Jolthead Is A N.C. State Record
It may not be the biggest in the world, but the jolthead porgy caught by Randy Brock, of Pickens, S.C., this spring was recently certified as a North Carolina state record. At 14 pounds, 14 ounces, it is a big jolthead by any standards.
Brock caught the fish while fishing off of Calabash, N.C. with squid tentacles. The big jolthead measured 26 inches from nose to the fork and had a girth of 24 inches.
By more than 3 pounds, the fish replaced a record that has stood for almost 40 years. The old record, caught in 1978 south of Hatteras Inlet, N.C., weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces. The world record weighed 23 pounds, 4 ounces. It was caught off Madeira Beach, Fla. in 1990.
The jolthead porgy, also known as bajonada, is typically a bottom-dweller found in water 20 to 30 feet deep and as deep as 150 feet. Their preferred habitat is grass beds and reefs, but they are adaptable to many habitats. Joltheads are omnivorous, feeding mostly on small fish, crustaceans and soft-shelled mollusks. The name jolthead comes from a behavior of using their heads to bump mollusks out of hiding places.
Jolthead porgies are a good food fish, although there is a risk they cause the foodborn illness ciguatera. They range the western Atlantic from Rhode Island south to Brazil. They are also abundant in the northern Gulf of Mexico and south around the Yucatan Peninsula and the Caribbean. Although they fight hard, joltheads are not typically a species sought by anglers. Generally they are by-catch when bottom fishing.
[easy-social-share]