The father of an 11-year-old boy was thinking junior world record after his son landed an enormous leopard grouper last week in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.
Little did Isaac Amador Davis know that no such record exists.
The grouper, caught by Isaias Amador at Las Animas Island near La Paz, was nearly as long as the boy is tall. Isaac could not locate a certified scale in La Paz so he delivered the catch to Cabo San Lucas to obtain an official weight.
The Pisces Sportfishing scale read 23.4 pounds. Massive for a leopard grouper.
Pisces announced via Facebook that paperwork was completed for submission to the International Game Fish Assn. for consideration as a Junior World Record. Isaac Amador Davis also hoped the catch might qualify as a line-class record for 50-pound-test line.
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Pisces stated: “We are happy to see kids like Isaias enjoying the sport and awesome parents supporting them to do what they love and recognizing the value in organizations like IGFA. Congrats once again Isaias!”
https://www.facebook.com/piscessportfishingfleet/posts/10158991734818744
However, Pisces soon discovered that the IGFA maintains only an all-tackle world record for leopard grouper. The all-tackle record, for heaviest fish regardless of line strength, stands at 28 pounds, 10 ounces.
That fish was caught by Robert Wheaton in April 2017, in the Sea of Cortez near Loreto.
Since the IGFA maintains line-class and junior records for dozens of other species, For The Win Outdoors asked why leopard grouper has only one category.
Zack Bellapinga, Angler Recognition Coordinator for the IGFA, said basically that catches do not occur frequently enough for leopard grouper be included in all IGFA award programs.
“I would love for line-class records to be open to all species but that requires a lot more space in our database, which we don’t have, as well as physical space to store all the new record files,” Bellapinga said.
“With this being the case, we have limited line-class records to a set of commonly caught species. I am, however, looking to open more line classes for 2022 and will look into leopard grouper as a potential addition to our current list.”
None of this, of course, should diminish what Isaias has accomplished. His leopard grouper is still one of the largest ever caught, certainly by a young boy, and he landed the fish in only 12 minutes.
–Images courtesy of Pisces Sportfishing