Wilmington angler sets North Carolina blackfin tuna record off Wrightsville Beach
A Wilmington crew found 37 blackfin tuna offshore, and one 40.7-pound fish was heavy enough to rewrite North Carolina’s record book.
A 40.7-pound blackfin tuna off Wrightsville Beach did more than break a state record. It pointed straight at a hot offshore bite, where Mike Accatato’s crew found fish willing to eat jigs and topwater-style plugs in numbers that made the record feel like part of a larger run.
Accatato landed the fish on a May 10 trip with Capt. Rick Croson of Living Waters Guide Service, heading out Masonboro Inlet and running to the Steeples in about 280 feet of water. The tuna was certified by the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries on May 27 after being weighed at the Fish Institute at Crockers Landing in Wrightsville Beach, the kind of official handling the state requires for record fish.
The blackfin measured 39 inches long with a 29.5-inch girth. Carolina Sportsman also reported a 37-inch fork length. More important for local tuna hunters, the record did not come from a one-fish window. The crew boated 37 blackfin tuna on the trip, along with large amberjack, dolphin and sharks, a spread that showed real volume around the offshore structure.
Croson found the blackfin in the same general area where anglers often work spring offshore edges, and the action sharpened after lunch. By then, the tuna were chasing baitfish and lures so aggressively the water was nearly boiling. The crew used jigs, Rapala SubWalks and Williamson Jet Poppers, and multiple hookups were common. Accatato’s fish ate a Jet Popper and made strong runs before the crew finally put it in the gaff.
The catch knocked down a North Carolina blackfin record that had stood since 2007, when a 40-pound fish came off Oregon Inlet. It also sits well short of the world all-tackle blackfin mark of 49 pounds, 6 ounces from Marathon, Florida, but in North Carolina waters it reset the bar by 11 ounces.
The record fits the broader spring picture around Wrightsville Beach. A May 2025 fishing report already had offshore anglers into blackfin tuna and wahoo in the same seasonal window, while the state’s saltwater record program and separate citation system kept crews focused on weighing and documenting the better fish. For anyone looking for the same kind of shot, the signal was there: offshore structure, bait in the water, and blackfin willing to keep eating once the day settled down. That was enough for one Wilmington angler to make a record, and enough to suggest the bite off Wrightsville Beach was running well beyond a single lucky cast.
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