Record Breaking Swordfish Caught off Ocean City
A Calvert County angler has a new Maryland record for the Atlantic Division for Swordfish. Maryland Department of Natural Resources report that 38 year old Jeff Jacobs was off the coast of Ocean City on the charter boat RoShamBo with Captain Willie Zimmerman and crew and preparing to return to shore following a successful day on the water. Just then the boat’s Shimano Tyrnos 50 two-speed reel, baited with eel and a blue-white skirt, was tugging.
Before long the fish “jumped out of the water and looked like a Volkswagen,” Jacobs said.
Already exhausted from an eight-hour fishing trip, Jacobs spent the next five and a half hours fighting to pull the huge fish aboard.
“Giving up wasn’t an option,” Jacobs said. “When (we) saw it we all knew it was a state record.”
It took over five hours to haul the 393-pound swordfish aboard. The swordfish weight was officially certified by Hunter Dorchenzo at Ocean City Fishing Center. A Maryland DNR biologist confirmed the catch, which is over 90 pounds larger than the previous record – set in 2021 by Jake Bertonazzi of New Jersey.
