Angler nabs record-breaking fish off Washington coast. See photos of historic catch
Wade La Fontaine has been fishing off the Washington coast for over a decade, “chasing salmon, lingcod, halibut and tuna.”
In all those years, though, he’s never nabbed the catch that he did Aug. 25 off Westport, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in an Aug. 30 news release.
The “avid saltwater angler” caught a 21-pound, 48-inch dolphinfish, also known as dorado or mahi mahi, officials said.
The catch shattered the state record, a 16.27-pound dolphinfish caught in 2013, officials said.
“I’m blessed beyond comprehension,” La Fontaine told wildlife officials. “I’ll be getting another tattoo of a mahi!”
After La Fontaine caught the fish with “a brilliant yellow belly and blueish-green back” aboard the Tunacious with Captain Keith Johnson about 42 miles off the coast, a biologist with the state’s wildlife department weighed and checked the fish, officials said.
The department said it certified La Fontaine’s Washington Record Sport Fish Application on Aug. 30.
Most mahi mahi caught off the Washington coast weigh from 6 to 12 pounds, officials said.
“La Fontaine’s fish … was more reminiscent of large dolphinfish caught in warmer waters off southern California, Mexico and Hawaii,” officials said.
The waters where the record-breaking fish was caught measured 70 degrees, which is considered “warm even for these warmer offshore waters though not unprecedented especially during El Nino years,” officials said.
Westport is about 100 miles southwest of Tacoma.
What to know about dolphinfish
The dolphinfish, or mahi mahi, are a popular sport and commercial fish, according to NOAA Fisheries.
The fish is found in “waters throughout the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans,” according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
This story was originally published August 31, 2023 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Angler nabs record-breaking fish off Washington coast. See photos of historic catch."
