Sarasota captain catches 350-pound grouper in the Gulf. It took a while to get that big

When Capt. Jason Boyll headed offshore on a whim during late December he probably never expected the amount of publicity he was about to receive. By the middle of January a special fish he returned home to Sarasota was about to go viral around the world.

“When we talked to John (Hanson) he said the boat was gassed up and ready to go,” Boyll said, excited to head deep on a 42-foot Freeman. “It was Billy Freeman’s old boat, and my buddy Alex is interested in getting a new one so this was a good test.”

Boyll pointed west to a spot in 600-feet of water, wanting to target his specialty of Warsaw grouper.

“We rigged up a decent-sized bait but nothing huge and didn’t really want to get a monster,” Boyll described. “I knew there were big ones there but we normally save those for special occasions.”

When the drag started to peel a lengthy 30-minute fight ensued. A true sea monster came up from the depths that was bigger than most offensive lineman, a 350-pound Warsaw.

Boyll said the Warsaw was the biggest of his fishing career, and one that deserved to be studied.

“We sent off the goliath to the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Much of their information comes from anglers donating Warsaws and other deepwater grouper. We still barely know anything about them,” he explained. “I work with FWC and FWRI to help them understand and study these fish whenever I can, and even started my own not-for-profit to help some individuals start to study them as well.”

After studying, it was determined the giant Warsaw was the oldest on record at 50 years old.

A week went by when Boyll’s phone began to ring non-stop. CNN, Inside Edition, the UK Daily Mail, CNN Indonesia and more all wanted to find out about the car-sized Warsaw grouper. Boyll’s Facebook wall was covered with friends posting videos of news he made in Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and more.

“It’s amazing what a single fish can do. So far I’ve counted it reported in 84-countries and more coming. It’s a fish that’s in our backyard and truly exceptional with worldwide appeal. Big fish like that can captivate people.”

But not all of the stories regarding Boyll are positive. One headline reads “Florida Man catches 50-year old grouper. Is that something we should celebrate?” before going into detail about photo tricks used to make the fish look larger than it is and the cruelty of fishing.

Boyll himself stated a South American PETA group even brought threats his way, but that won’t stop him from his ultimate goal.

“Yeah it’s pretty wild. The world record is 436-pounds and I know they’re out there. It’s something that would be very special to accomplish.”