New Jersey Man Spears State-Record Flounder While Diving at a WWII Shipwreck

On Thursday New Jersey fisheries officials certified a new state record for winter flounder in the spearfishing division. In its Sept. 25 announcement, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection credited Jared Smith of Wildwood as the new record holder.

Smith speared the flounder this summer while scuba diving off the Dina Dee II, which is a charter charter boat based in Barnegat Light on the northern tip of Long Beach Island. The boat takes divers out to various shipwrecks in the area, including the R.P. Resor, which is where Smith landed his state-record flounder on July 21, according to NJDEP. 

Smith’s winter flounder measured 19.25 inches long with a 15.25-inch girth. It weighed 3 pounds 8.2 ounces, beating out the previous record by just over an ounce. Winter flounder are a separate species from summer flounder, also known as fluke, which grow much larger. The two species can be distinguished by noting where their eyes are located — fluke are “left-eyed,” meaning their eyes are on the left side of their bodies, while winter flounder are “right-eyed.”

Some social media users were quick to comment on NJDEP’s post about Smith’s flounder, saying the fish shouldn’t count as a record because it was taken with a spear. But Smith’s record won’t actually affect the other rod-and-reel records already on the books. New Jersey maintains a separate category for spearfishing records, with 17 different saltwater species eligible for inclusion. This is just a fraction of the 59 total species that are eligible under the state’s regular (rod-and-reel) saltwater records category.

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The R.P. Resor was a World-War-II-era oil tanker that was torpedoed off the Jersey coast by a German U-Boat in 1942. The wreck can still be found roughly 31 to 34 miles offshore in 50 to 125 feet of water. In addition to being a popular diving location, it’s a well-known spot for tuna fishermen and other deep-sea anglers in the area.