A YELLOWTAIL kingfish tagged by Patrick Schofield of Eden Sports & Game Fishing Club boat Shockwave on the 11th November 2005 has recently been recaptured.
The kingfish was recaptured by Port Macquarie Game Fishing Club boat Reel Trouble whilst fishing off Forster, NSW on the 27th January 2017. The Reel Trouble crew decided to keep the large kingfish for the barbeque and it was not until they were filleting the fish that they noticed the small tag which was completely grown over by muscle tissue.
After 4,095 days at liberty the kingfish had grown from 65cm and an estimated 2.5kg to 130cm and approximately 20kg. The kingfish, having spent over 11 years at liberty has smashed the previous record for time at liberty for the species.
The previous record was just under seven years for a fish that was tagged in Sydney and recaptured at Terrigal.
The NSW DPI Game Fish Tagging Program issues tags free of charge and works in close association with the NSW Game Fishing Association, the Game Fishing Association of Australia and ANSA.
