As recently as September 2009, North Carolina did not recognize a state-record tripletail. None caught were large enough to meet the criteria for establishing a new state record.
Carole Willis, who heads the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries citation and state-records program, said the basic criteria for establishing an original saltwater record is the fish submitted must be outstanding for that species and close to the world record or the records of neighboring states.
On Sept. 4, 2009, Thomas Cutler landed a 27-pound, 7-ounce tripletail that became the initial state record, which still stands. A teenager, Cutler was fishing at Ocean Crest Pier, within walking distance of his home in Oak Island. Not old enough to drive, he spent much of his free time fishing from the pier.
Late that afternoon, Cutler spotted the tripletail floating on its side near the end of the pier. He had caught a smaller one before and knew what it was but said he had never seen one that large. Cutler grabbed his king mackerel outfit and quickly tied a 1/0 Owner treble hook onto the line and added a strip of flounder belly for bait.
Cutler said the fish must have been hungry as it turned and hit the bait as soon as it saw it. The heavier tackle tired the fish quickly, and Cutler had it ready to land in a little more than five minutes, but he was at the end of the pier, and he had to wait for a friend to run to the other of the pier and borrowed a net.
Cutler had trouble getting the big tripletail between the bridle lines and onto the net, but he finally maneuvered it far enough onto the net that it would stayed put while being lifted to the pier deck. The fish measured 35 inches long and 28 inches in girth.
A marine patrol officer came to the pier to verify the species and weight. Cutler found North Carolina didn’t have a state record for a tripletail, and he applied for it. Approximately a month later N.C. approved its first tripletail state record at 27 pounds, 7 ounces. Cutler’s record still stands.
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