Jeff Redding caught a 40-pound, 44-inch red drum on a recent fishing trip south of Fort Fisher with his fiancee, Traci Trimmer.
Redding was surf fishing with a piece of shrimp for bait on a No. 2 hook when the big drum hit. The 15-pound test line held as he waited for an hour and a half for the fish to wear down.
“He took a lot of drag and there was a period of time when I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to land him,” he said. “This is by far the biggest fish I’ve ever caught in the surf. It was definitely the fish of a lifetime.”
After snapping a few photos, Redding released the fish back into the N.C. surf.
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Jim Shuping caught a 41.5-pound catfish off his dock at High Rock Lake on Nov. 16. Shuping said, “I have caught a couple of 30 pounders in the past, but this is the largest.”
The big cat was 45 inches long.
Shuping was fishing off his dock in Riverwalk Plantation with live bream using 25-pound test line. “He put up a nice little fight and was released back into the lake,” he said.