Big Thresher Also New State Record

OCEAN CITY- State fisheries officials this week confirmed a 642-pound thresher shark caught off the coast of the resort two weeks ago was also a new Maryland state record, making it the second shark record to fall on the same weekend.

On Saturday, June 20, local angler Jim Hughes and the crew aboard the “Nontypical” caught a massive 876-pound mako on the last day of the annual Ocean City Shark Tournament to win the mako division of the event and break a Maryland state record that had stood for 25 years. The previous state record for mako was set back in 1984 when angler Frank Gaither landed a 766-pounder.

While Hughes’ big mako caught during the tournament captured the attention of sport fishing enthusiasts throughout the resort area, another impressive catch and new state record was recorded the night before by an angler and boat not fishing in the Ocean City Shark Tournament. Around 8:30 p.m. on Friday, June 19, angler Brent Applegit of Boulder, Colorado, fishing aboard the “Toy Boy,” arrived at the scale with a massive 642-pound thresher shark.

Applegit was visiting his father, an Ocean Pines resident, for Father’s Day and was offshore fishing with his dad and his brother when he landed the huge thresher in about 20 fathoms near the Fingers. The huge thresher tipped the scales at 642-pounds, topping the old record of 613 pounds set by angler Don Lorden back in 2003. For Applegit, the record-breaking thresher was the first shark he ever caught.