FISHING – An Arizona angler fishing out of Westport has established the sport fish record for the largest blue shark caught in Washington waters, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed.

Zachary Jackson, from Show Low, Arizona, caught the 27.63-pound blue shark on July 30. Jackson caught the fish, which measured 55 ¾ inches, while fishing for albacore tuna using anchovies as bait.

“We were mainly trying to keep the bait away from the shark,” said Jackson. “The shark bit my friend’s line, then I noticed my line going in the wrong direction and kept thinking he would cut it, but eventually I slowly brought him to the boat.”

This was the first blue shark submitted for a state record in Washington. Jackson was fishing in the Pacific Ocean 57 miles off Washington’s coast.

Jackson makes the trip to Washington to fish for albacore tuna out of Westport about every other year, and describes Westport as “one of the more consistent places to catch albacore on the West Coast.”

Other recent state record fish include an ocean flatfish called a sanddab.   Details in this release:

A King County angler–and recently retired regional director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife –has set a new record for the biggest Pacific sanddab caught in state waters, fishery managers confirmed today.

Bob Everitt of Kirkland didn’t waste any time making a name for himself in the fishing world after his retirement. Retired for one day after a 37-year career at WDFW, Everitt caught one of the biggest, little fish around on July 1 at Jefferson head in Puget Sound.

“We were mooching deep, looking for salmon, and two sanddabs hit the two hooks on my line,” said Everitt, who was the director of regional operations in northern Puget Sound.  “These are small fish, and I thought about shaking them off,” he added.

But, Danny Garrett, Everitt’s fishing partner and a WDFW biologist, took a second look and noted that one of the fish might be a record, which was later confirmed at a certified scale in Bothell. 

Everitt’s sanddab weighed in at 1.22 lb. and measured 14 inches.

Juan Valero of Seattle set the previous record of 1 lb. and 12.5 inches on May 25 while fishing near Possession Point in Puget Sound.

“I had a fun day and a fun career, and if I had any advice for anglers, it would be to get out there and fish often,” said Everitt. “You never know what you might catch.”

A Pacific sanddab is a small, left-eyed, flatfish that prefers sand or mud bottoms. Most weigh less than a third of a pound.

See a YouTube video on fishing, prepping and cooking flatfish filmed by WDFW.