This weekend we had the pleasure of filming with Gus Congemi for his tv show Live The Wild Life. We started our day with some bow fishing for stingrays. We use them for bait. This is fun and challenging and a great way to get your blood flowing in the morning. Gus is an experienced bow hunter, with many great shots under his belt. He was also fantastic at helping us fill up on bait for our big game adventure.
We heard Gus had never caught a goliath grouper. He’s attempted previously, but unfortunately was broken off when the fish went into heavy structure. This is common with this species. These fish are powerful and often inhale your bait before it hits the bottom. We had to give him the opportunity to finally land his first. We arrived to some great conditions. Captain Andrew rigged up the 400lb line and explained to Gus how we fish them. He was ready and excited to give this a shot! It didn’t take long to get a bite. This fish ran fast and was broken off in less than 30 seconds. Well, they are hungry! So hungry we lost a few more and were down to the very last rig, crimp, hook and weight.
No pressure Gus! Again as soon as the bait sank towards the bottom it was snatched by one of these massive grouper. FISH ON! Gus held on and was able to use his strength to pull this fish away from the structure and out into open water. The fish was digging trying to get back to the safety of the structure, but Gus was gaining on it fast and soon brought it to the surface! Success, his very first Goliath Grouper. We had a great day on the water with Gus. Thrilled we could give him a fishy memory to last a life time! We will update everyone when our episode airs on the Pursuit channel SUMMER 2016!