Brock Davenport of Beaufort is the new state recordholder for his recent catch jolthead porgy, aka Calamus bajonado.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries announced Thursday that Davenport’s 16-pounder was recently certified the new state record.
Supporter Spotlight
Davenport caught the fish Aug. 9, bumping the previous state record jolthead porgy Randy Brock landed in 2015 that weighed 14 pounds, 14 ounces.
Davenport was fishing out of Wrightsville Beach with his friend, Jeffery Thomas, using cigar minnows for bait when he landed the fish on 80-pound braid with a Penn Slammer rod and a Penn 750 reel. The fish measured 29.5 inches total length, from the tip of the nose to the stretched end of the tail, and had a girth of 24 inches. Davenport said it took about 10 minutes to reel in the fish.
Jolthead porgy are commonly associated with hard-bottom and coral habitats and feed primarily on crabs, mollusks and sea urchins. Unlike many other reef fish, large adult jolthead porgy are generally solitary, rather than schooling.
The jolthead porgy can be identified by a long, rounded forehead, a blue line below the eyes and orange corners in their mouths. In the Atlantic waters off the Southeast, jolthead porgy are managed by the U.S. South Atlantic Fishery Management Council as part of the Snapper-Grouper Fishery Management Plan.
For regulation information, including requirements for a descending device for Jolthead Porgy and other snapper/grouper species, visit the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s regulations webpage.
For more information on records for state saltwater fish, go to the division’s State Saltwater Records webpage or contact the North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Tournament staff at saltwater.citations@deq.nc.gov.
Supporter Spotlight
