DMR announces two saltwater records, including angler’s 18th
It’s beginning to seem repetitious, whenever the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources sends out announcements of new saltwater records.
The name Doug Borries of Ocean Springs is usually included and a new fly-fishing record is attached to his name.
That was the case again Tuesday when DMR confirmed that Borries had established a record for Great Barracuda with a 17-pound, 13-ounce fish caught in September.
The Commission on Marine Resources certified the record at its monthly meeting. It also certified a conventional tackle record of 2 pounds, 13-ounces for a blueline tilefish caught by Jon Parker of Moss Point.
“I think that is the 18th time I have set a saltwater fly-fishing record I have set since 2007,” said Borries, who is a host on “Dynamic Outdoors” TV show and a hunting and fishing guide. “I will soon be adding a 19th and it should be a world record, too. I just talked to those people today (Wednesday). I caught a 26-pound 9-ounce red snapper this weekend with Capt. Earl McDaniel on the Whip-A-Snapa on a flyrod and will be submitting it to the DMR soon.
“The red snapper, if it is accepted, will be the first time I have broken my own record.”
Borries caught the barracuda while actually targeting another fly record.
“We were tuna fishing about 105 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico around a floating oil rig,” Borries said. “I was hoping for a blackfin tuna because the record is only like 9 pounds (actually 9 pounds, 14.4 ounces) and I figured I could break that.
“Anyway, I was fishing for blackfin at night and when the barracuda hit it, I had no idea what it was. We didn’t know until we got it to the boat that it was a barracuda and I looked it up and knew I had another record.”
As for the blackfin…
“Didn’t get one on the fly, so it’s a target for another day,” Borries said. “I do have the yellowfin state record on a fly.”
Borries began chasing fly-fishing records in 2007, with the idea born on a deer-hunting trip to South Texas.
“I have some leases in South Texas and I guide some trips there, and a friend and I were driving over for a deer hunt,” he said. “We got to talking about fishing and fly-fishing in particular and about how big it was getting and how they were now keeping records for fly-fishing.
“So we pass a Cabelas there on I-10 in Gonzalez, stop and I came out with over $1,000 in fly-fishing stuff. I’ve been after them pretty good since then.”
His first record was a white trout in 2007. Since then he has added amberjack, bluefish, yellow chub, rock hind, king mackerel, blacktip shark, finetoothshark, gray snapper, lane snapper, red snapper, vermillion snapper and the yellowfin tuna.
“It’s kind of crazy how it happens,” Borries said. “Sometimes I just go fishing and it happens. A lot of times I will be on trips with other folks on other boats, maybe filming for TV, and they will take a break and I will pick up my flyrod and start fishing. I always take a flyrod, always. You never know when an opportunity will present itself.”
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