Holy Mackerel! Or in this case…Holy Blue Marlin! What a catch! With a Noon departure time, we were off to fish the “the Golden Grounds”.
After an eight hour run out, the bite started slow but remained spotty and steady. Mangrove Snapper, Porgies (a couple of whoppers) and some Yellow tails were brought in.
The Gulfstar and passengers gradually worked their way out and by morning, they were fishing in depths of over 300 feet.
Along the way, our fishermen eagerly did some trolling. “Rob” hauled in a sizable Wahoo that gave him a nice fight. And then there was “Andy” who caught THE FISH.
Using a small reel with only 80 lb braid and 80 lb Mono leader no less.
It was a three hour fight and took the entire crew and a couple of passengers (a total of eight) to bring this monster on to the boat.
Reviving attempts were a failure as this fish ended up being dying after the long battle.
What was unusual about this was the fact that this fish was in such shallow water.
Joe Castellano, who is a commercial fisherman and catches these guys often noticed that his bill was about two feet too short. And that this fish looked pretty beat up. This may explain why it was in shallow water. It could’ve been sickly and out of sorts.
Anyhow, the measurements taken made this a legal keeper. Even though we normally do not keep billfish, this was an unusual circumstance.
There were also a few “healthy” fish caught and released safely including some American Red Snapper, Huge Gag Grouper and a couple of undersized Amberjack.
The keepers included Kitty Mitchell,Mangrove Snapper,Huge Yellowtail snapper,Porgies, whopper Amberjack,and a huge Wahoo. oh yea..and that 427 lb Blue Marlin!
Another amazing adventure brought to you by the Gulfstar and her crew 😉 click here to see photos
Capt. Joy