By rssfeeds-admin 
Jody Hopkins established a new record after catching the biggest long-finned bullseye, otherwise known as Cookeolus japonicus, ever logged in the state, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries said in a Wednesday news release.
The Pitt County man hauled the 5-pound, 10.88-ounce specimen on June 21, nearly 30 miles off the coast of Ocracoke, North Carolina. There were no previous state records for this species, according to the news release.
Drifting in 200 feet of water, Hopkins made quick work of the bullseye, reeling it in to the boat in just a few minutes after the fish took his bait, which was a squid.
In the beginning, Hopkins thought the fish was a bigeye, but eventually found out differently when he donated his big catch to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for identification.
Hopkins’s fish measured at 20.5 inches fork length (from the tip of the nose to the fork in the tail) and had a 16-inch girth.
The International Game Fish Association World Record for this species was caught near the coast of Japan in 2023, weighing 7 pounds and 14 ounces.
Click here to check out the NCDMF Facebook page to see a video about how to identify a bullseye.
Discover more from RSS Feeds Cloud
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.