Dive leads to state record hogfish. Before gutted, it might have been a world record
One-hundred miles out into the Gulf of Mexico from the west coast of Florida lies the Florida Middle Grounds. The reef system is known for it’s big natural bottom-like ledges, rock piles and 20-foot ridged depth changes that hold big fish.
But for James Michaelin, he was starting to wonder whether the long journey was worth it after nearly two dives down with no fish during a late September trip.
“The first dive was kind of dead,” Michaelin described. “There was nothing to shoot at so I was kind of disappointed. I saved some air, came up early and got ready to dive the next spot instead.”
As Michaelin and crew went to a big ledge in 120 feet of water, he dropped down again. His dive partners, Dave Butts and Fred Grunden, both found and shot big hogfish. But Michaelin still hadn’t pulled the trigger.
“Getting close to the end of the second dive I said there’s no way I’m coming up without something to shoot. I had 1000 PSI left and started swimming away from the big structure to some smaller stuff. Right when I started to call it I saw a big hog come to the left of me.”
The curious hogfish swam right to the tip of Michaelin’s speargun. He pulled the trigger, sticking it behind the eyes.
“I was really excited when I saw it. It was a big male, and I thought about 18 pounds.”
After subduing the fish to his stringer he swam to the surface. His dive partners and Wil McCraney were all impressed with the size of the hogfish. As most spear anglers do, they gutted the fish and put it on ice, not thinking much of it.
The divers continued the trip into the dark of the night when they topped off the box with another giant hogfish at 16 pounds. Along with a limit of tasty hogfish and gag grouper, their fish boxes were full. When they arrived back at the dock Wednesday morning the big fish were put on scales to see what they weighed.
“The hogfish was so big on our scale we thought the scale might have been off,” recalled Michaelin. “So we wanted to get an official weight on a certified scale and took it to Don’s Dock on John’s Pass and it was 21.7-pounds! The Florida record was 19.8-pounds, it was much bigger. We got all the documentation and are submitting for the new record!”
Even gutted the giant hogfish was nearly two pounds bigger than the previous state record that has held since 1962. The current world record is 21-pounds and 15-ounces, caught by an angler out of South Carolina in 2011. Without being gutted it’s possible Michaelin’s was over 22-pounds.
What’s next for the hogfish?
“It’s going to get taxidermied and possibly rubbed as well. Definitely want to keep a record of that,” Michaelin said.