i just thought it would be interesting in hearing about some of our biggest fish in a specific species that we have caught in our lives. All different species intrigue me and was wondering what are some of the different species that some of you may have targeted. anybody catch any of these:

blue marlin
bluefin
shark ( any )
alison tuna ( yellowfin)
blackfin tuna
wahoo
dolphin
grouper

Well I've had 3 on your list on, but never landed one. One was a marlin on a small boat rod on that sailboat delivery, while dragging a homemade rig with red/white strips of old rags. I'd used that same rig to hook and loose several dolphin. I was dragging it one day after we had locked through the Panama canal and were a half day or so into the Pacific. Saw a long bill, a hugh boil and then watched in disbelieve as the Penn he had on board emptied. Snap. The gear on that trip was sad and I was making due with what was on hand.

During a keys charter I had 3 blacktip sharks on, a couple almost got to the boat, guide estimated the big one at about 150 lgs. Largest fish I've actually boated is still my biggest striper at 55 lbs.

I've had a Blue (fish) in the high teens and have lost 2 big arsed stripers (bass). I had a Sturgeon on for 5 minutes or so on the Sacramento River a few years ago....

I want to chase some Dolphin when they come in off Newport & Block ;)

All my tuna have been the small surf variety. I'm pretty certain my back is NOT up for an extended fight on a big shark or tuna...

And Mr. Kav, yours?.....;)

You now all about mine.....but for the rest of the folks here, a 36 lb striper from the surf in NJ on an old freezer burnt pogie.....

And the white marlin I saw "Mr Joe Pro" lose within half a minute on a charter off Hatteras last year..........the loser, even I know to tighten up the slack before you start pumping the rod...........

Steve i remember you told me about the '"Joe Pro guy" and the elusive white marlin.

GS isn't it incredible how fast a marlin can scream through a small loaded reel.

i have fished for these species allot more than i have fished for stripers up until a few years ago so here are a few of my memorable landings.

blue marlin - 886 #
bluefin - 604 #
sharks tiger 450 #+ and 750 # mako
alison tuna ( yellowfin) 140 #
blackfin tuna 36 #
wahoo 111 #
dolphin 64 #

i remember once i had a BIG swordfish on for a few hours in the middle of the night before he through the hook. i think that one that got away hurt the most and i still have never landed one !!

Pretty impressive, Mr. Kav......but that's what living in Bermuda for a few years will do for ya.;)

All those weren't on that elec.......nah, won't go there.....:smash:

I got a couple of nice Grouper in the Persian Gulf. Shot one (around 30#) and got a few more with C4, what most people don't realize is that far more fish head for the bottom than the surface.....

Unfortunately none on conventional tackle.

Kav,

That's a pretty impressive list of fish with some LARGE in many catagories...hats off to you.

I've been lucky enough to catch everything except a blue marlin.
However, I haven't taken any monsters in any of the species listed.

I've been even luckier in that I have had the chance to swim with all of the above, with the exception of the blue marlin.

Maybe next month I'll get my chance in Costa Rica.

Where did you manage to hook into these critters.

Mike

no there was no electric reels involved in any of those fish steve. although i can think of a few times on my boat that you might have wanted one. hehehehe. now an electric winch for my anchor would be a different story all together, you know something about that , don't you?

The only listed species that I've ever caught was a 723# Bluefin tuna from CC Bay in 1970 on a trolled Daisy Chain from Capt. Charlie Mayo's Chantey III.

Now that was a lot of work on 130# tackle.

mike, allot of those fish were caught in bermuda waters where i lived for 5 years and did some commercial fishing there for a while. However the bluefin and the mako were up here and the big dolphin was during a marlin tournament in south abaco , bahamas last april. There were so many dolphin around that after the tournament I ended up going out for a day to catch dolphin and sold them to the resort where we had the boat to pay for our slip fee. That 64 # dolphin was the biggest one that i have ever seen in my life. You are a better man than me swimming with wahoos. i did allot of scuba diving down in bermuda ( had a mooring business for a while ) and seen about a 150 # tarpon once ( they are rare down there) and another time saw a pair of tiger sharks swimming over head, when i got out of the water i think it took an hour for my heart to start beating again.

Now, Mr. Kav, I said I won't go there........but did you get that electric winch for the anchor yet......funny how you always want ME to be up front. And then you LOOK for those lobster pots......there's one...there's one, I'll put down here!!!!

steve, you are my electric winch !!!

:smash: :smash: :smash:

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's awesome stuff Mr. Kav. I hope to target of few of those species in next few years. The only really big fish I ever targeted was some tarpon in the fall of 2000 on the Indian River, Fl.

There were some fish rolling in a rip and I think the guide said their were some close to 60-70lbs., which isn't even big for tarpon. They didn't want a live mullet that day though.

I really love the light tackle inshore thing, but I want the feel of a large, huge, giant fish.

I've got a few different species though.

largemouth bass 7lbs. (big in canada)
smallmouth bass 4.5lbs
rainbow trout 4lbs. (small stream variety, not steelhead)
brown trout 3lbs. (again, very small stream)
...and those trout were on flies.
northern pike I have no idea, I had a 15" bass ruler and he was as big as 3 of 'em. Well, close.

bluefish 17lbs.
striped bass 33lbs.
red drum 7 lbs.
jack crevalle 8 lbs.
snook 15" :smash:
seatrout 7.5lbs.

Holy #$%#, I gotta go pick up my daughter... have a great weekend everyone.

Mr. Kav,

I spent a little time in Bermuda over the years...honeymoon, conferences, and just plain vacation time.

I once went out in a 14 foot Whaler to a spot called "North Rock" if memory serves me correctly. We ventured out into the deep water (1,000' plus), dropped anchor and waited until we hooked up. It provided an interesting dive with an great mix of fish.

I also did some shore diving off of West Whale Bay, I swam about a quarter mile off the shoreline and when I finally found some deeper water, I also found some pretty big black sea bass (I think that's what the locals called them). Have you ever encountered these black grouper-like fish? Do you know the correct name for these fish?

Mike

Gee, Mike, Mr.Kav won't see this till Monday, but I'm sure h'll be interested.....he has done his share of diving himself. Aside from for fun, he used to work putting in moorings, so I'm sure he'll have some stories to share.....ask him about the "Sand Plume" - remember that story Dave?

Steve,

Funny you should mention "sand plume." I was going to post the question, "What is really in those little bottles that feature the 'pink sand' of Bermuda?" The fact is, that the "pink sand" containes a whole lot of parrot fish excrement. When you watch those BIG bump-headed parrots swimming away, you often see them "crop dusting" the reef.

Mike

Hey mike, yes i have been out a bunch of times to north rock. it is a great place to go during the day for swimming. there is a big sand bar out there and at low tide you can actually have a picnic on it. i have trolled around out there many times for wahoo, tuna and white and blue marlin. North rock is a great spot to go out at night too and anchor up and chum for yellow tail snappers. i can think of many a time we ventured out for a troll for a while then at dusk anchored up for a while catch some yellowtails and then bring them home for fresh fish tacos and homemade guacamole. whale bay is a nice spot in bermuda, on that side of the island it is more known for flatts fishing ( bones, barracuda). a nice spot to snorkel and scubadive on all the reefs. ( stay away from wearing dangling silver jewelry though) no sense having a barracuda nibbling on any ears. Have you been out to argus or challenger banks? that is the place to fish in bermuda, i am not sure if they were black sea bass that you had seen. i think the locals call them rockfish ( some get to be 200lbs ) they just released 1500 nassau groupers and are going to experiment to see how well they adapt and how well they grow.
Hey schoolie i will take a 4.5 lb light tackle smallie any day. i usually go up to maine once a year for smallie fishing with some friends.

Mr. Kav,

You are so right about the cuda...my wife will tell you a story about the cuda that wouldn't stop shadowing her until she got out of the water and then had to climb the cliffs, only to appear on one of the waterview greens at the neighboring golf courses...in full snorkel attire...just playing through.

The fish I saw looked like black grouper and were in the 80 pound range. What a great island!

Mike

Mike, they are black groupers but the locals call them rock fish. have you been out to argus or challenger banks? there are two reefs out there one 28 miles and the other is 32 miles off and is 180 ft to the top of the reef and 2000 ft off the reef and about 2 miles around. there are huge boulders that were shot out of the volcano that made bermuda and that is bermudas prime fishing grounds where you can troll the 40 fathom ledge for wahoos and tuna or troll the deep water for big yellowfins and marlin. i have heard of a few locals diving out there and that is where you can see anything. My friend last year caught a mediteranian spearfish which is fairly rare for those waters. i have seen a whale shark come right up and gently bump our boat as if just to say hi. It was so big and was just an unbelievable sight.

Mr. Kav,

North Rock is as far as we could make it with our little rent-a-Whaler...as it was, we ran out of gas on the way back and started to drift towards the Bermuda triangle.

I've been lucky enough to have an interesting whale shark experience of my own and I'll be featuring its feeding characteristics at the upcoming Wilmington Fly Fishing Show. I'll also be showing a Pacific sailfish battering a ball of bait and even a mako munching its way up a bluefish. My show is on Sunday and I'm sure a few folks from SB will be there. Hope you can make it too.

Mike