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She caught the fish of a lifetime while sinking a white crab off the coast of Ocean City, Marland, earlier this month.
On certified scales at Sunset Marina, Zuppe’s monster tautog, also known as a blackfish, weighed an impressive 23.4 pounds. The catch will be a new world record if verified by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA).
With Captain Kane Bounds on his charter boat, the Fish Bound IV, Zuppe caught the massive tautog.
Bounds specializes in putting clients on hard-fighting tautogs. He was prowling the same waters in January 2015 when an angler aboard the Fish Bound IV landed another giant tog weighing 28 pounds, 13 ounces.
Interestingly enough, Westerfield was aboard the Fish Bound IV when Zuppe caught her new pending record for tautog.
The fish was caught by Ken Westerfield, who holds the IGFA All Tackle World Record for tautog.
Although Westerfield will keep his all-tackle tautog title for now, Zuppe is likely to join him soon as her 23-plus-pounder should qualify as a line-class world record within a short time.
In addition to all-tackle world records, the IGFA keeps separate record categories for the line used to catch a fish.
For tautog, these range from 2-pound test to 50-pound test and include a male and female angler category for each line class.
The women’s 30-pound line class currently stands empty and Zuppe’s fish may be what fills it assuming her 30-pound braided line and leader passes the IGFA testing. She commented on the experience of catching it, saying
“The best thing about catching this fish was sharing the experience with such amazing people. We laughed so much and had a great time, particularly with my husband Al who had to be one of proudest husbands in the world.”
Sources: Fieldstream
