A Georgia angler shattered the state record when he reeled in a 19-pound, 10.53-ounce almaco jack on March 14.
The angler, Hayden W. Mundy, 24, of Midway, Ga., was slow pitch jigging with Capt. Jacob Lee aboard the LeeGull Limit when the big jack ate. They were in about 190 feet of water, 90 miles offshore over a ledge drop where they had marked a group of fish.
Mundy’s record-breaking catch surpasses the previous of 7 pounds, 0.7 ounces, set by Sean Tarpley of Brunswick in October 2023. The IGFA all-tackle world record for almaco jack weighed an astounding 136 pounds. It was caught off the coast of Japan in May of 2020.
“This is an incredible achievement by Mr. Mundy,” said Tyler Jones, coordinator of the Georgia Saltwater Game Fish Records Program of DNR’s Coastal Resources Division. “His catch not only sets a new bar for almaco jack in Georgia, but also demonstrates the exciting fishing opportunities available in our state’s coastal waters.”
For more Georgia records, visit CoastalGaDNR.org/SaltwaterRecords.