The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) has just confirmed Ken Westerfeld’s January 2, 2015 tautog as the new world record. The Queens, NY resident and Fisherman contributor caught the 28.8-pound aboard the Fish Bound with Capt. Kane Bounds out of Sunset Marina in Ocean City.
Mike Caruso, publisher of The Fisherman Magazine confirmed the IGFA findings this morning with IGFA World Record Coordinator Jack Vitek. A complete world record package with certificate is being sent to Westerfeld. The world record blackfish mount that’s been artfully crafted by Island Outfitters will be seen here first at TheFisherman.com in the very near future.
Mike and the staff of The Fisherman would like to congratulate Ken and thank him for breaking the story with The Fisherman first. We’d also like to thank him again for his recent feature editorial in the May issue. “Ken holds an enormous amount of fishing knowledge and we’re planning additional features with Ken in future issues of The Fisherman,” Caruso added.
The monster white chin was caught on the hot bait of the year- whitelegger crabs; also known as Jonah crabs, and shattered the previous all-tackle world record by almost 4 pounds. That previous record was held by Anthony Monica fishing out of Ocean City, NJ, a tautog of 25 pounds even caught on January 20, 1998.
That New Jersey state record is also destined to fall soon, as reported in The Fisherman on April 17 when angler Frank LaMorte hoisted a 25.37-pound blackfish onto the scale at Jim’s Bait and Tackle in Cape May, NJ.
“Well I can only thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for bringing me this bite and Capt. Kane Bounds for putting me on this wreck,” Ken said following his world record catch, adding “and all of the people who gave me the experience, all the gear that held up in the fight and my wife for letting me go fish in Maryland and chase my dream and putting up with my fishing over the years.”
Ken Westerfeld’s 28.83-pound world record tautog was 35 inches long and had an impressive 25-inch girth. As Ken himself noted in the May edition of The Fisherman Magazine, the estimated age of his world record catch was 22 years, "a far cry from traditional estimates that ranged to 40 or more years old."
Click here to check out the exclusive online feature videos from The Fisherman Magazine with IGFA World Record holder Ken Westerfeld. A full line-up of ‘how to’ and ‘where to’ video features is available at www.youtube.com/user/thefishermanmagazine