Bradenton-area anglers land massive Warsaw grouper. It was a Gulf rematch

Brian Bower has been a staple of local fishing tournaments for more than 30 years.

He’s been an inshore champion with Team Plan B and an offshore champion with Team Jumbo Shrimp. He’s spent countless nights sleeping — or losing sleep — between the inshore and offshore fishing tournament scene while putting in a lifetime of hours chasing all the Gulf and bays have to offer.

So when Bower sees a fish hit his deck so large that it shocks him, it has to be big.

“I thought it was maybe 250 to 275 (pounds). I don’t see fish that big every day, so it’s hard to really gauge the size of them,” said Bower, who captained Team Plan B/Cortez Cove in the July Sarasota Offshore Shootout. 

On a fun fishing trip, Bower had a crew aboard his 38-foot Fountain fishing in the deeper Gulf of America, dropping to around 600 feet. 

“They wanted a big fish. We hooked one that broke us off. We weren’t sure if it was 100 pounds or 300 pounds, but I knew it was a big fish,” Bower explained, guessing the big fish was the Warsaw grouper they were after.

During the Shootout, Bower, with teammates Roger Makowski and Greg Brown, had a good start to the tournament. On the first day, they began to fill quite a few of the six fish needed to weigh in, highlighted by a legal swordfish caught on the first night. On the second afternoon, they found themselves back where the monster took their tackle weeks prior.

“We hooked another big fish that broke us off, but soon after, we were hooked up again. This time, we got that fish to come up. After 15 or 20 minutes, we finally saw it, and I knew it was the big Warsaw grouper we were after!” Bower said.

“I was part of Jumbo Shrimp when we got the 347 (pound) Warsaw and knew it wasn’t quite that big. That fish took us 45 minutes to get in the boat, going over the gunnel, it was a struggle. Luckily, the Fountain has a dive door, which made it much easier. It was so tall, we still had to angle it a little bit, but we got it aboard with less issue.”

When it was aboard, Bower noticed another hook in its mouth. It was the same fish they broke off a few weeks ago! He couldn’t believe it.

“I’m glad we didn’t catch it then, I’m going to bring the hook back to my friend to show him,” he said with a laugh.

Not quite thinking it was 300 pounds, the three teammates put the giant fish into the ice box and went back to fishing. That night, around 2 a.m., they landed their second legal swordfish and also put it in the ice box when Bower noticed an issue. 

“We were running low on ice. Those big swordfish and the Warsaw took up so much space it was melting faster than we hoped. Instead of taking a chance, we headed home. I didn’t want the fish gods to be angry at me for spoiling those fish.”

The ice issue would cost them about eight hours of fishing time.

After a five-hour trip, home was made easier by the calm Gulf Bower and Team Plan B/Cortez Cove headed to the scales, first to weigh in. Their Warsaw was so large it took SaraBay Marina’s crane to lift it out, quite the spectacle for the crowd.

After getting it to the scale Bower was surprised to see how big it was, a massive 335 pounds!

It would take the largest point fish of the tournament, as well as the first 100-point fish to weigh in, and their other five fish placed them in second overall with 501 points. 

First place went to team Big Naasty with 529.7 points.