One May day in 1973 Betty Hall came home from church with her family and followed her husband's suggestion that they go fishing.The rest was soon to be history as within minutes after anchoring she hooked a black drum that still stands as a world record for women anglers and was then the all-tackle world record for the species.
Barely more than 100 pounds herself, Hall caught a 111-pound black drum that Sunday at C-10, a prime fishing spot near Cape Charles. An avid angler with her husband, Charles, who kept his boat at Kings Creek Marina, Hall knew she had a big fish and brought it to the boat in about 20 minutes.It remains today the largest black drum caught by a woman and the largest ever caught in the Chesapeake Bay. The current all-tackle world record of 113 pounds, 1 ounce was caught in 1975 in Delaware Bay. Drum like to go right to the bottom," said Hall, sitting in her daughter's home in Wilsonia Neck recently, as she browsed newspaper articles that touted her world record catch. "But I fought it and brought in by myself before my husband and son-in-law gaffed it.
"My husband said right away, 'That is the largest black drum I have ever seen,' and he had seen a many a black drum. He said as soon as he and Donnie (Downing, her son-in-law) catch a drum, we'll go in and get yours weighed. They caught one each about 60 pounds, but they looked small compared to my fish.
"My husband hauled that fish to three different scales to make sure we had the correct weight. Bob Hutchinson (the Virginian-Pilot outdoor writer who also happened to be Mrs. Hall's stepbrother) told me later I had a world record."
Now, 34 years later, the 82-year-old Hall will get to relive some of the glory from that day as she has been chosen to present the awards in the inaugural Black Drum World Championship Fishing Tournament, sponsored by the Eastern Shore of Virginia Chamber of Commerce, on May 19 and 20 at Bay Creek Marina, Cape Charles.
In addition to trophies, there will be prizes of $3,000 for first prize, $2,000 for second and $1,000 for third. And, in the event the all-tackle world record black drum is caught by a tourney angler, he or she will win a 2007 Ford pickup.
That's not likely, but it is possible -- six of the 12 International Game Fishing Association records for black drum on various tackle specifications have been caught off Cape Charles.However, the 1970s must have been the heyday of big drum because five of them, all 80 pounds or larger, were caught between 1973 and 1975.In 2004, an angler fishing out of Cape Charles set the world drum for 8 lb. test line with an 82-8 lb. black drum.Entry fees are $160 for up to six anglers prior to April 30 and $200 after May 1. Anglers can obtain registration forms and the official rules from the chamber or by going to
Eastern Shore of Virginia Chamber of Commerce or calling 787-2460.
The tournament does have a conservation theme as anglers are limited to registering no more than one fish per day and are encouraged to release any fish they do not intend to eat or enter in the tournament.The Eastern Shore Foodbank has agreed to take possession and distribute any unwanted fish to needy Eastern Shore residents.Hall still lives in Cape Charles today but is presently staying with one of her three daughters, Charlene Brady of Wilsonia Neck, while her home is being renovated after it was damaged by water. Her husband died about three years ago, but she says it has been at least 10 years since she has been fishing.One daughter, Diane Downing, wanted to go that day but remained at home at the insistence of Hall -- Downing was expecting her first child."Diane always says she might have caught that fish if I had let her come along," said Hall, who has another daughter, Elsie Bowen of Parksley.
Hall says she was flattered when committee members called her and asked her to present the awards black drum fishing tournament."I had my few minutes of fame back when I caught the fish, but it is nice to be remembered. I've had fun looking at the clippings. I have a trophy somewhere, but with so much of what I have packed up I can't find it right now. But do you know when I got my trophy for the world record black drum, it had a sailfish on it."The black drum may not have the prestige of a billfish, but probably nowhere but Cape Charles can an angler go so short a distance and catch such a big fish as the black drum.
Cape Charles has long claimed to be the "Black Drum Capital of the World," and after this tournament, there should be no disputing it.
The Daily Times - www.delmarvanow.com - Salisbury, Md.