By any measure, 12-year-old Julia Bernstein of Miami is a excessive achiever. The seventh grader, who’s additionally a straight-A pupil, was just lately acknowledged by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee for catching each a state-record cobia and a state-record mangrove snapper within the Florida Keys on Jan. 5. Each data had been licensed in FWC’s new youth all-tackle weight class, which was simply established in January.
On that very same day, Bernstein additionally caught and launched a cobia that measured greater than 42 inches lengthy and had an estimated weight of round 30 kilos. That fish was launched and is now a pending IGFA all-tackle junior size report.
Bernstein’s mother, Dr. Heidi Mason, tells Out of doors Life that they had been fishing with Capt. Dale Bittner on his 27-foot Conch boat, Bait Stealer. Mason says they went out with the intention of catching a report that will add to Bernstein’s already lengthy record of fishing accomplishments. Though she’s solely 12, Bernstein presently has 11 IGFA world-record catches to her credit score.
“It was a tremendous morning of fishing off Key West,” Mason says. “We fish rather a lot with Dale, and we knew Florida had simply established its youth all-tackle data.”
Capt. Bittner first took the duo to a shallow-water wreck to focus on cobia. The fish had been there ready for them.
“As we slowed down, we noticed a cloud of fish on the floor – and so they had been all cobia, a giant faculty, and so they had been all very hungry,” Mason explains. “They had been very aggressive, and Julia hooked a fish on each forged.”
Utilizing heavy spinning sort out and 30-pound braid, Bernstein set to work. As a result of they had been focusing on record-size fish, she tried to select the largest ones and forged squid baits to them.
Bernstein caught a pair small cobia first, after which she forged to an even bigger fish. She hooked the massive cobia and landed it after a 15-minute combat. After measuring the fish at 107 centimeters, they launched it again into the ocean. The cobia is now a pending IGFA size report within the Junior division.
The very subsequent fish Bernstein caught from the varsity was a 20-pound 15-ounce cobia, which was sufficiently big to set the primary youth all-tackle weight report for the species.
The anglers saved fishing close to the wreck and caught a pair extra cobia from the varsity. Then they determined to maneuver on and goal mangrove (grey) snapper to see if Julia might rating one other report.
“Dale knew proper the place they’d be, on a reef in deeper water,” says Mason. “She used spinning gear and a small stay bait, dropped it to the underside, and received a strike. It was a giant 1.5-pound mangrove snapper, which was giant sufficient to turn out to be the Florida youth report for the species.”
To be honest, FWC’s youth all-tackle weight class was solely created just a few months in the past, and 12 totally different saltwater species at the moment are eligible for a report. If an angler underneath the age of 15 catches any one among these species weighing greater than 1 pound, the fish can qualify as a possible report, in line with the brand new laws.
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Mason additionally says that whereas Jan. 5 was a big day for her and her daughter, Bernstein has had even higher record-setting days on the water. In April 2023, she caught eight IGFA junior size data in in the future whereas fishing with Capt. Bittner. Mason’s no stranger to the report e book both and she or he presently holds three IGFA world data, together with the 8-pound line class cobia report.
Capt. Bittner, who additionally took Bernstein out final April, says he enjoys fishing with the younger, decided angler.
“Julia’s most outstanding trait I’ve noticed is how a lot willpower she has when she is overmatched by the energy of massive fish,” he says. “She by no means provides up.”
