How a tug-of-war on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida ended with a 200-pound fish
Before recently moving to Bradenton, angler Kaleb Guillotte spent five years in Orlando after growing up in Biloxi, Mississippi.
“I grew up on boats and fishing, my family was big into the seafood industry,” the 28-year old said. “When I moved to Bradenton it felt like home.
“I’ve been fishing from land and jumped on several charters over the last couple months. I’ve made a few friends who fish and have been offshore as well.”
Getting the itch to catch his first tarpon, Guillotte ventured to the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier on May 13, feeling that was his best chance from land.
He caught a few mullet for bait on the causeway and drove toward the end of the pier. There he rigged up his brand new 13 Fishing AL6.0 reel on a nine-foot Star Paraflex Surf fishing rod with 50 pound leader and tossed out a 10 inch mullet toward the big Skyway bridge.
“I got set up around 11 a.m. and first bait, first cast he got ate quick. It started as a slow and steady pull, and I was thinking it might be a stingray. Eventually it started to shake its head so I knew it wasn’t a ray. But it didn’t peel off line like a shark either,” Guillotte described.
“I could barely get any line back as I was fighting it. I had to walk 7 feet back then reel as I walked forward to get line. There were a couple times I had to go around a light pole and another guy helped me. I passed him the rod then he gave it back twice.
“It was the hardest fight I’ve ever had on that rod, and I had put down all 44 pounds of drag.”
After about 15 minutes of tug-of-war Guillotte was finally able to see what was at the far end of his line. He pulled up to the surface a goliath grouper, of which most likely dozens or hundreds now inhabit the Skyway bridge as their population continues to thrive.
The goliath, which was estimated around 200 pounds, is a protected species he had no intention of catching but was still excited to see.
“It was a lot of strain, I was dizzy and so tired after. I knew we weren’t getting it up on the bridge so I cupped the spool to break the line when we saw it. It made one big kick and swam back down strong,” said Guillotte, who got all his tackle back except for the hook when the line broke.
“One of the coolest things is there were 20 to 30 people from out of town down there and they got to see just how big it was. They couldn’t believe it.
“Everyone was expecting to see a massive stingray or a bull shark but to see this massive grouper was really cool. I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out.”
