A Goliath Hunts a King by Basil Dubrosky

Posted on November 20, 2017 by VHFC

On 11/18/17 Ray and I departed Siesta Harbor at 7:45 A. M. with calm wind conditions. We arrived at a reef about 10 miles off shore in the Gulf and began drifting jigs. I got 2 strikes and had my jigs cut off twice. At that point we knew the King Mackerel were there. We decided to drift Sabiki rigs for bait and started loading up with cigar minnows, pin fish and blue runners. A boat that was anchored near us landed a King on live bait. Once the live well was filled, we anchored directly over the main structure. We started live lining bait fish and landed a nice King. I started to fish the bottom with live pin fish and caught a couple short grouper. The action slowed so I put on a piece of cut bait and put it on the bottom. I had an instant pick up and thought I was in the structure but then the fish started to move and dig toward the bottom. The fish was enormous and, after a few minutes of bending my rod to the breaking point, my 50 pound braided line broke. My guess was a Goliath Grouper.

After a slow period while some late arriving boats drifted by us, Ray landed a nice jack. Then, I hooked up with a large King that took long runs stripping line off my screaming conventional reel. As we brought the King closer to the boat a Goliath Grouper rose up from the bottom to survey the action. I was afraid I would lose the fish to the Goliath so I worked hard to bring the fish to the gaff. Ray gaffed the fish and I silenced it with my Bluefish Billy Club. We took a needed rest and had lunch as a boat anchored near us. There was a bunch of young guys on the boat and they had a heavy rod with a Penn International reel. They put out a King Mackerel they had caught earlier as bait. Before we finished our lunch, they were hooked up with a large Bull Shark. They fought the fish for some time and then screamed that a Goliath Grouper rose up near the shark. They finally landed and tailed the shark and one by one they jumped into the water to have their pictures taken alongside the shark. We departed for home at 12:30 after an exciting day of some unique experiences.

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