Florida Snapper Might Be Record

MIAMI BEACH — A fisherman using 20-pound-test line without a leader landed an 82 1/2-pound snapper, a potential world record in that line class.

Michael Mack was fishing Sunday night in 60 feet of water when he hooked the cubera snapper, usually a deep-water reef fish.

Thinking the fish was a shark, Mack wanted to cut his line, but was talked out of it by Tiny Edwards, captain of the charter boat Mack was fishing from. When they pulled the snapper aboard, they found it was hooked in the corner of the mouth, barely beyond the reach of teeth that could easily have snapped the line or the hook.

The catch exceeds the existing International Game Fish Assn. snapper record by 11 pounds in the 20-pound-test class. Only three bigger snapper have been caught on any tackle, including the record 121 1/2-pounder hooked off Cameron, La., in 1982.