by Capt. James Marko
On August 10, 2017, I had a client on the boat by the name of Bob, from Missouri. His biggest catch before he got on the boat was a 30-pound catfish, so he wanted to go for a big Goliath to break that record. We started out around Picnic Island, throwing top water lures into schools of bait, looking for inshore predator fish. We got into a massive school of ladyfish, Spanish mackerel and speckled sea trout. After about two hours of catching an abundance of fish, we decided to go for something a little bigger. We kept a handful of big size ladyfish and headed for the Sanibel Bridge to try our luck for a Goliath Grouper. I rig my Goliath rod usually the same, 400lb mono with no backing, anywhere from 6 to 12 ounces of weight, a couple fancy knots, and about 6 inches of electrical tape from the hook up the line for abrasion resistance. We tried to look for them at B span (middle Sanibel bridge). With no luck, we made our way to A span (Sanibel toll bridge). I tried my normal spot and within a couple minutes we had a hook up, but lost our bait. I quickly rigged up and dropped another bait and within minutes we were on a solid fish. It ran us back to the other side of the boat in tremendous speed. It was something I’ve never seen a grouper do before and that’s because 15 seconds later a 6-foot tarpon launched out of the water a foot away from the boat! After picking my jaw up off the boat, I quickly turned on Captain mode. I knew with the fish, the size, and the rig I had, I could lock the drag down on this fish. I slowly reversed it from underneath the bridge. Once we were clear of the structure and loosened up the drag, we fought the fish into the shallow water. After a couple more jumps out of the water and a few more runs, we finally had the fish tired out in about 2 feet of water next to the Sanibel Bridge. After a couple high-fives, we started planning our photo shot, except we had no one to take the shot. Luckily a gentleman was wade-fishing and came over to take photos and enjoy the same excitement that Bob and I were having. We got a couple quick pics then revived and released the fish safely. I was so glad I got to experience something like that and at the same time have photo evidence for this fishtail. If you wanna see our daily catches check out and follow my Instagram @captjamesmarko or Goliathfishing.com