What is That Thang

Bottom fishing day, Edisto Banks area. Water depth 150 - 170 feet. Water temperature 75 offshore, 78 inshore. Pretty good ride, as forecast, out. Not as good back, waves right on the bow. Not sure the guy we saw in a bay boat out there had a fun ride home.

Caught something I had never seen before, and don’t know what it is.


Put it on the bait board so the shape, size and color were clear. Tiny thing but sort of grouper shaped. Please let me know if you have any idea what this fish is called.

Saw a ton of fishing hitting the surface, sometimes under birds. The fish went down anytime we got close. Seemed like tuna but they were small, maybe 8 or 10 inches long. Don’t know what these were either.

Otherwise, a good bottom day. Almost our two-person limit of Vermillion, some good sized, with a good mix of other tasty stuff like porgies and white grunt.

Also caught some Almaco and one legal sized AJ. Please continue releasing all of these so I can catch and eat them. Once you get the worms cut out, delicious fixed many ways and freezes well. Hard to avoid catching them, might as well enjoy it.

The taxman never cometh. Did not lose a single fish to sharks, which is unusual when fishing at that depth in my experience.

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https://mexican-fish.com/tattler/

check out the second pic down, news to me too. looks like yours is about max size for the species, same family as grouper and Cbass

agreed on the AJ’s, and banded rudderfish eat really good too

That is cool. Probably down on the bottom all the time but mostly too small to get on the hook.

Didn’t even keep it - could have been a record, or something. Missed a shot at fishing glory.

Thanks for the id.

1 Like

Yes sir! I love bottom fishing for its variety and the possibility of unknowns

Could have been the record for tastiest sashimi- you’d only get 2 pieces though!