The year of super awesome state record breakage

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

August 11, 2017
Contacts: Dayv Lowry, (360) 902-2558; Bruce Baker, (360) 902-2764

Arizona angler sets Blue Shark sport fish record

OLYMPIA – An Arizona angler fishing out of Westport has established the sport fish record for the largest blue shark caught in Washington waters, fishery managers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) confirmed today.

Zachary Jackson, from Show Low, Arizona, caught the 27.63-pound blue shark on July 30. Jackson caught the fish, which measured 55 ¾ inches, while fishing for albacore tuna using anchovies as bait.

"We were mainly trying to keep the bait away from the shark," said Jackson. "The shark bit my friend's line, then I noticed my line going in the wrong direction and kept thinking he would cut it, but eventually I slowly brought him to the boat."

This was the first blue shark submitted for a state record in Washington. Jackson was fishing in the Pacific Ocean 57 miles off Washington's coast.

Jackson makes the trip to Washington to fish for albacore tuna out of Westport about every other year, and describes Westport as "one of the more consistent places to catch albacore on the West Coast."


First the vaunted sanddab record falls, and now the prestigious blue shark record. Will we see the decimation of the legendary ratfish mark this year?

Blues get LOTS bigger.... 55 " is nothing, just happens to be the first one killed just to submit for a record. Wonder what he did with the fish?

http://www.ifish.net/board/showpost.php?p=2654088&postcount=2

I hooked what I bet was a much larger shark off Westport a couple years back. Could have been a salmon in a sea lion's mouth, I guess. Just kept taking line, no matter what I did, until it finally broke off. I was relieved.

Why would anyone want to kill and keep a blue? It's bad enough the most of them that get brought to charter boat are killed and released. At least from I have personally witnessed.

I was surprised to hear that one could kill and retain a blue out of WP. You'd think all sharks would be protected.

I guess I just don't subscribe to the "gotta kill everything that swims" attitude that a lot of anglers seems to have.

Got in to great debate over on a social media site with some tool that had killed an adult male wolf eel on a WP charter. Why would anyone kill a wolf eel? Kill your target species and let go all the other fish that are caught here and there along the journey.

Yeah, I'm a fish hugger.

Pretty crappy deal, IMO.

While I agree that killing a blue is pretty pointless, none of the charters down here in WP that I am aware of are in the habit of simply killing every blue they hook.

I work for a well known charter outfit down here and am very familiar with many others and I've just never seen it.

That shark was only killed to to so that guy could stroke his ego... sure wish we could make him eat the thing.

Seriously I could go out this evening and break either the ratfish or staghorns record pretty easily. I won't though because I ain't killing fish that I won't eat and honestly how pathetic is it to go through bs to get a trash fish on a certified scale to be the number 1 guy.

Just blew away the state's western stickleback record with a mesh goldfish net and single double braid wire handle in cottage lake creek! The world should know of the rare opportunities the PNW affords. 1/16 oz still being confirmed but I think we can push for more license sales on the mass email rally. Wish me luck!

How much bend does a state record stickleback put in a "double braid wire handle"?

Oh wait, it's BFD.... never mind.

In some ways it's like chasing the IGFA line weight records in both open and fly. I knew folks who hit the rivers with fly gear and set numerous records on chum on flies.

Being the odd sort, I fish for pretty, for different, and for food. Size isn't all that important.

My wife keeps telling me that, but I think she's lying

Rule #1, the Wife is always right
Rule #2, if the Wife is wrong, refer to Rule 1

I lol'ed.