Fishermen believe they caught world record black drum

ABC News 15 (wpde.com) report this amazing story first. Adam Kirby owns The Rustic Table and Bistro 217 in Pawleys Island. When he gets the chance to fish with his friends, Jim and Alistair, he takes it. Monday, the group of friends went out on the boat, on what was supposed to be a calm day. Out in the water near Georgetown, winds started to pick up and the water turned rough. But they had a decent catch.

Fishermen believe they caught world record black drum

“(We) caught a bunch of Black Sea Bass and ended up pulling up some big red drum, 40 inch plus,” he said. “We just called it a day, started heading in.”

But he decided to get close to the Jettis in Georgetown, hoping to bring in a big fish before heading home.

“The first cast we stuck out there, nailed that sucker,” he said.

It was a Black Drum. But not any ordinary Black Drum. He estimated it weighed more than 100 pounds using a measurement system from the Department of Natural Resources.

He, Jim and Alistair reeled it in. Moments later, they threw it safely back.

But 20 minutes later, Alistair had a big tug on his line. It turned out to be another Black Drum, this one measuring more than 122 pounds. If it were recorded, Kirby said it would be a world record.

“You’re not ever gonna catch one of those and especially not gonna catch two of them in a day, so it was really cool,” he said. “It puts you up on the board with all those guys catching big fish, no doubt about it,” he said.

The friends posed for pictures, and released the fish safely back in the water. They made sure to catch it all on video.

“It’s fun to be able to go out there and catch those things and release them and fish for another day,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch that fish again one day.”.

by Taggart Houck

print