{"id":45172,"date":"2025-07-25T11:46:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=45172"},"modified":"2025-07-25T11:49:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:49:00","slug":"frederick-county-angler-sets-new-maryland-state-record-for-false-albacore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2025\/07\/25\/frederick-county-angler-sets-new-maryland-state-record-for-false-albacore\/","title":{"rendered":"Frederick County Angler Sets New Maryland State Record for False Albacore"},"content":{"rendered":"

New state mark for species set just eight days after 30-year-old record fell<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Man

Jack Dorman broke the Maryland state record for false albacore on July 20, 2025. Photo courtesy of Jack Dorman, used with permission by Maryland DNR.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has officially recognized Jack Dorman of Mt. Airy as the new state record holder for false albacore (<\/span>Euthynnus alletteratus<\/span><\/i>) in the Atlantic Division. Dorman\u2019s 26.0-pound catch surpasses the previous record of 23.5 pounds that was just set earlier this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorman, 22, was fishing offshore near the Jackspot and the 20-Fathom Line on July 20 aboard the charter boat Game On, captained by Scott Stapleford of Ocean City. It was Dorman\u2019s first offshore fishing trip, and he was hoping to catch a yellowfin tuna. The record-setting false albacore was the first fish caught that day.<\/span><\/p>\n

They were trolling a skirted ballyhoo when the false albacore hit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt first I thought it was a small yellowfin, but it turned out to be the biggest false albacore I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d said Captain Stapleford. The fishing party did land three yellowfin later in the trip.<\/span><\/p>\n

The false albacore was weighed on a certified scale at Sunset Marina in Ocean City.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dorman, who recently graduated from Salisbury University, has spent recent summers fishing the back bays behind Ocean City and surf fishing at Assateague Island with his father. After this experience, Dorman said he\u2019s now hooked on offshore fishing and can\u2019t wait for their next trip in August.<\/span><\/p>\n

Word of the catch spread quickly in Ocean City\u2019s fishing community. Kurt Howell, the captain who guided angler <\/span>Timothy Saarda<\/span><\/a> to the state record false albacore on July 12, called and congratulated all involved. Howell noted that the world record for false albacore is 36 pounds, caught in the same general area<\/span> by an angler fishing out of a New Jersey port in 2006.<\/span><\/p>\n

False albacore have many nicknames \u2013 including Albie, Little Tunny, turkeys, and Fat Alberts \u2013 and are one of the most common tuna species in the western Atlantic Ocean. Their range extends from Massachusetts to Brazil. In recent years, false albacore have become light tackle favorites for catch-and-release fishing along the East Coast. Many anglers strive to catch them along the inshore waters of the East Coast during the fall months. They are a very hard-fighting fish and a challenge on light tackle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Department of Natural Resources maintains<\/span> state records<\/span><\/a> for sport fish in four divisions: Atlantic, Chesapeake, Nontidal, and Invasive. Anglers who believe they have caught a potential record-setting fish should complete the state record application and call 410-991-0748. The department recommends keeping the fish immersed in ice water to preserve its weight until it can be verified and certified.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New state mark for species set just eight days after 30-year-old record fell The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has officially recognized Jack Dorman of Mt. Airy as the new state record holder for false albacore (Euthynnus alletteratus) in the Atlantic Division. Dorman\u2019s 26.0-pound catch surpasses the previous record of 23.5 pounds that was just  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":[2995,5613,5044,2918,2958,5187],"class_list":["post-45172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","tag-atlantic-ocean","tag-false-albacore","tag-fishing","tag-frederick-county","tag-ocean-city","tag-state-record"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45172","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=45172"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45174,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45172\/revisions\/45174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}