+- Rogue-Nation Discussion Board (https://rogue-nation.com/mybb)
+-- Forum: Members Interests (https://rogue-nation.com/mybb/forumdisplay.php?fid=90)
+--- Forum: The Sports and Travel Zone (https://rogue-nation.com/mybb/forumdisplay.php?fid=94)
+--- Thread: Greatest Fishing Story??? (/showthread.php?tid=2937)
Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Oh boy! Here's an opportunity to tell some real "whoppers" for fish tales. I have a couple of fun ones, both true. Probably two of my greatest fishing stories. I have spent many, many, years as a fisherman, and even thought of going Pro for a while when I was younger. So, some pretty solid fishing background and experiences. Ironically, both of these stories happened within a week of each other too!...(Pretty unusual, as fishing stories go). Both stories took place in southern Florida on the Gulf side (where I did a fair amount of my serious fishing). The location for both of these stories was Marco Island, which was then considerably less populated than it is now (much of the island was just old fishing villages, with a modern kind of ritzy section being built). Now it's a thriving metropolis.
The first story begins with a fishing contest me and my buddy, Todd, used to enter on an annual basis. We both consistently placed in this contest, and even won a few championships between us. We were both very competitive (with each other). This particular contest was sponsored by a big fishing tackle and commercial fishing supply place, and they generally had some pretty nice prizes (i.e. expensive tackle, cash prizes and high-end gear). They generally had multiple categories you could enter, and I generally always entered the saltwater contest in three fish categories, Snook, Redfish, and Grouper. I was a pretty good Snook fisherman at the time, so I could usually plan on catching at least one good sized Snook. The rules were (3) fish, and you could have any combination of fish in the (3) categories. Each category was judged by size and weight in that category (or class), and then you also entered a total combined weight across all (3) classes...but only (3) fish max. The contest ran for 7 days and you could bring an entry on any of the days, BUT once you entered a fish you couldn't 'un-enter' it and substitute a bigger/different fish. Again, (3) fish total.
Days 1 -3: Normally, I always caught fish, but then the question became should I enter that fish or try for a bigger one? On the first three days I got totally skunked! Aside from junk fish, or species outside the classes, I had 'zippo' at the end of day #3 (this was really rare for me).
Day 4: Changed some tactics (and tackle) and caught several fish before Noon. Most were small Snook which I had to cut loose. (18" min. legal size). Then I boated a Redfish and a Snook which were both keepers, but nothing special. I knew, at very best, neither of these fish would probably place (based on past experience...the competition was pretty intense, as you were up against local guides and everyone else). After a few minutes of deliberation I decided to toss both in the fish locker and keep them, to fillet out the Redfish and eat it, and I'd take a chance on entering the Snook.
Day 5: Nothin! Wow! A couple small ones, no keepers and a complete zippo for the day! Checked in with my buddy (and a couple others I knew); everyone was struggling. At least I didn't feel so bad.
Day 6: Nothing in the morning. Then I caught a good sized Grouper when I decided to hit a man made reef offshore for a while to break up the pace. Grouper, being quite a bit bigger, was still good sized. 12 lbs as I recall. He was going in the locker for sure and would be entered. This was really unusual for me, because normally I'd have all (3) fish as Snook and they'd be turned in already (and this had been my goal up to this point). Well, I wasn't having any results at all with Snook (or Redfish, which I didn't fish a lot anyway), so thought I should focus on Grouper. That was it for day #6. Turned in the Grouper and found out someone had turned in one bigger than my fish already (dammit!).
Day 7: Final day. Time to put up, or shut up; the heat was on. My buddy Todd had entered the freshwater category, so the whole time I was out on the boat, he was onshore fishing for Bass (and two other fish, which I forget). Fished up until about 2pm. I was fried to a crisp, as I'd been out all (7) days. I was really about ready to call it a day. 5pm was the deadline. I was done, and wasn't going to even place. Decided to try this one last spot I knew of in the Marco River Channel. There was a hole in this channel and if there were fish (at all) they were generally big, and often Grouper. All of a sudden I snagged both lines big-time. I was hung up bad. This tackle was kind of expensive, so I didn't want to lose it. I'd finish my day trying to get un-snagged. That was UNTIL...my "snag" started to move! No way could this be a fish. I figured maybe I'd hooked a manatee or something, but it was pretty deep for a manatee (about 30'). It was definitely moving. Holy crap! Long story short...it was indeed a fish.
Got the fish up to the boat, and it was a Goliath Grouper, and it was WAY too big to get in the boat myself! Now what?? Running out of time. I didn't know exactly how big this fish really was, but he was a monster! I managed to get a rope through his mouth and out his gills on one side and tied him off to the stern cleat. Time was running out. I would have to go very slow if I was going to pull this off, but I managed to get him to the Marco River Marina which was the closest place I had any hope of getting this fish out of the water.
Once out of the water and hanging from the scale, he weighed in a 397 lbs!! No lie either! Had to call the contest place and tell them I had this fish. By this time the Miami Herald had showed up along with a pretty big crowd. Some quick checks and I was 75 lbs short of a Florida State Record fish (bummer), but he was still a bomber! Unless someone had caught another one like him, the contest would be in the bag.
The contest folks sent someone to the marina to verify the catch. Won the contest, hand's down, got my picture in the Miami Herald and even sold the fish to a local restaurant who had shown up. Didn't take the State Record, but still, biggest fish I ever caught in Florida...by far! Won a bunch of cool stuff in the contest (which was nice), and best of all...blew my buddy, Todd, out of the water!!
True story too, folks!
My 2nd story isn't about a big fish, nor an even particularly notable fish; it's just the story of catching it (sort of). ...
(to be continued in Part II (next))
(Note - It will be interesting to see if my next post "merges" with this one as a single post, or if it shows up separately).
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
--------------------------------------------PART II - 2nd Fish Story------------------------------------------
Location: Also Marco Island
Date: The week following the Fishing Contest
Fishermen: Me and my fishing buddy, Todd.
The week previous, Todd had entered the contest in (3) freshwater categories. Bass was one, Catfish was another and I don't remember the 3rd. Todd was a pretty hardcore fisherman, very disciplined, very methodical and was regularly referred to by me as "A Bitch!". But he was a really good and talented fisherman. He was bound and determined to learn how to catch Bass (and being a "Bitch" he was truly "Bound" and "Determined") to the point of being an anal little bitch half of the time! He was still my buddy though, but now he was being extra-bitchy because I'd slayed him (and everyone else) in this Fishing Contest the week before. He'd been skunked, because he was bound and determined to catch a winning Bass. I wasn't a Bass fisherman, and I'd never even caught single Bass in my life, but I told him I'd go out with him and try to help / participate. I didn't catch squat! (Maybe some weeds, but that's about it). I can't believe I'm saying this, but to me (back then) Bass fishing was 'hard'! I've since learned they're one of the easiest freshwater fish to catch, but I still don't consider myself a Bass fisherman.
Todd had all these places he'd scientifically studied and mapped out in detail (yes, this was Todd for you). This one particular day, Todd wanted to go fish this lake which was adjacent to the Marco Golf Course (which wasn't really even permitted. It was legal, but the golf course residents were big-time snobs and would chase you off). So, we're out there fishing for these Bass. I was really more just getting sunburned than anything else; I wasn't catchin' nothin! But not from lack of trying. Figured I might as well "try" to learn. You know the old saying...'A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work'.
While I was standing there fishing for monkeys, sunken logs and birds, baking in the 4,000 degree sun, I noticed there were (3) alligators sunning on the far bank of the lake. Gators were a pretty common sight to see lounging around on the river and lake banks around Marco, so I didn't think much of it. From what I could see, one looked like a real monster of a gator, then there was a medium sized one and a smaller one. Don't know if it was a family of them or what (didn't know much about Gators other than to not play grab-ass in a lake with one of them). Okay, enough about gators, back to fishing.
Seemed like a few days went by (probably an hour and a half or so) when Todd hooks this Bass. He's got it on the line for about 60 seconds when it jumped and threw the hook. Back to fishing. About 5 minutes later Todd is zeroing in on this one spot where he caught the Bass when he hooks another one. Looked like he had this fish hooked pretty well. Hard to say for sure, but this fish looked a shade smaller than his first one, still a decent sized fish though from what I could see (and what did I know anyway; I've never even caught one of these things!) Where he hooked this fish was a long ways from where we were, so he's busy reeling it in. I'm 'spectating' at this point, standing ready with the net.
Todd gets this fish about 1/4 of the way to him, when I notice one of those gators casually slide into the water to take a dip and cool off. It was the smallest of the three gators. The gator was clear across the lake so I wasn't too worried about it, but I mentioned it to Todd anyway..."Hey Todd, don't know if you saw that, but one of those gators just rolled off into the water. Might want to keep your eye on him." Todd tells me he saw it (he always saw everything...bitch!). Almost told him he could go jump in the lake as far as I was concerned, but right about then the Bass leaped for the sky trying to shake the hook. He came down with a big "slap". About two seconds later he jumped again, and slapped back down in the water. The fish is also busy thrashing around just below the surface, but he's still pretty far away.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see this gator perk up, and he kind of looks in the general direction of all the commotion. Right after that he casually starts swimming in the direction of the fish. "Yo, Todd...that gator is onto you now!" Again, Todd says he saw him...bitch! Gator is just slowly swinging its tail, casually moving in the direction of the fish. Todd starts reeling faster. Gator picks up speed. I still figured this gator was too far away to actually have a shot at getting this fish. Still, Todd starts reeling even faster. Now the gator has his homing beacon set up on this fish, and he's moving much more quickly. I laughed out loud! Todd says..."Yeah, yeah...I saw it" (bitch!) Todd starts REALLY cranking on this fish. Now this gator is movin'! It's a race to the bank. Todd cranks even harder, and now the fish is half skipping across the surface! Never saw a gator do what this guy did next. ...
Todd starts cranking as fast as he possibly can. Fish is now completely out of the water, skipping over the surface. And, with about two flips of his tail, that gator is up on a plane (just like an airboat) on his chest, his front legs are no longer even swimming; they're just down along his sides. This gator is now coming for this fish like a guided missile! He's flyin'!!
Todd gets the fish to the bank at the exact same second the gator got there! We're both standing right at the water's edge. Todd says..."Net him!! HURRY!". I lunge for the fish with the net, and at the exact same moment the gator grabs the fish by the tail. Without even thinking about what's going on, I whack the gator on the head with the net hoping he'll let go. Todd has his pole lifted up as high as he can over his head, and this gator is hanging onto the other end of this fish! The net was having no affect on Mr. Gator, but I didn't have anything else...except a 5 gallon bucket behind me. So I grabbed the bucket and tried to clobber this gator over the head with the bucket (totally oblivious to the fact this gator could have easily grabbed me). And you know the sound an empty bucket makes when it hits something "BONNGK!". Now the gator, Todd, me and the fish are all in the exact same space. He's 3/4 of the way out of the water on the bank now, and he chokes up further on the fish. Todd is trying to wrestle this fish away from him, and I'm busy playing 'Baba-Loo!' on this gator's head with this bucket! (the only thing missing was Ricky Ricardo himself). The gator chokes up once more. Now the only part of the fish outside the gator's mouth is the head. The valiant battle was lost; it was over. The gator had won.
It was only then the reality of what was happening hit us. Only one brave thing left to do now...RUN!! And this is exactly what we did, dropped everything and ran like little schoolgirls up the bank. That gator wanted no part of these two crazy people; he just wanted the fish, and now he had it. Mr. Gator looks at us, and we look at him, and in a flash he was gone, back into the lake; that gator swam off with a fresh Bass lunch and a full belly, and we collected up our gear then hung our head's in shame. Bass fishing that day was over.
What a freaking 'adventure'!
The End.
(Also a true story)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Hmmm...I thought a couple short stories might be fun and engaging. I guess not.
I'll leave this up for a few minutes more, and then I'll delete this distraction.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - Bally002 - 07-19-2025
(9 hours ago)FCD Wrote: Hmmm...I thought a couple short stories might be fun and engaging. I guess not.
I'll leave this up for a few minutes more, and then I'll delete this distraction.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
All's cool. Just tuned in. Like good fishing stories. Got many myself including flamin pelicans taking off with the fish on my line. Those buggers aren't fun to reel in, choke hold and reach down their guller to drag fish and hooks out. Onlookers were quite taken aback at my treatment of those birds but the blighters are hard to wrangle. One fella was so wrapped up in the line I had to take to him with the fillet knife and cut the line away from his neck and wings. That scene certainly upset the tree hugging viewers at the time.
Birds eventually took off but were a bit hesitant to try it again. Couple of table fish to be had at home out of pelicans' guts. Got some good croc stories as well from up north.
That GRouper you caught would had been a sight.
Kind regards,
Bally. )
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Bally,
I do love pelicans as birds, but boy can they be pests when it comes to fishing! Especially with small(er) fish.
edit - Regarding Grouper, you have a lot of big honkin' Grouper in your part of the world too. The ones around Oz and NZ are the Giant Grouper variety. The one I caught was a different sub-species (genus or whatever') called a "Goliath Grouper". And despite their name (i.e. Goliath), I believe the Giant Grouper (which you have) are actually bigger than the Goliath variety. I've seen reports of them reaching 400 kg (800+ lbs). They say the Goliath's can approach those weights, but I've never heard of one being caught. Mine was a 'medium' sized one (hard to believe, I know!)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - Bally002 - 07-19-2025
(9 hours ago)FCD Wrote: Bally,
I do love pelicans as birds, but boy can they be pests when it comes to fishing! Especially with small(er) fish.
edit - Regarding Grouper, you have a lot of big honkin' Grouper in your part of the world too. The ones around Oz and NZ are the Giant Grouper variety. The one I caught was a different sub-species (genus or whatever') called a "Goliath Grouper". And despite their name (i.e. Goliath), I believe the Giant Grouper (which you have) are actually bigger than the Goliath variety. I've seen reports of them reaching 400 kg (800+ lbs). They say the Goliath's can approach those weights, but I've never heard of one being caught. Mine was a 'medium' sized one (hard to believe, I know!)
Pronounced Groper here. Have seen pics of record fish. Old mate and I used to trek to some cliffs off the Pacific near Jervis Bay on the coast. His specialty was Groper. He'd catch a reasonable crab, big hook, some steel trace at the end of his heavy nylon line and heft that lot with a heavy lead into the nearest deep hole. He'd catch one, generally 15 to 20 lb. And that was his take home back up the cliff. Me, I'd fish the surface for a kingy or 2. Some other take homes might be a good red snapper or a reasonable Australian Salmon.
Back then you could fish that whole are. Now it's a fish sanctuary and Groper are a protected species in some parts.
Bally)
RE: Greatest Fishing Story??? - FCD - 07-19-2025
Quote:...Groper are a protected species in some parts.
Yeah, same here now. Heavily restricted open season, very limited areas (to where the fish AREN'T), and all sorts of restrictions on min/max size. It's like you have to carry a regulation book with you anymore to fish them.
Too bad some people just totally over-exploited the opportunities and got greedy. Really started when restaurants started paying good money on a per fish basis right off the docks. Greed! (SMH). I my particular case, I couldn't cut that fish loose because I had no way to weigh it. Plus, it wasn't looking too great when I finally got it up to the surface. Wasn't a big deal back then because there were lots of them. Now, not so much.