefish Records”
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Andy I met this guy down in NJ a few years ago. He said he and his friend Marty used to catch 35 pounders all the time while chunkin’ for bass.
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Joey the Jeweler Marty and Artie got buckets of blues on 20 hr soak… Me & this Greek kid Irish Andy used to slam em…
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Jeff the Janitor I know that guy, I think his name was Bob. He was a garbage man. He would chunk 20 hour shifts.
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Rock I got a 39 and a 40″ Bluefish one day Chattam beach area. One went after the dog cause she went in the water. I never weighed them. Skinny ones… swimming up to the river in a pack… stick fins on the surface with bass chunks filling their bellys. They were hunting stripers alright…15 or so years ago.
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Always Hopeful Nonsense! They may have caught big bluefish but, over 30 lb. is a story. Over 20 lb. is believable ; not over 30 lb.
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John They should have weighed them The world record bluefish is 31+ pounds
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LOU TELL ME HOW YOU CAN REGISTER A LARGE STRIPER AS A NEW STATE RECORD IF YOU CANT KEEP IT IF ITS OVER 36 0R 38 INCHES ? DEPENDS ON THE STATE WHERE CAUGHT ? LIKE TO SEE SOME FEED BACK .
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Robert It’s really very simple. You send your handheld weighing scale to IGFA and pay them to certify your scale. You weigh the fish and then release it. However, pictures and witnesses of the scale are highly recommended.
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Always Hopeful Are you more concerned with a record or the health of the fishery? Are you more into awards than achievement? Do you have a camera and tape? You do realize the same quandary, if you feel that way, is in effect for red drum. With the slot limits, the WR will not be broken unless they change the regs. Again, fishery or awards? Self-gratification or public recognition?
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Blake Gunderwood It’s true
There were some huge fish in the Atlantic City area –
Living off the sewage and chemicals in the water from all the casinos.
I distinctly remember bluefish back then having a distinct orange glow coming from the acid waters… -
Mike D I miss catching blues, haven’t seen a good run of blues up here on the south shore of MA in years.
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bingo keep the fish. weigh it at a weight station and, if it really is a world record who cares? just pay the fine for an illegal fish
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R Nav Bet that disqualifies the record.
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Tom K Measure length and girth. Take a picture of each measurement and release.
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Always Hopeful BINGO! A poached fish is not legal and therefore is not eligible, duh! You do understand that WR needs to be verified and legal, right?
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Robert Cataldo While fishing in Boston Harbor back in 1985, I caught a 42 inch 26 pound Blue. Wow, only 1 pound off the State record
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Leif The IGFA will not recognize a record size fish of any size if laws were broken in catching it. So if you catch a Striped Bass that you believe is a world record, state record or even a “line test” record and it’s illegal to possess then it will not count and you just killed a fish for no good reason.
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Chris I shiver to think about just how terrifying it would be if these things grew to 100 lbs? I mean, I don’t think mankind would’ve ever left land. Boats would be just poppers to them….
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jack I am sixty five years old and remember my days blue fishing out of Atlantic Highlands in the 70’s. Bluefish were taken for granted and as discussed here, are maybe pound for pound the best fighting fish anywhere. I am pleased to see this positive discussion about respect for this great game fish. Besides we know they are not the best table fare.
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Tom K Measure length and girth. Take a picture of each measurement and release.
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Bunker Just gonna go on record here, this past year was the WORST I have seen in 12 years fishing boston harbor DAILY, usually on multiple shifts. Morning and evening and often times over night (2-6am). The fishery for striped bass has DRAMATICALLY changed for the worse over the past 2 years. Both number of fish seen, as well as the size of the fish have decreased. We are at a breaking point here with managing this striped bass population, if we don’t take drastic action now, this will be a repeat of previous decades of mistakes. Pls, everyone, do what you can to maintain what we all love to do so much and for future generations to do the same.
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Danny Heflin Sometimes Between 1982 and 1988, I was 18 years old on my 1 st Visit to Road Island, after my Uncle had flew to Dallas Texas to find a good Pick-up Truck that wasn’t Riddled with Vehicle Cancer aka Rust.
Since he couldn’t find one in R.I. and he gave me the 2 Non-Refundable Airline Tickets Him & His Wife wouldn’t be using the Return Flights were for January of 1982. Anyway I found buying a Round Trip Ticket with the Return Flight 2 to 2.5 years later was less than $120.00 back then, and I had 8 months to go before their return flight.
So that helped me lot’s on the Price & I always set the return flight to the farthest away the airlines would allow, also buying the Round Trip Tickets in Texas for flying to Texas from Road Island and back to Road Island as far off as I could get lowered the price & I would buy the Return Round Trip Tickets within a month of Returning to Texas.
Anyway I got to go Fishing with him in the bay of Road Island with him on my 2nd or 3rd Visit, but he did warn me he never caught Much & when he said to only let the line out 15 to 20 feet and wait, Knowing he was never catching much I chose to let it hit bottom and reel in at most 10-15 feet of line so I was fishing 25 to 35 feet deeper than him.
After 10 to 15 minutes at that depth I caught my 1st Of 5 Fish I caught that 1 time he took me fishing in the Bay, it was a Blue Fish, & being From Texas and Not Knowing Ocean Fish Have Teeth, I began to grab its mouth and uncle Mark SWATTED My hand away, then told me they have sharp teeth and then showed me.
That would have hurt being bit by that Massive Blue Fish, I then gutted it since his boat didn’t have a live well for bait or For The Catch.
After gutting it & tossing it’s guts overboard as chum so Mark might catch something he said.
Then we weighed the Blue Fish & it weighed 56 pounds gutted, next I caught a 20 pound Sea bass, then a starfish some how & I told Mark let the line hit bottom then raise it 10-15 feet is what I was doing to catch them.
He said that’s how you caught a Starfish, I must have had the bait drop at it’s next step. After the Starfish I caught what he called a Toe Grinder due to when he was diving he would see & hear them & as he approached them they would get louder. That thing was resilient since after grilling dinner 2 days after catching it & throwing it in a dry bucket, Mark had me toss that thing into the grill, strangely the next day it was 1/2 cooked with meat falling off it but still alive. So we gave it to a cat hanging around and it bit the cat, so we agreed it needed to go back to the bay that was about 200 to 300 yards down the hill of the Road their house was on, tossing it in the Bay seemed to have the Salt water burn it for 10 or more seconds & then it swam off like it’s partially cooked body and the fact it was Gray from it’s near black color when caught.
My Next 2 Catches Were Sea Bass one 22 pounder & a 18 pound one both after gutting weights.
Mark wouldn’t allow me to do anything with the Blue Fish saying only the Portuguese around there could cook them and have them edible. So he called a lady friend and the next day we had a picnic by a pond that was by the bay and flowed into it, to grill it she used a blend of spice’s and then 6 or 7 fresh Rosemary branches, wrapped it in a lot of foil and grilled it for 90 Minutes or Longer, but it was damn good eating.
My Next Visit is when Mark had seen the State record Blue Fish and mine was easily 2 to nearly 3 times larger, Mark also commented that record fish wasn’t gutted it was in a bait shops Freezer Whole, also after catching the sea bass a shark easily 2 times longer than Marks 35 foot boat he had he could take out past the Light House in the bay of RI if he had the 2 motors it had before he got it, but the previous owner sold the newest motor before selling it.
Danny Heflin and I was Fishing with my Uncle Mark Heflin.
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