Big dog: Hal Chittum (center, left) broke a fly-rod record with this 147-pound dogtooth tuna.
Photo: Davidgranvillephotography.com
Hal chittum of deland, florida, recently got back from a dogtooth tuna fishing trip off the great Barrier Reef in Australia that he said was one of the best of his life. Just how good was it? “It got to the point where we were throwing back world records,” Chittum says. All except for at least one, that is. Fishing with a 22-inch popper, Chittum shattered the world fly-rod record for “doggies” on 16-pound tippet. Just how big was it? Only 147 poundsbeating the previous world record by a mere 119 pounds.
Pompano Present
| |BEST WISH: Mike Ceragioli hoists his big African pompano. Photo: Courtesy of Mike Ceragioli| Mike Ceragioli made it a point to fish on his 37th birthday. Smart thinking. The Miami, Florida, resident caught his first African pompano drifting a threadfin herring. But we’re not talking about your average 20-pounder. This was one slab-sided slob45.5 pounds, just 5.3 pounds shy of the world record. Any guess as to what Ceragioli will have in mind when he blows out the candles next year?
Rookie Lands Record
BASS BUDS: David Hiebert (left) and David Bronson show off the record fish.
Photo: Courtesy of David Bronson
Call it beginner’s luck. David Hiebert, of Scotts, Michigan, had never caught a striped bass before his friend Captain David Bronson took him out on his charter boat, Triple Crown, off Nags Head, North Carolina. Hiebert hooked up right away and soon brought his first-ever striper to the boat…all 62 pounds of it. Just like that, Hiebert was the pending North Carolina state-record holder for striped bass.
