Before moving down to the Gulf of Mexico, Shawn Cox, of Pearl River, La., spent 17 years living in Alaska and enjoying the excellent hunting and fishing. While halibut fishing a few years ago with his wife and a buddy in Prince William Sound, near southern Alaska’s Valdez, Cox hooked into this monster.
“I was fishing with a 3-ounce bucktail jig in about 50 feet of water when I stuck what I thought was a halibut,” he said. “It took me a few minutes to get the fish up, and I could tell it wasn’t big enough to harpoon or gaff. So, my friend grabbed the dip net when I got the fish next to the boat. When my friend netted the fish, he handed me the net and said, ‘that’s what nightmares are made of.’ My wife headed to the bow.”
The fish was a wolf eel, but Cox now refers to it as “Baby Godzilla.” Wolf eels are not actually eels. They are eel-like fish that inhabit the northern pacific and live on rocky bottoms in moderate depths. They generally find a crevice to live in and feed on shellfish. They can grow to about 40 pounds and serve up very well on the table, as Cox attested.
“I kept the fish and cleaned it,” he said. “I figured it would have to be good since its diet consists of mainly shellfish such as shrimp and crabs. Pearl white meat with no grain. Most people go a lifetime without ever seeing one much less catching one. I was fortunate to catch two of them over the years.”
If you witness something weird or cool in the woods or on the water and have photos to prove it, send pictures and your story to nick@theanglermagazine.com. We might just share it with the rest of the country.
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