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Biggest spadefish-world record set by
Leo Olivarez
[June
23]Chesapeake Bay,VA,USA--While fishing for bluefish to use
as flounder bait, Leo Olivarez landed a world record spadefish
that weighed 9 pounds, 13 ounces.
Leo Olivarez, a utility contractor company supervisor
from Virginia Beach, was fishing around the rocks of the Chesapeake
Bay Bridge-Tunnel's third island.
He was fishing for one species, which he was planning
to use to catch another, when a completely different species
hit his lure. The strike ended up providing him the catch
of a lifetime.
"We were catching small bluefish to cut up for
flounder bait," said Olivarez, 55. "The bluefish were breaking
around the surface and we were catching quite a few of them
with a Berkley PowerBait sand perch."
Olivarez was using only 6-pound test line.
After a 20- to 25-minute fight, Olivarez found
out when he pulled a spadefish to the side of the boat.
"He must have been really hungry or something,"
Olivarez joked. The size of this fish was no joke. At 9 pounds,
13 ounces, the fish topped the 9-pound minimum to earn an
award from the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.
But the fact that it was caught on 6-pound test
line makes it a line-class world record.
Catching a world-record fish never crossed Olivarez's
mind, he said.
Olivarez concedes that the pending world record
has altered his attitude. "I think that now I have the bug,"
he said. "There are some records out there that can be broken
and I think I want to scale my tackle down a little and try
it.
The previous world record was an 8-4 spadefish
caught out of Oregon Inlet in July 2005.
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