The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) recently established a new state record for White Trevally (Pseudocaranx dentex).
Thomas Woo of Wilmington caught the 19-pound, 3.2-ounce fish offshore from Wrightsville Beach on May 8, 2025. Prior to this, there were no state records for this species in the United States. The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) world record was set in 1998 in Japan.
Woo was fishing approximately 55 miles offshore south of Wrightsville Beach in 150 feet of water when the fish struck his slow-pitch jig. The fish measured 32.2 inches fork length (from the tip of the nose to the fork in the tail) and had a total length of 37.8 inches.
The fish was weighed by fisheries staff at the Wilmington DMF office. A genetic sample was collected for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, as this species is rarely encountered by recreational anglers off the North Carolina coast. When it is, the average size is only 16 inches.
For more information on state record fish, go to the division’s State Saltwater Records webpage or contact the North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Tournament staff at saltwater.citations@deq.nc.gov.
Download a photo of Woo and his fish at https://www.deq.nc.gov/media/48309.