A retired Army general from Delaware reeled in a tuna the size of a small cow off North Carolina, setting a new state record.
Scott Chambers, of Townsend, caught the 877-pound bluefin tuna after a 2 1/2 hour fight on March 17, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. Measured along the contour of the body from the tip of the nose to the fork in its tail, it came in at 113 inches (9 feet 5) and had a girth of 79 inches. It beat the previous record by 72 pounds.
Chambers caught the tuna trolling dead bait on 130-pound test line aboard the A-Salt Weapon off Oregon Inlet, the department said. The previous record fish was caught in 2011, also off Oregon Inlet.
The record fish, however, is a few sushi cuts short of the world record 1,496-pound bluefin caught off Nova Scotia in 1979.