Wilmington angler catches new NC state record yellowfin grouper

Yellowfin grouper weighed 45 pounds, 9.6 ounces

John Theodorakis of Wilmington, NC caught the new NC state record yellowfin grouper while fishing about 45 miles out of Carolina Beach. The fish weighed 45 pounds, 9.6 ounces. The previous record had stood since 2009.

Theodorakis was fishing with lifelong friend Austin Eubank. The two anglers didn’t have a particularly good day of fishing, other than the record catch.

“We have been friends and fished together since we were in grade school,” he said. “Austin called me the afternoon before and said ‘hey, why don’t we go grouper fishing tomorrow? Nothing serious. Let’s just have an easy, fun day.’”

They definitely weren’t expecting to catch a new state record, but that’s exactly what happened.

“Little did we know, we would stumble upon the new state record,” he said. “To be honest, we didn’t have a great mess of fish that day. But, we laughed about the fact that we were a little bummed with the trip’s catch while having a fish-of-a-lifetime at the same time.” ■