Pasadena Fisher Catches State Record

When Kristy Frashure and her team boarded the Haulin N Baulin on August 16, she never thought she would end her day setting a state record.

Frashure and the five women who made up her team for the Poor Girls Open fishing tournament in Ocean City boarded their boat at 4:00am and headed for open waters to begin their hunt for billfish. The journey took about four hours. The weather was nice, and though the water wasn’t exactly calm, Frashure had seen worse. Eighty-five miles offshore, the women dropped lines just after 8:30am. Within the hour, they felt a bite.

The first bite was passed off to a newcomer, Jackie Davis, as part of their tradition to let the newcomer real in the first fish. As Davis was reeling, Frashure felt the bite that would change everything.

She had been reeling in the fish for a couple of minutes when the fish jumped from the water, and the team was able to see what they had on the line, a massive mahi-mahi.

“The captain yelled, ‘That’s a winner,’ and the mate yelled, ‘Kristy, that’s a monster,’” Frashure said. “My main thought was, ‘I cannot lose this fish.’”

It took 20 minutes to get the fish in the boat, and the team was thrilled. “We just went crazy,” Frashure said.

The 74.5-pound fish had the team feeling confident that they would finally place in the competition. Though they had come close to it the year before, the team had never placed in the five years they participated.

Onshore, the team members brought the fish to the scale and were shocked when it was announced that the fish set a new unofficial record for the largest mahi-mahi caught in the state.

“I could not have gotten that fish in without all the support and the yelling and the screaming from my girls,” Frashure said.

The previous record was set by Jeff Wright of Cambridge when he caught a 72.8-pound mahi-mahi in July, beating out the 67.8-pound record set in 1985. Once officially recognized, Frashure’s catch will stand as the current state record.

The Poor Girls Open fishing tournament has taken place off the coast of Ocean City for 26 years and proceeds are annually dedicated to the American Cancer Society. In addition to the tournament, there are silent auctions, 50/50 ticket sales, T-shirt sales and other events to support fundraising. In the last three years of the tournament, the Poor Girls Open has raised $100,000 for the cause.

Frashure was proud to be able to participate and place in such an important event.

“I think every woman knows someone or in some way was touched by someone with breast cancer,” Frashure said. “It’s a great tournament for a great cause.”