250+ pound Goliath Grouper

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN-x-1Hf794

[houdini]

As I recall, this is a totally protected species.

[clambelly]

i don't really know how you can stop a particular species from biting your bait. i didn't see them keep the fish either. looks like all is on the up and up to me.

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

Protected from harvest, not catching and releasing.

Florida Fish and Wildlife has had a proposal on the table to open the species for limited harvest. It will most likely not pass for a while. The issue involves the reproductive cycle of the fish in that it turns from male to female at around 125 pounds and then has a substantial reproductive span until it reaches about 300 pounds then slows way down.

There are in fact a much higher number of Goliath Grouper than the initial estimates showed and they are destroying other stocks of fish in the areas where they have been increasing. I have a few wrecks that I used to catch tons of Gag and Red Grouper on. About 2 years ago one wreck mysteriously became very unproductive. I fished it 20+ times and it was not productive anymore. I dove it with a buddy and we found that 4 300+ pound GG had taken up residence and there were only Gray Snapper on it.

As of 3 years ago I had only ever caught one GG on the Atlantic side of Key West in 8 years of fishing it. Tons in the Gulf but 0 in the Atlantic. Now I always catch them in the Atlantic. Most are small but some are large like this one which was caught in the Atlantic.

The aspect of the video I wanted to draw attention to was that even a 15 pound spinning rod can land a huge fish with the proper technique. That was an All-Star 15-20 fast action-medium weight spinning rod with 20 pound Power-Pro (new red stuff) and 30 pound Triple Fish Flourocarbon leader on a Quantum Cabo PT 60.

[houdini]

I didn't mean to imply criticism, merely observe that the species was protected. Used to be they were heavily overfished and it was rare to see them (diving) let alone catch them.
One of the very few conservation success stories if what you observe is becoming more common.

[Capt.ChrisLembo]

They are actually becoming a nuisance in the Gulf. I do not think it should be opened up as they would once again vanish. They are gobbling up lobster and smaller grouper on the wrecks they have been taking over and you usually hook them on the wrong gear as Ronda did in the video (even though she managed to get her to the boat).