David and Goliath 3/16!
Posted: March 18th, 2013, 12:54 pm
With the seas holding steady all week for Saturday we made plans to head offshore. My wife Nina, Rob and I made plans to stay the night in Carrabelle and head out first thing Saturday morning to do some high speed jigging for AJ's (bout all you can keep right now). We cruised out doing 35 knots with 1 to 2ft seas coming from the south...not a bad ride at all. ON the way to S tower we decided to swing by "O" as it is just off course from "S". Trolled around the tower waiting for my bottom machine to light up but saw nothing. Usually, the AJ's will circle the tower and once you find them and drop a butterfly jig through them it's instant action, but we saw no fish.
We dropped some Northern Macks to the bottom to see if the Mangrove bite was on and once again, nothing. Time to move on to "S".
We made the 16 mile trip and arrived at S Tower around 10am. The machine went bonkers. Large schooling AJ's were hanging about 75ft down in the 105ft water column. We instantly hooked up on numerous fish, but they were small. Everyone was having a blast with the quick action. Nina was reeling in another fish and all of a sudden the rod tip jammed into the water as Nina was shoved up against the gunwale. The drag began screaming and it was obvious that something had eatin her Amberjack. She was using a Stradic 8000 with 60lb braid and there was nothing she could do with what was on the other line. In hopes of saving the $15 Jig I motored the boat away from the tower while she loosened up on the drag. The idea was to get a better angle on the fish before it could make its way to the tower. About 5mins later the bend in the rod began to straighten...whatever had her fish had spit it out. She began gaining quickly on her fish and about 10 seconds later the rod doubled for the second time. The beast came back for round two before Nina could get her catch to the boat. Now the rod tip is back in the water and she is holding on for dear life.
The fish was quickly spit out again. Now she is beat.
She brings the 15lb AJ to the surface and it is completely scaled and now dead. After seeing this, we knew we had a Goliath on our hands, and a hungry one at that! 
We let the fish go and made our way closer to the tower and continued fishing. I asked Nina to please reel her fish in a bit quicker next time so we didn't have to deal with motoring away from the tower again. I got an
.
5mins later she is reeling up a Red Snapper (could tell by the head shakes and rod movement) and it happens AGAIN! Rod tip in the water, drag screaming and a look of "oh sh**" on her face. "NINA, I told you not to let this happen again!" LOL
10mins later the Goliath spits the Snapper out. It comes to the surface dead and scaled. It was about a 7 or 8lb fish.
Now what do we do. We have obviously come across more than one hungry Goliath and they are winning. I have never caught a Goliath, and always wanted one to check off the bucket list. They were there, we just needed to up size our tackle. I brought out the 50 wide Okuma, rigged it up with a monster circle hook and dropped a Northern Mack to the bottom. I was quickly hooked up with a Red Snapper which I slowly begain to reel to the surface. About half way up the line went slack. "Guys, I think he just ate it... I'm gonna let him chew on it for a sec." The second past and I began slowly reeling until I felt weight. At that point Mrs. Goliath felt tension and down she went.
I was rigged with 100lb Power Pro with a 100lb Mono leader. The fight lasted about 45mins with the fish continuously trying to make its way back to the tower even after we drug her about 200yds from the tower. The lever drag HAD to be completely locked down to even begin to gain line. I also implemented the "Wicked Tuna" method of pulling line with one hand and reeling with the other while the rod was in the holder. Beads of sweat pooled in my eyes and my arms were giving in when the fish finally began to give in.
She rose to the surface next to the boat and we were all speechless....
What now? This fish was 6 or 7ft long,and could easily swallow a friggin trash can. She swallowed the fish and hook so we quickly cut the leader and began the venting process. Well, venting grouper and snapper have always been a piece of cake. This fish howevers skin was so thick the needle wouldn't penetrate. So we did the next best thing which was to vent her with a slender fillet knife. The hair quickly began to leave her and you could watch her begin to shrink (shrink really isn't a good word). We motored beside her for a while and were able to get a gaff in her mouth so we could get her spunky again. After about 15mins she was air free and kicking. She made a surge towards the bottom and we witnessed her Palm Frond size tail whipp at the surface of the water until she disappeared into the depths.
It was the largest fish that I have ever seen in person and I am glad to have been able to witness a fish of that magnitude in person. However, I do not plan on doing this again. I am BEAT today!
After talking with some of the locals I heard about a youtube video that shows these guys hanging at the bottom of "S" tower. There are actually quite a few and they guard it like a castle.
I would love to show you some pics and can email someone if they would like to post them here. I still have issues doing it.
All in all it was a fantastic day on the water. We came home with 2 20lb Aj's for the grill and a couple of nice Mangroves as well. If you want to catch the biggest fish of your lifetime then I think you now know where to go. Not sure if I would recommend it or not.
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlrlp3sFY3A
We dropped some Northern Macks to the bottom to see if the Mangrove bite was on and once again, nothing. Time to move on to "S".
We made the 16 mile trip and arrived at S Tower around 10am. The machine went bonkers. Large schooling AJ's were hanging about 75ft down in the 105ft water column. We instantly hooked up on numerous fish, but they were small. Everyone was having a blast with the quick action. Nina was reeling in another fish and all of a sudden the rod tip jammed into the water as Nina was shoved up against the gunwale. The drag began screaming and it was obvious that something had eatin her Amberjack. She was using a Stradic 8000 with 60lb braid and there was nothing she could do with what was on the other line. In hopes of saving the $15 Jig I motored the boat away from the tower while she loosened up on the drag. The idea was to get a better angle on the fish before it could make its way to the tower. About 5mins later the bend in the rod began to straighten...whatever had her fish had spit it out. She began gaining quickly on her fish and about 10 seconds later the rod doubled for the second time. The beast came back for round two before Nina could get her catch to the boat. Now the rod tip is back in the water and she is holding on for dear life.
The fish was quickly spit out again. Now she is beat.
She brings the 15lb AJ to the surface and it is completely scaled and now dead. After seeing this, we knew we had a Goliath on our hands, and a hungry one at that! We let the fish go and made our way closer to the tower and continued fishing. I asked Nina to please reel her fish in a bit quicker next time so we didn't have to deal with motoring away from the tower again. I got an
.5mins later she is reeling up a Red Snapper (could tell by the head shakes and rod movement) and it happens AGAIN! Rod tip in the water, drag screaming and a look of "oh sh**" on her face. "NINA, I told you not to let this happen again!" LOL
10mins later the Goliath spits the Snapper out. It comes to the surface dead and scaled. It was about a 7 or 8lb fish.
Now what do we do. We have obviously come across more than one hungry Goliath and they are winning. I have never caught a Goliath, and always wanted one to check off the bucket list. They were there, we just needed to up size our tackle. I brought out the 50 wide Okuma, rigged it up with a monster circle hook and dropped a Northern Mack to the bottom. I was quickly hooked up with a Red Snapper which I slowly begain to reel to the surface. About half way up the line went slack. "Guys, I think he just ate it... I'm gonna let him chew on it for a sec." The second past and I began slowly reeling until I felt weight. At that point Mrs. Goliath felt tension and down she went.
I was rigged with 100lb Power Pro with a 100lb Mono leader. The fight lasted about 45mins with the fish continuously trying to make its way back to the tower even after we drug her about 200yds from the tower. The lever drag HAD to be completely locked down to even begin to gain line. I also implemented the "Wicked Tuna" method of pulling line with one hand and reeling with the other while the rod was in the holder. Beads of sweat pooled in my eyes and my arms were giving in when the fish finally began to give in.
She rose to the surface next to the boat and we were all speechless....
What now? This fish was 6 or 7ft long,and could easily swallow a friggin trash can. She swallowed the fish and hook so we quickly cut the leader and began the venting process. Well, venting grouper and snapper have always been a piece of cake. This fish howevers skin was so thick the needle wouldn't penetrate. So we did the next best thing which was to vent her with a slender fillet knife. The hair quickly began to leave her and you could watch her begin to shrink (shrink really isn't a good word). We motored beside her for a while and were able to get a gaff in her mouth so we could get her spunky again. After about 15mins she was air free and kicking. She made a surge towards the bottom and we witnessed her Palm Frond size tail whipp at the surface of the water until she disappeared into the depths. It was the largest fish that I have ever seen in person and I am glad to have been able to witness a fish of that magnitude in person. However, I do not plan on doing this again. I am BEAT today!
After talking with some of the locals I heard about a youtube video that shows these guys hanging at the bottom of "S" tower. There are actually quite a few and they guard it like a castle.
I would love to show you some pics and can email someone if they would like to post them here. I still have issues doing it.
All in all it was a fantastic day on the water. We came home with 2 20lb Aj's for the grill and a couple of nice Mangroves as well. If you want to catch the biggest fish of your lifetime then I think you now know where to go. Not sure if I would recommend it or not.
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlrlp3sFY3A
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