A possible new world-record black drum was speared by a Florida freediver on Oct. 1, in the course of the first day of the Destin Fishing Rodeo. Whereas spearfishing could be 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, reviews The Destin Log.
Captain Joe D’Agostino advised the Log that he noticed a college of drum in Choctawhatchee Bay, and known as his good friend Augustine to see if she wished to go fishing.
“Do you need to go discover a world report?” he requested. Circumstances had been calm, which meant it will be a comparatively straightforward day on the water for Augustine, who’s in her third trimester.
The pair situated the college once more at a depth of 8 to 10 toes. Whereas visibility was good on the floor, stated Augustine, it was way 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 great shot. I introduced it up and I hoped and praying.”
Fairly than utilizing a speargun, Augustine was fishing with a “primitive” 9-foot Bermudian slip-tip pole spear, which has a spread of roughly 10 toes. The drum didn’t tear out, and Augustine was in a position to boat the massive fish.
Learn Subsequent: PHOTOS: Spearfishers Shoot 1000’s of Kilos of Carp from Lake Powell
Suspecting it may be 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 data for spearfishing. (The Worldwide Sport Fish Affiliation solely retains data 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.
