40 Pound African Pompano may be NEW World Record!
Keith Lusher 07.07.25
What started as a routine fishing trip for Yvonne Norman and her brother Will Van Duyn off St. Augustine on June 16 became the catch of a lifetime when Norman hooked into a massive African pompano that may break a 40-year-old world record. The siblings were trolling live pogies (menhaden) around Nine Mile Reef, targeting king mackerel, when one of their rods suddenly bent under tremendous pressure around 11 a.m. Norman grabbed the rod and began a grueling 20-minute fight with what she initially thought was a shark.
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“It stayed deep and was really strong,” Norman recalled. “It made about five or six runs, and when it finally came close, I saw how silver it was but didn’t really know what kind of fish it was.”
The landing became even more dramatic when a massive bull shark appeared beneath their 20-foot boat, circling menacingly as Van Duyn attempted to gaff the fish.
“I tried to get my fish to one side away from the bull shark, and Will was trying to gaff it,” Norman explained. “It was pretty wild. Will tried three times before he finally got it aboard.”
Once safely in the boat, the siblings realized they had caught an African pompano, a powerful member of the jack family. Too large for their ice chest, they covered the 44-inch fish with towels and ice bags for the trip back to shore. After their home scale showed 40 pounds, Norman knew they needed official verification. At Beamish Custom Tackle in St. Augustine, with two police officers serving as witnesses, the fish weighed 40.08 pounds on certified scales.
That weight is significant because the current International Game Fish Association women’s 20-pound line class world record for African pompano stands at 39 pounds, 5 ounces, caught by Karen Hogan near Fort Pierce in April 1985. Norman’s fish would shatter that four-decade-old record. Perhaps most impressive is that Norman accomplished this feat using 20-pound test line on 16-year-old tackle that belonged to her brother. Fighting a 40-pound fish on such light equipment requires exceptional skill and luck.
“Will takes such good care of his tackle,” said Norman, who owns a cleaning service in Lake Asbury when not pursuing her lifelong passion for fishing.
Norman must now submit line samples and paperwork to the IGFA for official verification. For her, the catch represents more than just a potential record.
“I pray for good fishing all the time when we’re out on the water,” she said. “I think a guiding hand was with us that day. The whole thing was a miracle that I caught the fish and a shark didn’t take it.”
As Norman awaits official confirmation, her story serves as inspiration that sometimes the fish of a lifetime strikes when you least expect it, and with faith and skill, dreams can become reality off the Florida coast.
