THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON

ABOUT THE TRIP

Sometimes the weather is perfect, and this was one of those days.  We had experienced clients looking for enough fish to feed their families, and the trip looked promising from the start.  After a relatively short trip (30 minutes or so) to our spot where the fish had been congregating lately, we anchored up, threw some chum in the water and dropped the baits down.

In no time, we had a couple of keepers in the box, one of which was a pretty respectable gag grouper.  So respectable, as a matter of fact, that our physically fit, active duty client struggled to get it to the boat in an epic mono-a- fisho battle.  It was fun to watch.

And then, another one hit.  It showed us the typical keeper-grouper antics at first with serious downward pressure on our 50 – 100 class Star rod.  This fight was clearly going to hurt.  But then it changed.  The fish began to move away from the boat at a pretty good clip.  Since the drag was locked down to prevent the fish from going into the rocks, he was clearly giving up depth for distance.  It didn’t make sense.  But, the moment of truth was upon us: should we loosen the drag and allow the fish to run and tire itself out, our should we keep up the pressure to prevent a classic “rock-up” on the bottom and run the risk of breaking it off?

We did neither.  Amid the chaos and indecision, the fish ran to the front of the boat and went under the anchor line.  At that point our always-nimble mate asked for the rod from the client, leaned over the bow and passed the rod underneath the anchor line.  The mate then returned the rod to its rightful owner and the fish quit fighting.  Oh, it was still there, but the immense pressure on the line had stopped.  Perhaps the fish just got tired in one instant, but that didn’t make sense either.

Within about 10 quick cranks of the reel handle, the mystery was solved.  We were able to boat an 18-inch grouper, but it was, in reality, just a half grouper.  Apparently, there was a shark somewhere in the vicinity big enough to rip a 36-inch grouper in half with one bite while on the run.

LESSONS LEARNED

Never ever, ever get out of the boat!!  And move the boat when the sharks move in.  No sense in fishing in the same spot and expecting different results.

ON THE HORIZON

This spot was one of those heavily impacted by the red tide in 2018.  Hopefully, it will return to its previously productive levels this summer and we can take another shot at a local monster.