Local anglers win big after long battle with 212-pound Warsaw grouper in Gulf of Mexico
Running offshore aboard one of the fleet’s smallest boats, Brian Bower didn’t let that limit how far into the Gulf of Mexico Team Plan B ventured during last weekend’s Sarasota Slam fishing tournament out of Marina Jack.
“At one point we were 160 miles offshore,” said Bower, whose team fished aboard a 32-foot Contender with twin 250 Yamahas. “We left the (Manatee) River Thursday for a fun trip. We thought winning would be a bonus, just a way to cover costs.”
For the Sarasota Slam, different divisions were split up based on species. The heaviest offshore species and longest inshore fish would win each category. Teams can pick and choose their desired species and early on in the trip, the Plan B crew decided to fish for bruising amberjack. After landing many, they were happy with a big one that was 71.4 pounds.
“We had enough of them and thought that was a decent one. But I guess we should have tried just a bit longer!” Bower laughingly said, as their amberjack was less than one pound out of first place in that category.
The team moved along to diversify their catch, hoping to get a big snapper. When snapper fishing, they ran into a problem. It was one many anglers have been consistently displeased about this summer.
“Sharks. We couldn’t get past them. Big sandbars, a big hammerhead, you name it. We were trying for muttons and cuberas and couldn’t get anything past the sharks. It was bad,” said Bower. “Everywhere we went, it was just sharks and retying, my hands still hurt from tying all those hooks and pulling on heavy leader. At one point I was out of big hooks and had to go to backups.”
The team headed deep to 600 feet of water in an attempt to get a big Warsaw grouper. They fought a fish twice, losing both times with break-offs.
“I thought that spot was loaded with big Warsaws, so we tried again six hours after the first break-off. We got another bite and worked that fish off the bottom. It was such a battle to get it up, but we did,” Bower said.
“Then, after 10 or 15 minutes, we were so concerned about sharks again, so we kept it coming up as fast as we could. They can’t come up soon enough.”
The big fish hit the surface intact and the team hoisted it into the boat. Bower noticed two extra hooks were in its mouth, both his, from their earlier break-offs.
The third time was the charm and at the scales their Warsaw grouper, the only landed, wowed the crowd at 212 pounds and first in the Warsaw category. Along with their second-place amberjack, Team Plan B would win almost enough to cover their costs, which were high due to the 430 gallons of gas used on their 460-mile journey.
In the other offshore divisions, Team Bullseye Home Services would take big wahoo at 49.3 pounds, while big grouper went to Team Nos Fuimos and snapper went to Team Fish Tales. Team Big Naasty had the biggest swordfish at 108.1 pounds, Team Slam A Rose had the biggest tuna and big dolphin went to Team Dirt Digger.
The inshore division saw team Startron take the biggest slam at 156 inches and the biggest trout pair. Biggest redfish pair went to Team Bobberbandits. Team Richardson Stinton Roofing took biggest snook at 43 inches.
