WEEKI WACHEE, Fl.--A genuine "gee whiz" fishing adventure unfolded here recently when Cotee Master Guide Jim Bradley took Capt. Everett Antrim and me in tow for a grouper safari into the Gulf of Mexico aboard his 25-foot Mako named "Big Daddy."
It wasn't surprising that we'd catch grouper with Capt. Bradley at the helm because he's known for catching fish even when they have lockjaw. Most astonishing, however, was where we caught them and what was used to get the job done.
Would you believe...8 feet of water on Reel Magic, the weedless plastic lure developed by Roland Martin at Lake Okeechobee for largemouth bass?
First item on the agenda after leaving Bradley's dock on the beautiful Weeki Wachee River was to load up the live well with bait. But, not just any live bait. He gets it in two sizes--small for chumming, large for hook use.
From the shallow flats, where two throws of a baitcasting net filled an oversized live well almost to overflowing, it was but a short hop to one of the skipper's secret grouper spots.
After precisely gauging the wind direction and tidal flow, Bradley lowered an anchor, which enabled his boat to drift near a shallow, horseshoe-shaped rock pile which was clearly visible jutting two feet from a sandy bottom.
"It's important not to let the boat drift over the spot," Bradley explained. "In shallow water, the boat and the on-board commotion will spook the fish."
Positioned at the stern, Bradley then began to launch smaller white bait overboard which then drifted toward the target rocks.
Before long, we all saw grouper leaving the rocks and venturing into open water where they began slamming into the chum line with the gusto of a lumberjack diving into a stack of steaming pancakes.
One dandy-sized gag grouper was so eager to cash in on this unexpected Epicurean bonanza that it actually cleared the water in a leap similar to that of a soaring tarpon!
Both Bradley and Antrim, known far and wide as "Mr. Trout," cast larger white bait into the chum line on bare hooks and 17-pound test line, while I opted to test out artificials in the form of the Reel Magic lure on 6- and 8-pound-test lines.
Every cast (emphasis on every) produced a strike or a hookup.
They weren't peewees either.
While many of the grouper measured just under the legal limit, an equal number measured on the plus side of 20 inches. Several weighing between 6 and 14 pounds went into the ice chest while all others were released.
Before long, schools of toothy Spanish mackerel, kingfish, and other delights cut into the chow line which quickly encouraged us to add about 18 inches of 50-pound monofilament leader material to prevent cutoffs.
In bygone days it was common to catch keeper grouper in shallow water on both Florida coasts. But, as the human population grew throughout the Sunshine State, it became necessary for anglers to search in progressively deeper waters for these tasty bottom dwellers that have graced many dinner tables and appear on most seafood restaurant menus.
Bradley, who can be contacted by calling 904-596-5639, proved to me that shallow-water grouper fishing is still a viable angling concept. But, perhaps, we proved to him that as many...or more...grouper can be caught on an artificial lure.
Providing, of course, that you have plenty of live bait aboard to use as chum.
Copyright (c) 1996 Herb Allen. All rights reserved.
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