Few shallow water sports fishing anglers leave the dock without having aboard every possible rod combination they can carry. After all, you have to be prepared for anything. You need one plug rod for accurate casts into tight areas under the mangroves, another for long distance ballistic shots along the beaches, specific spinning rods for jigging the flats, another for casting live baits and since you bought those fly-rod outfits, you better bring them along “just in case”. I guess your fishing partner is just going to have to hold his arsenal in his lap.

The spinners loaded with 8-12 pound line and the baits casters with 12-20 will handle just about any shallow water species that you will encounter practically anywhere in the state with one exception … the Goliath Groupers. To catch even the “large” juveniles you are going to have to step up in tackle. Leave the little stuff in the rod racks and break out the 50 pound standup gear, your fighting belt, a back brace and the Doan’s Little Pills. You are going to need them all!

The Goliath Grouper, prior to 2001, known as the jewfish, are the largest of the grouper family. These slow growing giants can reach eight feet in length and close to 800 pounds if allowed to live long enough to do so. Past exploitation and over harvesting resulted in their protection from all harvest in 1990 in the Gulf of Mexico and the Southern Atlantic Federal Waters and in 1993 in the Caribbean. It takes a goliath between four and seven years to reach maturity and are thought to live close to 40 years. Compare that to the fast growing dolphin whose entire lifespan is about five years and grows at a whopping one foot per year.

In the 13 years since the institution of protective measures, their populations have begun to slowly rebound, especially with the juvenile fish. Recent creel studies have found that the age of the larger fish sampled are right around 12 -13 years old … an indication that the protection is working but also an indication that time is still needed to allow the population to mature.

The excesses of the past now in check, the Goliath is coming back into its own. With its range covering most all of the Florida peninsula, you can tackle these great fish in just about any fishery in the State. Small fish in the 1-25 pound range can be found in the back country. Being the only grouper to tolerate brackish water, fish in the 10 to 60 pound range can be found in the tidal rivers. Most docks, especially in Southwest Florida, also support fish. Fish in the 200 pound class can also be targeted and caught in relatively shallow waters. Here in the Ten Thousand Island and Everglades National Park we find them in as little as 10 feet of water. The key is structure. Find and fish the structure and you likely find the fish. .

However, the bigger fish need bigger stuff. They want bigger homes, bigger food so you better have bigger tackle if you wish to get a close look at them. Look for them on offshore wrecks, reefs and structure. Don’t forget the bridges, trestles and docks. They are easiest to locate and can often hold some very large fish in surprising numbers. These fish will be big; often well in excess of several hundred pounds. Big as they are, they are surprisingly fast. I have seen more than one hooked cobia run down and gobbled by one of these big brown racing Fiats. I have had three and four goliaths competing on the surface for a hooked snook. It is just like a bream eating a cricket on the surface … just on a grander scale and much more exciting

Use very stout rods with at least 50 lb line and 100+ lb test leaders are a must. The use of a large circle hook almost assures a lip hookup, minimizes the stress on the fish and makes for a quick and simple release. Please don’t bring big fish into the boat. There bodies are not designed to support their weight out of the water and dragging them across the gunnels can damage internal organs and eventually kill the fish. Photograph and release them in the water.

Big fish mean big baits. Few of these big fish can pass up a four pound Jack Crevalle or a mullet the size of a small dog anchored on the bottom. One my favorite baits, as well as, the groupers, is a small stingray. Handling the bait can be quite a challenge, however.

To actual catch and release one of these giants on convention fishing gear, most everything has to go your way. He has to make a wrong turn away from the structure; you have to be quick and strong enough to pull him out; the tackle has to hold up; knots can’t fail; no other structure can be between you and the fish that can be used to cut you off; and he has to be willing to eat. The odds are with the fish. He is big. It is his home turf, he knows it very well and, I assure you, he does not intend on leaving without a fight!

One of the most important things that you can do to improve your odds is to properly locate the boat before even beginning to fish. It is best to fish as far away from the structure as you can. You want the structure as directly behind the boat as you can manage. The big task with these fish is pulling them out of their lairs. If you fish directly on top the fish. He can swim all around the boat and back into the structure without even pulling line off the reel. He is like a big pendulum swinging beneath your boat. If he swings to the structure which is where his going to go like a freight train, you lose. Dragging your flats skiff around is a piece-of-cake to these giants. If you are back away from the structure directly in line with the fish, you can exert the maximum force on the fish in the needed direction … out away from the structure.

Also, do not expect a dramatic strike. Even bait we consider “big” fits easily into the front end of a goliath. They will often rush the bait, gobble it and then take their time heading home. Few things in the wild push them around, so they are not used to being in a hurry. You will typically feel the bait thump hard a couple times and then stop cold. That is your strike. The goliath feeds by sucking in a large volume of water surrounding its prey. They prey is sucked in along with this water. The “thump” is the fish being sucked into the mouth. The “nothing” comes about when the big fish “stops” the bait in its mouth. When the thumping stops, set up and hang on!

The Ten Thousand Islands area is the nursery for the species and has the greatest numbers of smaller fish. I have been in back country creeks where anglers have jigged dozens of “Golitath-ettes” that were no bigger that a big bream. Most of the islands have a few resident goliath babies, typically less than 40 pounds. If you know that they are there and plan it well, you might even be able to use that bait caster tucked in the rod rack to drag one out … maybe. Most likely however, you will end up with big eyes and broken string. You will need to fish close to the mangroves right at the undercut in the moving water. Like all groupers, the first few feet and seconds of the fight are the most important. If you are 15 seconds into fight and still hooked up you have a good chance of landing the fish. However, most fights, like bull rides, do not last that long.

The recovery of the goliath is a great thing for sports fisherman. Many a day of slow snook fishing or water too muddy to sight fish has been “saved” by fishing these bulldogs. Things should only get better and better as the protection continues. Early in my fishing/diving career, I was as bad as any about harvesting these very special fish. I know first hand how fragile the fishery really is and how easily and fast we can wipe them out again. Personally, I would like to see the protection to continue long enough to allow this slow growing population time to mature and stabilize.

As with any issue there will be controversy. Many, particularly in the guide community, feel that there are already “too many” goliaths. A tough day of snook fishing is blamed on the goliath’s “eating the snook out of house and home”. Of course these statements are often followed by “back in the old days, the snook fishing was much better.” In times of past, the snook fishing likely was much better with considerable less fishing pressure all around, but I ask you to consider this. As there were lots of snook in the “good old days”, don’t you think that there were lots of goliaths also? We were not hammering either species then as and they co-existed very well with the snook fishing still “fabulous”. Mother Nature seems to have a wonderful a way of balancing things out. We have taken steps to minimize our impact both on the snook populations and those of the goliath groupers. Perhaps we should just let Mother Nature do her thing.

Capt. Charles Wright runs Chokoloskee Charters.com. With four different boats to choose from, he is able to allow his anglers to experience all the fishing opportunities the area has to offer. He grew up in South Florida and the Keys and has fished the Everglades National Park since 1972. Schooled as an environmental engineer and an FAA Certified Flight Instructor, he sold his consulting firm and moved to Chokoloskee after hurricane Andrew. Using a small private plane, he regularly scouts the area for new fishing grounds and offers a unique “on top” perspective to area. Besides Florida’s southwest coast, Charles regularly fishes the Florida Keys, Miami and the Bahamas, but he maintains fishing the Chokoloskee area is the best the state has to offer www.ChokoloskeeCharters.com ; CaptWright@ChokoloskeeCharters.com ; (239) 695-9107