Captain Sebastian “Sebas” MacMillian of FishLinked Charters could never have known the day that lay ahead when he shoved off the dock with a party of eager clients that included Barry Mortensen. With light winds and calm seas Capt. Sebas set a course for Cleveland Ledge, from their slip at Zecco Marine in Wareham, MA.
The day began with lots of action but mostly short fish and when the size didn’t improve, they made a move to deeper water. “This spot is about mile from the Cleveland Ledge lighthouse and features deeper water, at 45 feet, and better structure,” said Capt. Sebas. The fishing was red hot, with doubles and triples coming over the rails and nearly all of the fish were keepers. “Then one of the guys hooked up to a much larger fish,” said Capt. Sebastian, “it would not give in, we thought maybe a striped bass or goliath blue.” But the mystery fish turned out to be 4-foot dogfish!
Not even five minutes later Barry Mortensen hooked up to another powerful fish and, of course, everyone was expecting another dogfish – but this fish was not fighting like one. Barry battled this fish for 10 minutes, back and forth, before they got to see that it was actually a massive sea bass, all lit up with beautiful coloring. And once they had the fish on the deck, the conversation quickly turned to a potential record, it was the biggest sea bass they had ever seen!
First mate, Alexander took out his phone and checked the IGFA website, the weight world record was 10.4 pounds and they were pretty sure they weren’t going to beat that, but the length record was 55 cm, and this one taped out at 60 cm! They put the monster sea bass into the cooler and brought it back to the FishLinked Angler Center to see about that record.
Length records require a photo of the fish on or next to a ruler or tape to prove the length, but the measuring device must be IGFA certified. Furthermore, for a length record to qualify, the fish must be released after recording the length and snapping the photos. They placed a call to the director at the IGFA and he confirmed all of this and that their amazing fish would not count as a length record. On the certified scale at the FishLinked Angler Center, Barry’s big bass weighed in at 8.05 pounds and would make a great dinner for him and his family that night.
Even though the fish doesn’t count as an official world record, Capt. Sebas, Barry and the FishLinked crew can all hold their heads high for catching a world record class sea bass. You can visit the FishLinked Angler Center at 2 Warr Ave, in Wareham, MA or book a charter with Capt. Sebas by visiting www.fishlinkedanglercenter.com.
