A group of anglers in North Carolina spent an afternoon on the water hoping to catch a swordfish — but wound up reeling in something rare.
On April 21, Jeremiah Elliott, 31, owner of Geronimo Tackle, was joined by Zachary Elliott, his brother, and his fishing buddies, Chandler Butler and Trevor Burns, on his 30-foot regulator center console 60 miles out from the shores of Morehead, North Carolina, Jeremiah Elliott told Fox News Digital.
The Greenville resident took up fishing four years ago with the help of Butler, whom Elliot said has been an avid angler for nearly seven years.
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When fishing for swordfish, a fisherman will put a 12-pound weight on the line in order to keep the bait close to the bottom of the ocean floor, according to Elliot.
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“When you bring a fish up from that depth, a lot of times their stomachs expand, and they float,” he said.
“We had never caught one before. [We had] only seen pictures of it,” Elliott said.
Jeremiah Elliott, pictured here, took up fishing as a hobby four years ago and runs a tackle shop called Geronimo Tackle near the coast in North Carolina. (Jeremiah Elliott)
“It’s a weird looking fish,” he added. “It’s like prehistoric, almost.”
They pulled in the deep-water catch and made the 2½-hour boat ride back to Morehead.
The bigscale pomfret can be found deep in the Atlantic Ocean and is the largest species in the pomfret family, according to the fact-checked online encyclopedia, Britannica.com.
The fish can reach a length of 35 inches, the site also states.
North Carolina friends — from left to right, Jake Dombert, Jeremiah Elliott, Chris Tambling, Trevor Burns and Chandler Butler — go out on the water nearly every weekend. In the fall, they even take up giant commercial fishing. (Jeremiah Elliott)
“It’s very rare to catch them in North Carolina. People catch them in Florida,” Elliot claimed.
Elliot had a feeling that he “significantly” broke the current record, he noted.
Jeremiah Elliott, left, started fishing with good friend Chandler Butler, right, who has been an avid fisher for over six years. The two can be seen holding a large mahi-mahi that they caught during one of their fishing outings. (Jeremiah Elliott)
Elliott and his fellow anglers took the bigscale pomfret to the nearest weigh station, where the fish measured 26 pounds and 11.4 ounces.
The weight is noted in the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ state record media release.
After the fish had been in the cooler for a few days following the state’s approval, Elliott and his friends treated themselves to a victory meal, with the record-breaking bigscale pomfret as the main course, Elliott said.
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In comparison to only a few mahi-mahi that they caught earlier that day, the bigscale pomfret was the highlight of the fishing trip, Elliot noted.