{"id":34033,"date":"2021-08-10T13:55:48","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T17:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=34033"},"modified":"2021-08-10T13:59:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T17:59:13","slug":"angler-breaks-newly-set-maryland-swordfish-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2021\/08\/10\/angler-breaks-newly-set-maryland-swordfish-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Angler Breaks Newly Set Maryland Swordfish Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Previous Record Held About Two Weeks<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Jacob Bertonazzi, second from left, stands with his record swordfish. Photo by Gary Tyler, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.<\/p><\/div>\n

A New Jersey angler is now the second officially recognized state record holder for swordfish, which he caught in a tournament August 6 at Ocean City.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jake Bertonazzi broke the <\/span>state\u2019s nearly two-week-old record<\/span><\/a> for the Atlantic Division with a 318.5-pound swordfish — Xiphias gladius<\/em> — caught while participating in the White Marlin Open, roughly 60 miles offshore in Poor Man\u2019s Canyon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bertonazzi was deep dropping with squid on a circle hook when just minutes before the tournament ended he caught the record swordfish.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were having a slow week \u2026 not having anything,\u201d Bertonazzi said. \u201cWe had 15 minutes before the end of the tournament when it started taking (the bait).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It took nearly two hours for Bertonazzi to reel in his record swordfish which he called a \u201cmind- blowing experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The swordfish weight was officially certified by Alex Davis, weighmaster for the White Marlin Open, at Harbour Island Marina. A Maryland Department of Natural Resources biologist confirmed the catch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>previous record <\/span><\/a>was set by 36-year-old Peter Schultz of Annapolis in late July. Deep dropping for swordfish has gained in popularity over the last few years, resulting in more catches of large swordfish. The two record fish caught in a short time period is similar to 2019, when two record dolphinfish<\/a> (mahi-mahi) were caught a few weeks apart.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The department maintains <\/span>state records for sport fish<\/span><\/a> in four divisions \u2013 Atlantic, Chesapeake, Nontidal, and Invasive \u2013 and awards plaques to anglers who achieve record catches. Fish caught from privately-owned, fee-fishing waters are ineligible for consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anglers who think they have a potential record catch should download and fill out the <\/span>state record application<\/span><\/a> and call 443-569-1381 or 410-260-8325. The department recommends the fish be immersed in ice water to preserve its weight until it can be checked, confirmed, and certified.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previous Record Held About Two Weeks A New Jersey angler is now the second officially recognized state record holder for swordfish, which he caught in a tournament August 6 at Ocean City.\u00a0 Jake Bertonazzi broke the state\u2019s nearly two-week-old record for the Atlantic Division with a 318.5-pound swordfish — Xiphias gladius — caught while participating  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,11],"tags":[2958,4314,3069,5235,3576],"class_list":["post-34033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","tag-ocean-city","tag-sportfishing","tag-state-fishing-record","tag-swordfish","tag-white-marlin-open"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34033"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34038,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34033\/revisions\/34038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}