A possible new world-record black drum was speared by a Florida freediver on Oct. 1, through the first day of the Destin Fishing Rodeo. Whereas spearfishing generally is a difficult, lung-busting sport for even the fittest freedivers, 40-year-old Julie Augustine managed to spear the massive drum whereas eight months pregnant, experiences The Destin Log.
Captain Joe D’Agostino advised the Log that he noticed a college of drum in Choctawhatchee Bay, and known as his buddy Augustine to see if she needed to go fishing.
“Do you wish to go discover a world report?” he requested. Circumstances had been calm, which meant it will be a comparatively simple day on the water for Augustine, who’s in her third trimester.
The pair positioned the college once more at a depth of 8 to 10 ft. Whereas visibility was good on the floor, mentioned Augustine, it was far more troublesome to see fish as soon as she entered the ocean.
“I couldn’t see the tip of my spear,” she advised the Log. Then a drum swam by. “I noticed its shadow. Within the water and from my vantage level it was an enormous shadow. So, I took a shot and it was a very good shot. I introduced it up and I hoped and praying.”
Slightly than utilizing a speargun, Augustine was fishing with a “primitive” 9-foot Bermudian slip-tip pole spear, which has a variety of roughly 10 ft. The drum didn’t tear out, and Augustine was capable of boat the massive fish.
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Suspecting it is perhaps a spearfishing world-record, Augustine and D’Agostino boated to the Destin Fishing Rodeo, which runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31. They weighed the black drum on the occasion’s licensed scales at 37.8 kilos.
Augustine is submitting her fish for certification with the Worldwide Underwater Spearfishing Affiliation, which manages information for spearfishing. (The Worldwide Recreation Fish Affiliation solely retains information for fish landed with conventional sort out.) The present world-record black drum within the Ladies’s Sling/Polespear class weighed 36.3 kilos and was speared within the U.S. by Lucie Cardet in 2018. The report black drum within the Males’s division, speared in 2014, weighed 50.1 kilos.
