A 49-year-old angler from Kingsland, Georgia landed a big red grouper off the Georgia coast on Oct. 4 that crushed the existing state record by nearly seven pounds.
Bruce C. Bartlett Jr.’s 26-pound, 6.4-ounce fish measured 34.5 inches in length. It was certified by Georgia DNR and broke the existing record of 19 pounds, 7 ounces, which was caught by John Wren in 2012.
The IGFA all-tackle world record weighed 42 pounds, 4 ounces. It was caught in 1997 off St. Augustine, Florida.
Bartlett landed the red grouper using a 5-foot, 8-inch Ugly Stik Tiger rod with Shimano Torium reel with 65-pound Power Pro line using a live cigar minnow as bait. His terminal rig was a fish finder sinker slide with an 8-ounce bank sinker to a 100-pound barrel swivel, followed by a 60-pound fluorocarbon leader and 6/0 Eagle Claw circle hook. He was fishing east of Navy Tower R4, about 60 miles off of Cumberland Island, Georgia, aboard his boat Fishslaya Duece.
For the current list of Georgia saltwater fishing records, as well as information on how to submit a catch, visit CoastalGaDNR.org/SaltwaterRecords.