World record Silk Snapper
On September 10th , 2022, a group of Trinidadians headed by boat to Grenada to do some bottom fishing/jigging.
The first day of fishing was a bit slow, still managed to catch a few small fish.
On the second day while trying some new spots we had never fished before, Gregory Joseph sent the jig down to 600/700 feet, hooking up on a fish that took approximately 20 mins to fight. While not everyone on the boat knew of the species, it was quickly evident that this was a very large Silk Snapper, bigger than anyone had ever seen before.
On the way back to Trinidad, as excitement built, we continuously iced the fish to preserve its integrity and quality and began making calls to the executive of the Trinidad and Tobago Game Fishing Association to bring down the certified scale so as to get an accurate and International Game Fishing Association accepted weight.
As the fish went on the scale, we realized that it had broken the current world record, which was previously held by an American fishing off the coast of Florida at 16 pounds 4 ounces.
The work then began on finding the necessary next steps to contact the IGFA an apply for this record catch. Over the next few days we were in constant contact with them and prepared the documentation needed.
We weighed the fish on two registered scales in Trinidad, had to take length and width measurements, send samples of the line and leader on which the fish was caught and some other information.
After a few months of deliberation, the IGFA contacted Gregory via email with the confirmation that he had indeed broken the World Record and is now the holder of the largest Silk Snapper ever caught by an approved rod and reel which weighed in at 20lbs.
This serves as additional proof that Trinidad possesses some of the best anglers from around the world (we previously held the world junior record for Atlantic Blue Marlin for over a decade) but also keeps on searching for and breaking new records.
