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The story of Charlotte Ulland's big grouper
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Charlotte Ulland of Duluth and Venice, Fla., holds the 31-inch grouper she caught last November in the Gulf of Mexico. She was 100 at the time. (Submitted photo)
I was at a graduation party on Sunday and was talking to an older woman who knew the graduate's family. She lives in Florida part of the year, and returns to Duluth for the summers. Somewhere along the way, she happened to mention that she was 101 years old.
The woman is Charlotte Ulland. She was at the party with her daughter, Jana Ulland of Duluth.
I was quite surprised to hear that Charlotte was 101. I don't know how old I thought she was, but I certainly wouldn't have guessed 101.
I don't know that I've ever been in the presence of someone 101 before. It's quite a privilege, I'd say.
We continued chatting, and it wasn't long before she was telling me about a grouper she had caught in Florida last fall. She said it was 31 inches long, and I confirmed that with Roger Serio, the man she was fishing with that day out of Venice, Fla.
Charlotte loves fishing, Jana said, and goes with friends as often as possible in Florida. The 31-inch grouper was something to talk about.
"Usually, if we catch a 24- or 25-incher, that's a big one," Jana said. "That was the biggest anyone in the family caught last fall."
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"It probably weighed 20-some pounds," Serio said. "For a 100-year-old to catch that -- it gives a pretty good fight."
Serio said Charlotte is quite a fishing partner.
"She's my fishing buddy," he said. "I don't like to go out without her. She's just an incredible person."
The grouper isn't the only big fish Charlotte has caught lately.
"She caught a 54-inch cobia, too," Serio said. "And the equipment she caught it on is like antique. It's her stuff. She prefers to use her lightweight spinning rod with 14-pound test. She sets the drag real light."
