{"id":45279,"date":"2025-08-08T10:39:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=45279"},"modified":"2025-08-08T10:39:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:39:46","slug":"pennsylvania-angler-breaks-maryland-blueline-tilefish-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2025\/08\/08\/pennsylvania-angler-breaks-maryland-blueline-tilefish-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Angler Breaks Maryland Blueline Tilefish Record"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 354px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54706758767_a702b090a2.jpg\" alt=\"Man on a dock holding a fish\" width=\"344\" height=\"459\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dominic Vuotto of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, is the new state record holder for blueline tilefish (Caulolatilus microps) in the Atlantic Division. Photo courtesy Dominic Vuotto.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has confirmed Dominic Vuotto of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, as a new state record holder for blueline tilefish (Caulolatilus microps) in the Atlantic Division.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vuotto landed a 21.3-pound blueline tilefish July 26 while fishing offshore near Washington Canyon. The outing was Vuotto\u2019s first time fishing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vuotto was fishing aboard Foolish Pleasures with charter captain Dale Lisi out of Ocean City. The group was originally trolling for tuna, but after no luck, they stopped to target blueline tilefish at a spot where the captain had found success in the past. The anglers used only hand-crank reels because fish caught with the aid of electric reels are ineligible for state and world records.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vuotto dropped his line into deep water and felt a strike. He set the hook and began reeling in the fish that delivered a tough fight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMy friends were kidding that it was taking too long,\u201d Vuotto said. \u201cBut when the fish reached the surface, everyone cheered at the size of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Staff at Bahia Marina in Ocean City weighed the fish on a certified scale. Vuotto\u2019s catch bested the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/08\/30\/anne-arundel-county-angler-catches-maryland-state-record-blueline-tilefish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">previous record of 20.6 pounds set by London J. Anthony<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on August 24, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vuotto now plans to do more fishing and spend more time boating in Ocean City. He has already made plans to go fishing offshore again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">DNR maintains <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/fisheries\/Pages\/state-records.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">state records<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for sport fish in four divisions: Atlantic, Chesapeake, Nontidal, and Invasive. Anglers who believe they have caught a potential record-setting fish should download and complete the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/fisheries\/Documents\/srapplication.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">state record application<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and call 410-991-0748. The department recommends the fish be immersed in ice water to preserve its weight until it can be checked, confirmed, and certified.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The state record program highlights the quality of the fisheries available in Maryland. Fishing licenses, fishing tackle, boats, and marine fuel purchases fund DNR\u2019s fish and wildlife conservation work. Maryland state licenses and permits for boating, fishing, hunting, and other activities are available on DNR&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/mdoutdoors.maryland.gov\/login\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MD Outdoors<\/a> website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has confirmed Dominic Vuotto of Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, as a new state record holder for blueline tilefish (Caulolatilus microps) in the Atlantic Division.\u00a0 Vuotto landed a 21.3-pound blueline tilefish July 26 while fishing offshore near Washington Canyon. The outing was Vuotto\u2019s first time fishing.\u00a0 Vuotto was fishing aboard Foolish<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2025\/08\/08\/pennsylvania-angler-breaks-maryland-blueline-tilefish-record\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/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":[2995,5502,5561,2958,4314,3069],"class_list":["post-45279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-fisheries","tag-atlantic-ocean","tag-blueline-tilefish","tag-charter-boats","tag-ocean-city","tag-sportfishing","tag-state-fishing-record"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45279","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=45279"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45283,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45279\/revisions\/45283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}