An Arizona angler fishing out of Westport has established the sport fish record for the largest blue shark caught in Washington waters, fishery managers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) confirmed today.
Zachary Jackson, from Show Low, Arizona, caught the 27.63-pound blue shark on July 30. Jackson caught the fish, which measured 55 ¾ inches, while fishing for albacore tuna using anchovies as bait.
“We were mainly trying to keep the bait away from the shark,” said Jackson. “The shark bit my friend’s line, then I noticed my line going in the wrong direction and kept thinking he would cut it, but eventually I slowly brought him to the boat.”
This was the first blue shark submitted for a state record in Washington. Jackson was fishing in the Pacific Ocean 57 miles off Washington’s coast.
Jackson makes the trip to Washington to fish for albacore tuna out of Westport about every other year, and describes Westport as “one of the more consistent places to catch albacore on the West Coast.”