I’ve been waiting for this day with great anticipation, to introduce my son Casey (7 yrs old) to a family of fish that I dearly love, grouper. Casey’s been offshore a few times with his younger sister playing with Spanish mackerel, kingfish, grunts and blackfish but never on a specific grouper trip. Fishing with us was a father & son who had not fished with us before but are friends and Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club members. Eric and his son Ian (11 yrs old) fish primarily inshore. While both Casey & Ian have good inshore skills, both boys had not yet caught a legal grouper. The single goal for the day was to change that.
After much weather watching, the time was finally right and we pulled the two boys from school to play hooky for the day (I fondly remember skipping school with my high school Vice-Principal to hunt partridge in Wisconsin). I’m a firm believer that a child’s education doesn’t always come from the classroom.
We left the Cedar Key dock at 0630 hours in fog, which would stay with us most of the day, but were able to run out slowly on plane using the chart plotter and numerous lookouts. Our first stop was just shy of 40 feet and was a number I recently found. This number has been reserved for just this trip and the boys were itching to prove they could put a hurt on the locals down below. Casey was first to hook up and I could tell he was taken by surprise at how hard grouper pull.
First at bat
After wrestling up his first legal grouper we did some great high fives!
Casey is all smiles with an awesome first gag at 24+ inches & 8.4 lbs
Feeling the pressure Ian then hooked up to a nice fish and was doing his best to bring it into the boat.
Ian hard at work
With steady pressure Ian got it up from the depths and we all celebrated his first legal grouper!
Ian’s first legal grouper! A beautiful 20.5 inch red grouper.
Going right back at it Ian tied into another fish pulling a bit harder and brought up another fine red grouper.
Ian manning the rod
A rather unusual way to hook it but nonetheless just as exciting
Ian with a larger red grouper
Casey was next and brought in another fine gag without too much trouble. When the grouper first surged the rod hit the gunnel but he got it under control and off the gunnel. At the same time Eric brought in a smaller gag but Eric was just warming up……
Casey & Eric with a brace of gag
Pinning on a large live bait I gave the rod to Eric and told him to hang on. Within a minute he was working on a nice fish with the boys watching the underwater battle and intent on helping out. The fish rocked up but Eric worked him out and boated his largest gag to date.
Eric working a grouper and the boys looking on
Eric, Ian, and a nice but scratched up 10 lb gag
Thinking that we would try another nearby spot we first asked the boys if they would rather go back to Cedar Key and swim or keep fishing. It was unanimous-“KEEP FISHING!â€
