Red Grouper Shatters Georgia State Record

A 49-year-old Kingsland man boated a record-breaking red grouper off the Georgia coast Oct. 4 and has been certified as the new state record holder for that species.

Bruce C. Bartlett Jr. caught the 26-lb., 6.4-oz. red grouper (Epinephelus morio) that measuring 34.5 inches while fishing east of Navy Tower R4 aboard his boat Fishslaya Duece. The fish breaks the previous record of 19-lbs., 7-ozs. set by John Wren in 2012.

Bruce Bartlett Jr. with the new state-record red grouper that Bruce caught on Oct. 4, 2021, while fishing near Navy Tower R4. The fish weighed 26-lbs., 6.4-ozs.

Doug Haymans, director of DNR’s Coastal Resources Division which oversees the state’s Saltwater Gamefish Record Program, said Bartlett’s catch is a credit to the years of experience he has as an angler.

“This achievement recognizes not only the size of the catch, but Mr. Bartlett’s skill as an angler and the sportsmanship displayed in landing a record-setting gamefish,” Haymans said.

Bartlett caught the red grouper using a 5-foot, 8-inch Ugly Stik Tiger rod with Shimano Torium reel with 65-lb. Power Pro line using a live cigar minnow as bait. His terminal rig was a fish finder sinker slide with an 8-oz. bank sinker to a 100-lb. barrel swivel, following by a 60-lb. fluorocarbon leader and 6/0 Eagle Claw circle hook.

The catch was weighed at M & A Seafood Market on North Lee Street in Kingsland on scales that are certified by the Georgia Department of Agriculture. The Saltwater Gamefish Records Committee, comprised of DNR marine biologists and staff, approved the new record Friday, Oct. 15, 2021.

Bartlett will receive a certificate signed by Gov. Brian Kemp acknowledging his record catch, and the record will be added to the list published at CoastalGaDNR.org/SaltwaterRecords. It will also be included in the 2022 Georgia Sport Fishing Regulations guidebook.

For the current list of men’s and women’s saltwater fishing records, as well as information on how to submit a catch to the Georgia Saltwater Gamefish Record, please visit CoastalGaDNR.org/SaltwaterRecords.