Manassas angler reels in huge rockfish, state record

Posted to: Outdoors Sports Virginia
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By Lee Tolliver
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 23, 2012

During a winter that has witnessed huge inshore bluefin tuna catches and some of the best striped bass fishing in several years, nobody was surprised Friday when word spread that a potential state-record rockfish had been caught.

Fishing off Cape Henry with Capt. Tim Cannon on the Bada Bing, Prince William County angler Cary Wolfe caught a 74-pounder after a fight of about 15 minutes.

The fish eclipses the current mark of 73 pounds caught almost to the day four years ago by Chesapeake's Fred Barnes. To become the state record, it first must be certified by the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.

Weighed in at Long Bay Pointe Marina, certification is almost assured.

"We knew it was a citation (40-plus pounds) winner, but we weren't sure just how big until we got it on the scales at the dock," said Wolfe, a 56-year-old X-ray technician at Prince William Hospital. "When we got it in the boat, we knew it was huge, but..."

The action had been slow to that point, with only one dogfish shark to show for the crew's efforts.

"Then we got a hard knockdown, but it really wasn't doing much," said Richard White, Wolfe's brother-in-law and the boat's mate for the day. "It wasn't doing too much."

At first, the crew thought they might have had a small bluefin tuna. Tuna have been making an incredible inshore run over the past month.

"It wasn't shaking its head very much and wasn't really putting up all that much of a fight," said Wolfe, who lives in Brentsville, just outside of Manassas. "We really did think it might be a small tuna until it came up about 30 feet from the boat.

"That's when we knew what we had and we knew it was a decent fish."

Wolfe, an avid deer hunter and freshwater fisherman, has spent time catching shark, barracuda and grouper in Puerto Rico. But he said he's never caught a fish this big.

"I think my biggest striper was about 36 inches long the last time I came down," he said. "We catch a lot of school-sized striper in the Potomac River, but we have to let most of them go. Mostly, I just fish for catfish, crappie, bass and bluegill.

"But this is a nice little fish and I'm happy to have him."

Lee Tolliver, 757-222-5844,lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com

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Awesome Fish!

Submitted by homeslice on Mon, 01/23/2012 at 7:44 pm.

Somebody on that boat had to know that it's illegal to gaff rockfish in Virginia waters, though...... Hope that doesn't keep it from being certified, but it could.

fish was boated legally

Submitted by Lee.Tolliver (staffer) on Mon, 01/23/2012 at 10:33 pm.

First of all - Homeslice - I absolutely love your online name. It's one of my favorite things to call a friend. Home skillet is the other. I asked the crew about the gaff and they showed me video of the fish being netting into the boat. The gaff was brought out to help the angler hold it up for pictures. Mate Richard White is well-aware of the regulations and never would risk a record catch on something that simple. But he and others understand the concern because of the picture. It's a good question based on the picture. I hope my this helps.

colloquialism

Submitted by obandedpine on Mon, 01/23/2012 at 11:38 pm.

Home skillet, heh, you must be a local. That one brought a smile.

I got pernamently blocked here for saying homey in reference to a Norfolk political figure on these boards. My guess is some of the VP moderators are not locals and the meaning was totally lost on them.

The since banded opine.