Rare and endangered are the words you want to hear when you talk about this fish in Charleston.
I was born and raised in Naples Fl. when I was a kid you could sell them at the dock for .08 cents a LB now they are protected and an absolute nuisance to the ecosystem. You catch a 30 inch snook in 8 feet of water one of these things comes up and inhales it boat side. 20 lb grouper in 100 feet of water … same story. These fish grow up in the mangroves so you can catch 15-40 lbs fish regularly under docks and backwaters. You go out to any reef and see 10-50 of these things only thing they won’t eat is a lion fish…
Yes they are fun to catch (sometimes). They have an interesting migratory / breeding story , at a time they needed to be protected in south west Florida but just like the american red snapper off this coast they need a season to maintain population numbers.
If anyone wants to try and catch one. Take a pancake sizes sting ray cut off the tail off, put a hook in one wing slice the other wing length wise. let that thing flop arround on the surface or weight it down a keep it right off the bottom.
supposedly they are extremely hardy and release very well. purely a novelty, since it seems they arent particularly common in our inshore waters. would be pretty neat I think to horse one out of some 20-30ft crag. To each there own I guess, I generally try not to harm fish any more than necessary, but we are all familiar with your stance on the matter. ad nauseam.
Sorry my stance has become annoying to you. Had to listen to my neighbor brag about catching 40 something spot tail an hour ago. Brought home 4 keepers, most released were under slot. He likes the bragging rights. Yep been there done that, never again, I grew up.
I think it’s really something all the people steady fishing, but asking everyone to turn em all loose, even worse giving a person heck over a post with pics of a legal catch. I feel if they were so dead set on not impacting the species they would quit horsing them out the water. When I go, If I’m able I’ll catch my limit and head home with table fair. Again sorry this is annoying to you, but I feel this strong about it. Go out catch all you can and release every one, good job on you. They’ll all live. ~
Nope. Some will. Most wont. That Goliath I’m going to imagine catching inshore definitely won’t because it will just be pretend…teach my daughter how to catch fish and treat them kindly when you can. Someone once told me “all you can do, is all you can do, is all you can do”. I try to do my part to conserve the resource for the future. At the rate we as a country are heading there won’t be much of one for my kids but I sleep really well at night (and for that matter any other time I get the F’-#+* chance). I ain’t developing, I ain’t rapin and pillagin, and I am mindful of my level of pullution/waste. Don’t know what else there is for me to do about it. Good luck Fred.
That fish in Shem Creek may have been a fish that was ditched by somebody that got close to the landing and saw the DNR - . That would explain the bloating
They have been protected for what ?? 30 years now?? Create a tag system and lets go…I doubt they were fished to near extinction without being good to eat.
I think the full out ban for catching them was establish in 1990.
Do we know for a fact this fish was in the condition it was in becasue it was caught and then mishandled or are we using emotions and rushing to judgement? If it was caught and mishandled, only the person that caught it knows for sure. I agree with the suggestion if this fish was in fact caught by a local fisherman, pictures would not be in short supply. After all, it’s not illegal to target/catch them. You simply can’t take them out of the water and/or harvest them. If someone mishandled this fish and that is what led to it’s condition, then shame on them for being irresponsible but again, none of us know for a fact that is the case.
I know this will probably open a can of worms but I find it funny how some people are so protective of fish, especially when it comes to numbers and size, but then some of those same people follow the “brown and down” management approach when it comes to deer. Kind of hypocritical, in my opinion.
Nope. Some will. Most wont. That Goliath I’m going to imagine catching inshore definitely won’t because it will just be pretend…teach my daughter how to catch fish and treat them kindly when you can. Someone once told me “all you can do, is all you can do, is all you can do”. I try to do my part to conserve the resource for the future. At the rate we as a country are heading there won’t be much of one for my kids but I sleep really well at night (and for that matter any other time I get the F’-#+* chance). I ain’t developing, I ain’t rapin and pillagin, and I am mindful of my level of pullution/waste. Don’t know what else there is for me to do about it. Good luck Fred.
I think I mostly come off with people not understanding my stance. I’m all for some catch and release and those that get the chance to go very often. It’s when you hit a school of reds and bring em one after the other just to get numbers. Or the ones that bring an overslot Spot Tail on board with a big bear hug and then pass it around so everyone gets a pic with it mindless that it is starving for oxygen and every second is diminishing it’s chance of living after release.
You made the statement on where our country is headed, Neither of us know, but I hope we have a lot like yourself with conservation in mind.
With this GG all bloated like it was brought up from some depth, I wonder if it was caught by one of the Grillage fleet in the depth of the channel and wasn’t vented and the tide carried it to where it was found. We noticed that many boats were fishing on the edge of the channel father into the mouth of the harbor instead out by old “Bouy 22” for us older folks! If you ever saw a 3d image of the Grillage, it would be prime habitat for a GG if one should venture this far inshore!
Obviously something “happened.” All I’m saying is we don’t know what happened and I’m not going to immediately rush to extremes over something that 1) Can’t be undone and 2) is a rare occurrence.
“You don’t always know where you stand till you know that you won’t run away.” ~Slipknot
Go out catch all you can and release every one, good job on you. 