Jim Dillon’s big dorado, officially listed at 85 pounds, was awarded the IGFA record in the men’s 37-kilogram (80-pound) test line class.

ACCURACY OF SCALE USED TO WEIGH THE FISH QUESTIONED

Feb. 18, 2002, by Gene Kira, as published in Western Outdoor News:

The near 90-pound dorado caught by Jim Dillon off Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico, last July has been denied an all-tackle world record by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA).

Because of problems with the scale used, Dillon’s fish was downgraded to an official, interpolated weight of 85 pounds, and awarded instead with a record in the men’s 37-kilogram (80-pound) test line class.

IGFA world records administrator, Doug Blodgett, said that notes submitted by Dillon indicated that the scale used to weigh the fish was slightly inaccurate when compared to a certified digital scale and the 90-pound original weight was therefore slightly off.

“We felt we were not comfortable with the fish being listed as 90 pounds,” said Blodgett. “We came to an 85-pound weight, considering it was a scale that read in 5-pound gradations. The weight of the fish was determined to be somewhere under 90 pounds, but over 85 pounds. Because the scale read in 5-pound gradations, we could not give an estimated weight between 85 pounds and 90 pounds. That was how we settled on the 85 pound weight.”

Dillon’s big fish hit a petrolero (brown-silver-orange) lure on the morning of July 31, 2001, in 77-degree water.

He was fishing on his boat, El Budster, with Capt. Salvador Nunez Ocampo and first mate Jesus Zavala Soto, and submitted the fish for both the all tackle record (88 pounds) and the 80-pound test record (80 pounds) after it was originally weighed at 90 pounds on the dock at Cabo San Lucas.

(Related Cabo San Lucas articles and reports may be found at Mexfish.com's main Cabo San Lucas information page. See weekly fishing news, photos, and reports from the major sportfishing vacation areas of Mexico including the Cabo San Lucas area in "Mexico Fishing News.")