And fishing…this
was the most enjoyable year for fishing…the ones that did not get away included
a number of 10 lb or larger permit, snapper and barracuda, but by far the catch
of the season was the 24lb grouper. This
was a two day ordeal and the story goes like this.
Day one…Gary is
out hunter/gathering with Steve (Sv Better Days). After an hour or so with nothing much to show
for, Gary is heading back to the dinghy and sees the flash of fish belly (shiny
silver) off to the right near a medium sized coral head. As he swam closer, he noticed it was two small
(4ft) nurse sharks playing (or perhaps mating)…they were rubbing their bellies
against each other and standing vertical almost on their tails. There was a large dark shadow below them
against the coral, and as Gary swam around the back of the coral and peeked
around the corner to watch the sharks, there lay the largest most beautiful
black grouper he had seen in these waters.
Carefully aiming with his pneumatic gun he fired just behind the grouper
gills, and as he did the grouper twisted enough that the spear pieced his
higher back…he then shot under the coral head, twisting and flailing and
finally dislodging Gary’s spear…bending it almost into a semi circle. The two sharks followed the grouper into his
hidey hole and lay on top of him. Gary
called for Steve to join him who had his pole spear. Together they tried to move the sharks and
finally, after repeated pokes in the keester (that’s the rear end) of the
sharks,…one swam off…the other remained in total control and possession of this
beautiful and dying grouper. Undaunted,
Steve repeated the process and Gary lined up (after straightening his spear)
for a kill shot on the grouper. Gary
aimed carefully, and just as he was about to deliver the ‘coup de grace’…Steve
poked the shark and the shark came out straight at Gary…Gary fired…and hit the
shark between the eyes…BLAMMO…one dead shark…the grouper skittered away in
the sand…..:(…you wanna talk about two very P O’d fisherman…alas not all was
lost as Gary and Steve took the shark ashore, skinned and filleted him and
everyone in the anchorage had shark meat that nite…it is very tasty…but it
ain’t no grouper.
Day 2…determined
and not beaten…after spending many hours of sleeplessness reliving the
experience and fretting over the ‘one that got away’…and no one would believe
how big he was…Gary and Steve went back to the same spot and within a minute
Steve surfaced about 100 ft from the spot and yelled…he’s here…he’s here in
this hole”…and sure enough…there was Mr. Grouper…and the proof was that you
could plainly see the flap of skin off his shoulder where he was shot the day
before. The only problem now was…how to
get him out of the hole. About this time
Steve and Gary were joined by Carl (Sv Diva) who also had a pole spear…so…the
three stooges developed an extraction plan to get Mr. Grouper home for
dinner…or so they thought. The problem
was, Gary couldn’t get a side shot at the grouper…the hole was about 12 feet
across and the grouper kept himself pointed at the opening…and despite repeated
shots…they kept bouncing off his iron clad skull. Finally, with Carl on one side of the coral
head, using his spear thru a small opening he was able to poke the Grouper
enabling Gary to take his shot. It was
not wasted and he fired a spear clean thru the big bad grouper :o). However, Mr. Grouper, wasn’t having any part
of ‘coming home to dinner’…just yet.
Gary, remembering the damage to his spear the day before, brought a
second spear (and you thought he was just a rookie)…and fired that second spear
in and thru the gills of that big ol grouper…now we have two spears in him….and
still Mr. Grouper refused our entreaties to ‘come home for dinner’. All of this is happening in less than 6 ft of
water, but with a fast moving current and little to hold onto…it was very
difficult to find any leverage to haul Mr. Grouper’s big fat butt out of the
opening…especially since when a grouper is hurt, they tend to inflate their
bladder and he was now approx twice the size of the opening we were trying to
pull him thru. Too make a long story
short (thank God) after spearing him yet again…and inserting a fairly hefty
dinghy anchor into his gills and the three stooges pulling with all their
might…Mr. Grouper wouldn’t budge…there was no way Gary was going to abandon
this fish…so after some debate, and consternation…the three stooges managed to
use the dinghy anchor to‘re-design’ the opening in the coral opening until it
was large enough to extract Mr. Grouper…YEAH!!!!! and…the three little stooges
lived happily ever after and Mr. Grouper was had by all!...ain’t life Great!!
(well… maybe not for Mr. Grouper).
The Three Stooges, Carl, Gary & Steve and the Big
Bad 24lb Black Grouper Now that's fishin :o)
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