My strange catch

[RoyL]

I was biking along the canal the other day looking for bait and fish when I noticed something slowly moving along the canal. Thinking it was a torpedo ray( lots of them around last year) I turned around to snap some pictures. I walked down to the edge and couldn't find it until I looked on top of a kelp bed and saw some huge eye's looking back at me. I then ran back to my bike grabbed the rod and a bucktail and dropped it in the fishes mouth. It didn't fight as well as I expected, but trashed around a bit. The monkfish went 24lbs on the boga and a first for me. The thing was ugly and had a serious mouth full of teeth. Talked to some locals who said they use to be common in the canal? I know guys have caught them from race point back in the days, but this is my first encounter. It was cool and my girl loved it......Poormans Lobsta!!!