SPEARFISHING WORLD RECORD

A Texas spearfisher landed a massive snapper while diving in the Gulf of Mexico near the town of Port Aransas previously this month. The fish is now being thought about as a possible world record catch.

The 137-pound cubera snapper was taken by a Texas-based angler named Braden Sherron.

Several news reports have mentioned that the fish outweighs a previous all-tackle record for Atlantic cubera snapper recorded by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA).

An agent with the IGFA  mentined that it won’t qualify for their record because that company does not consider fish taken with spearfishing equipment.

If Sheron’s outstanding fish does take a record, it will likely be acknowledged by the International Underwater Spearfishing Association (IUSA).

The largest cubera snapper in the IUSA records weighed 130 pounds and was taken in April 2018 with a pole spear.

The biggest cubera snapper taken with a speargun, according to the IUSA, was taken off the coast of Brazil in 2006.

Word of Sherron’s potential record-breaking catch began to flow on Friday, June 10 2022, when the Port Aransas Fisherman’s Wharf, a location marina and fishing center, published images of Sherron with the huge snapper on their Facebook page.

“Shoutout to Braden Sherron with this pending Texas and world record breaking cubera snapper,”The post read.

Accompanying images show a scale display reading 137 and Sheron standing beside the hoisted fish with a filet knife in hand.

According to IGFA records, the existing all-tackle record for Atlantic cubera snapper was embeded in Garden Bank, Louisiana in June of 2007 with a fish weighing 124 pounds and 12 ounces.

The IGFA explains the cubera as “the giant of all snappers, achieving weights in excess of 100 pounds (45 kg) and an overall length of 4 feet” and calls it a hard fighter on light tackle and a fine-food fish.

The species is discovered only in the western Atlantic and varies mostly from Florida and Cuba to Brazil.

Sherron speared the possible record-setter when he was freediving, or diving without the help of breathing devices.

Judging by his YouTube channel, which boasts some 24,000 customers, Sherron is no amateur to the world of spearfishing. His self-filmed spearfishing videos date back to 2016.

Adult cubera snappers are singular fish that prefer to occupy nearshore rocky ledges and overhangs.

While the fish fully grown around 4 or five years of age, they have actually been understood to live as long as 55 years in their natural habitat.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Preservation Commission, cubera snappers collected off the coast of Florida frequently weigh about 40 pounds.

 

Sources: themeateater