Local Monsters
by Capt. James Marko
I had a trip this past month and my clients wanted to Reef fish. I took them to a local reef about 5 miles offshore. I used my Raymarine to find where the fish were lighting up the screen and lined up our anchor position based on the current and structure. The clients dropped some pinfish to about 35ft while I set up the chum bag. Before I could get the bag set we were on! We started the day by catching slot snook 5 miles offshore, which is always a blast. If you haven’t tried it, you need too. It’s like fighting red snapper and all of a sudden, bam it’s a slot snook. Crazy stuff. We hooked into a couple blue runners in between the snook and decided to drop them down for some Goliath or a shark.
Within minutes we were hooked into a Goliath and I could tell by the rod bend it wasn’t small. The client who was a college football player was struggling, so I hopped in and decided to help with the fish. After about 8 minutes of the toughest tug of war, with some cursing most people will never experience, we could finally see the fish about 20-ft down. After one last attempt to dive back down, we finally turned the head on the fish and he surfaced. It took us a couple seconds to catch our breath, but we set up a great photo with a fellow boater out on the water. We measured the fish to be around 412 pounds. After that I was kinda pumped and asked if I could drop a bait to see if there was another and they said go ahead. Within minutes I was hooked up on a beast. After about 5 minutes, the fish turned its head a lot easier and started to surface. When the fish came to surface, it is was so calm. The fish laid on its side allowed us to get measurements and a biopsy sample of the anal fin for DNA coding. After the measurements, we estimated it to 507 pounds. A true reef monster beside my boat I had to take this chance to swim with it. I jumped in the water, got a great photo and safely released the fish, while it swam with such grace down to the bottom of the ocean to rule the reef again. I use the Okuma Solterra 50w for my Goliath and a custom Dan James rod. Fishing Frank’s locations and Okumafishingusa.com will carry the reel and you can contact Brady Nelson at DanJamesCustomRods.com (a local Ft. Myers business) for all your custom rod needs.