Third Times A Charm.........

Third time Grouper trolling was a charm............well actually I think it is more like the 4th or 5th time, but 3rd with Freddie in Bimini.

We hooked up with our old fishing friend Freddie Rolle for a day of Grouper trolling and Conching. He showed up at the boat around 7:30 with 18 Horse Ballyhoo. Horse Hoos are BIG! We needed to rig up some rigs so Freddie and I went to work. The Cudas had destroyed most of our trolling feathers and I had found a couple in Georgetown but did not have them rigged yet. We also replaced the wire on our wire trolling rig as a lot of it had been lost during the last Marlin catch. We were ready to go in short order and headed out. We had just watched the episode of George Povoromo's World of Saltwater Fishing where he was at Bimini trolling for Grouper. George actually fished with very similar techniques as we had and along the very same waters. We trolled south along the rocks toward Cat Cay. Very early in the troll we had a monster hit on the wire line. Caldwell was up and started fighting the big fish. According to George, you should head the boat to deeper water when you get hooked up to make it harder for the fish to get to the bottom, so I told CJM to head out. We got in the rocks anyway and Freddie told me that was the wrong thing to do as it put slack in the line for the fish to get to the bottom. Freddie was right. With some great boat handling by CJM and some fancy work by Freddie we got the fish out of the rocks. The proof is in the picture.........a 25# Black Grouper. The biggest grouper ever on FF III.

From 2010_06_13

The rest of the story is we had to switch out the wire to one of the TLD 50's as we had serious reel trouble by the time we got the big fish in the boat. We caught a second big Grouper but on the mono rig this time. Not quite as big as the first but a nice 18-20# Black Grouper.

From 2010_06_13

We had 18 bites with our 18 Hoos, 5 or 6 Grouper bites and the rest Cudas. We kept a couple of the Cudas for the locals and have the Grouper fillets on ice. Here's a pic of Kate fighting a big Cuda....

From 2010_06_13

Another great day on an incredible, or as Herbstreet would say, "breathtaking" fishing trip.

On the way back Freddie took us to a grassy reef spot where we picked up a few Conchs....

From 2010_06_13

From 2010_06_13

From 2010_06_13

Freddie cleaned them on the way back and we now have the shells soaking in bleach to take home....

From 2010_06_13

We took 3 or 4 pounds to Bimini Big Game now known as Guy Harvey Outpost where they cooked them four different ways..."delish" as Jabet and CJM say....

CTM