When my great friend and high school classmate, Captain Trever Meyer, asked me to join him on an offshore trip last month, I was all over it. As a mostly flats, bay and nearshore guy, I never pass up an opportunity to fish deep blue water. The mission was to put a few American Red Snapper (ARS) in the box, so we left the dock in Tarpon Springs (my and the captain’s alma mater and hometown – GO SPONGERS!) at first light. After a quick stop at the pinfish traps set out the night before, we were now armed with frisky live bait and a whole mess of stinky frozen stuff.
It had been a few years since I last ran offshore with my ol’ buddy so the anticipation of getting thumped in 100 feet of water brought a smile to my face. Personally, there’s nothing quite like wrestling up a monster from the depths, not knowing what you’ve got until you see the color of the fish and ID it. It was a typical July scorcher, but the thought of watching that bait disappear into the unknown, not knowing what giant might be down there, outweighed the brutal heat. With calm seas, a big boat, a seasoned captain and crew – I couldn’t be happier.
On our first drop, we got into the fish as expected, but were pulling up a variety of shorts. To boot, we had found a pile of red grouper which were out of season, so we moved on to a deeper spot. It didn’t take long for one angler to get bit and muscle up a beautiful keeper ARS – and then another! We also put a handful of delicious lane snapper on ice, but the ARS bite shut down. There was very little tidal movement, which would be the case throughout the day. Though this particular spot didn’t yield the quantity of ARS we were hoping for, we did hook into some of the biggest “fire truck” red grouper I had ever seen. These big fish will test both your will and your tackle. With a closed season, however, we took a couple of quick pics and back to the sea they went.
But, we weren’t done just yet. This special spot had a surprise waiting for me that I could only dream of. I had a fat pinfish soaking on the bottom when my rod suddenly loaded up. Surely, I had a monster ARS. This fish was a workout, even on stout tackle. After a good fight, we saw color, and to my and the captain’s surprise, I had reeled up the biggest grey snapper (aka: mangrove or mango snapper) I had ever caught. This thing was a pig. Too excited to measure or weigh the fish, we snapped a few pics and on the ice it went. Only minutes later, a different angler reeled up another mangrove snapper that was almost as big. We hit mango gold!
The trip didn’t produce the number of ARS we had hoped for, but we still managed to put three big fish in the box; but, it didn’t matter. By the time we pulled anchor at the last drop, we had caught a few more quality mangos to add to the haul. This story could have been called “saved by mangos”, but it was truly the skill and local knowledge of the captain that made this an unforgettable trip. That’s the virtue of a great skipper…. In the face of adversity, they always come through. The blue water is such a vast and mysterious place, and the beauty of deep-sea fishing is that every drop holds the hope that you might catch the fish of a lifetime, which is exactly what I did. I have the photos, but a replica may be in the works. It took me 51 years to catch my personal best mango, but it was worth the wait!