VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.(WVEC) -- After selling their fishing boat over the summer, little did Brad Hudgins and his father Bill know, they would reel in the catch of a lifetime while on a charter outing. Captain Steve Richardson took them out on the Backlash last Friday. Their fish dujour -- Marlin. Just a few hours into the trip, around 9 a.m., they hooked a big one.
"I've been doing this my whole life, when that fish bit -- I knew how big that fish really was. It was a very exciting moment," said Captain Richardson.
After seven hours fighting the fish. It died on the line. The men then brought the Blue Marlin aboard, hoping it was a state record breaker.
"The captain and all of us were thinking we might potentially have a state record. Uh, we really thought it would make a thousand pounds. It didn't, we're not disappointed about that," explained Brad Hudgins, the angler on the boat that day.
He went on to say, "It might be the 2nd biggest Blue Marlin caught in the state, So we're still pretty happy about that."The state record for Blue Marlin is 1,093 pounds and was set in 1978.
This fish weighed in at 917 pounds and measured 137 inches in length.
While there were many congratulatory notes on social media about the catch, not everyone who saw the fish on Facebook was happy.
There were many posts that questioned why catch and release practices weren't used.
Others were concerned about whether Blue Marlin are fish that are consumed.
Hudgins and Captain Richardson told 13News Now, the fish was processed and the meat, smoked to eat.
As for the rules on the water for sport fishing. Here is what we learned from NOAA Fisheries:
Recreational fishermen are allowed to land blue marlin, it is not a catch and release only species. There are no trip limits for blue marlin, but the minimum size for this species must be 99 inches from the lower jaw to the fork in the tail. For commercial fisheries, there is no allowed retention of blue or white marlin.
There is a combined US allotment for blue and white marlin set at 250 fish per year, set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.
It is important that blue marlin caught recreationally be reported, that the boat doing the fishing be permitted by NOAA Fisheries to catch Atlantic Highly Migratory Species. And if the blue marlin was caught through a tournament, the tournament should also be registered with NOAA Fisheries.
Blue Marlin are considered over-fished, but it is not a species listed under the Endangered Species Act as at risk of extinction. It is not severely depleted, and there are a number of measures at the international and domestic levels to protect Blue Marlin and other highly migratory species. For example, circle hooks help facilitate easier catch and release.
