# Nothin Matters 8/26 report, GIANT GAG!



## Captain Jake Adams

I had a 12 hour trip yesterday with one of my favorite groups, some guys from Hatch Mott MacDonald who go with us every year. We began the day by hitting 2 different spots to quickly get our 6 man jack limit. We then moved a little further offshore and fished for scamp and mingo, both of which bit pretty good. We had a decent mess of mingos and triggers and along with 14 real nice scamp. While scamp fishing, one of the guys starts hollering that he's tied into a monster. After a 15 minute fight on a Shimano Torsa with a jigging rod (He was scamp fishing with a small pinfish), a monster gag pops on the surface like a submarine. This fish was enormous. I knew it was a grouper of some sort, so I was ready with the camera when we got it on board. After quickly dehooking it and snapping a picture, I properly vented the beast and tried to revive him several times but to no avail. It broke my heart to watch the what might have been the biggest gag we have ever caught float off for the sharks to eat, what a waste. I love these regulations! I'm not sure just how big this fish was but as you can see from the picture, it was large (The guy holding it is 6'6). We've caught several gags over 50 and one over 60 and this fish was in that class for sure but we'll never know what he weighed. Anyways, we released one more gag about 15 lbs while scamp fishing and I decided to go round out our grouper liimit with some deep drop fish. We managed some nice snowies and yellowedge to go with our scamps and put several grey tiles in the box then headed in. All in all, it was a great day but would have been a lot better if it were after September 16th!

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We'll catch him again in September

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James' cousin

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Pic at the dock with some of the fish


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## MrFish

That's a nice gag!! Great report and pics.


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## Triton228

Captain Jake, you always produce nice quality catch trip after trip. I feel the same way about the regulations, "I love these regulations!"


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## Matt Mcleod

WOW! That fish is over 70lbs for sure maybe over 80lbs! Biggest Gag I've ever seen a pic of!


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## Naby

Wow!


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## Matt09

70 or 80? No.


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## user6993

Jake Very nice box of fish. We know all to well about releasing gags. Can't beat a yellowedge though, very nice gag also. Gene


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## Matt Mcleod

Matt09 said:


> 70 or 80? No.


The guy holding him is 6' 6" tall. 70 to 80.....yes


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## jjam

Good grief thats a hoss of a grouper.

Very nice trip Capt as always! :thumbup:

Jimmy


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## Trap Guy

Can you say holy freaking rusty belly batman! Put one in the boat that was 70.6# and that fish looks much bigger. Nice work Jake!


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## Pinksnappertrapper

If it died and couldnt be revived i would of took my chances witht that one. That is the biggest gag i have ever seen. He got him out of davey jones locker.


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## chris a

Yeah. I agree. If he wouldn't swim off I'd do the old fillet and release. What is the fine if you get caught with an illegal fish. I've heard lots of rumors. From $1000 per fish to them taking your boat.


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## Matt09

Matt Mcleod said:


> The guy holding him is 6' 6" tall. 70 to 80.....yes


 And he's taking a fisherman's picture, holding it out in front of him. I know the trick lol, can make a 30-40lb fish look huge. Doubt 70-80.


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## neuby

Matt09 said:


> And he's taking a fisherman's picture, holding it out in front of him. I know the trick lol, can make a 30-40lb fish look huge. Doubt 70-80.


Nice grouper no doubt but I was thinking somewhere in the 40's. The state record is 71 lbs- no way 70 or 80


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## big blue

I would bet money Jake could call it within 5 lbs, he has caught enough grouper to sink a battleship! If he says it was 50 or 60, it was 50 or 60! Nice fish guys!


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## Pinksnappertrapper

Yea jakes been fishing longer than you have been alive there matt09


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## Snagged Line

What depth was he pulled up from? We pulled a big one from the Edge a few weeks ago that swam midway to the surface to eat Marks bait that did not blow up like the one in the picture. Would he have a better chance of surviving if vented sooner? Nice Fish, Would have made a couple of good sandwiches....................


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## cobe killer

GREAT REPORT JAKE!!:thumbup: AND A MIGHTY FINE GAG FOR SURE.IT'S A SHAME ONLY THE COMMERCIAL GUYS AND THE SHARKS GET TO ENJOY SUCH A FINE FISH!


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## Captain Jake Adams

Thanks guys. We obviously didn't have a scale large enough on board to see what he weighed so it's irrelevent now I guess (Though I will tell you he was MUCH larger than 40 lbs). All I know is that it was a real nice fish and it was a shame to see him not make it. The fish came out of 240' of water and was vented immediately. I had the camera and venting tool ready and did it myself very quickly. The fish was practically dead when he surfaced, I'm thinking partly because of the long fight on light tackle and partly because of the depth from which he came out of. It's kind of ironic that our family has fished for gags like this for so many years with very heavy tackle and then now, what may be the largest one we've ever caught comes on a charter trip and ate a small pinfish on scamp tackle out of season. You just never know! The gags have been real abundant lately, I can't wait until a couple more weeks when we can go harrass them!


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## JoeyWelch

Capt Jake that is a nice spread of fish. The Gag looks to me to be in the 60's easy. Trophy for sure. With a fish like that, Who needs to do tricks with pictures. Congratulations and thanks.


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## JoeyWelch

Matt09 said:


> And he's taking a fisherman's picture, holding it out in front of him. I know the trick lol, can make a 30-40lb fish look huge. Doubt 70-80.



Matt do you use this trick often? Do you have any pictures that we can look at?


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## Sea-r-cy

I've had some sucess returning a large fish to the bottom (where I hope he survives) . Take a small hook and light 15-20# leader, hook the fish in the mouth. Tie the other end to several pounds of weight which is tied onto a bottom rod. Slowly let the weight pull the fish to the bottom. Then jerk quickly, breaking the light leader. 
Hopefully, the return to pressure will let the fish live. :thumbup:

Sea-r-cy


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## JoeZ

Everyone on this thread who has weighed a gag over 55-60 pounds, raise your hand. The rest of us can just shut up. 
Fine job Jake and a shame he had to go back.


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## biggamefishr

I'm going to go ahead and take an uneducated guess also and call it 31.6lbs (times 2)


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## Captain Jake Adams

Sea-r-cy, that is a real good idea. I've never thought of that but I will give it a shot in the future. It makes sense and could work, thanks for sharing the idea.


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## Triple C

Great Job Jake!! Awesome gag and a really nice box of fish. Sounds like y'all had a great time. Glad to hear the jacks were cooperating that day.

Dale


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## JoeyWelch

Sea-R-cy is this something like you are talking about?


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## FenderBender

Beautiful gag. I think a lot of times really big fish of any species just die after a fight like that. I've had it happen with big ajs before, surface dead as a doornail. They're just really old, I guess. Shame you couldn't take him home. Great haul of fish as always!


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## Catchin Hell

*These fish weighed 58 and 32 respectively...*

:thumbup:


JoeZ said:


> Everyone on this thread who has weighed a gag over 55-60 pounds, raise your hand. The rest of us can just shut up.
> Fine job Jake and a shame he had to go back.


The bar they're being hung from is a 3' chain link fence stretcher. As for a guess at the weight of another man's fish, :no:... Btw, that's a nice board of fish there Capt...


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## Kim

A good way to estimate the weight of a Grouper is Length X Length X Girth divided by 1200.


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## JoeyWelch

JoeZ said:


> Everyone on this thread who has weighed a gag over 55-60 pounds, raise your hand. The rest of us can just shut up.
> Fine job Jake and a shame he had to go back.


This what ya mean JoeZ.

The one on top is from April of this year and was 56 lbs. on the scale, not guessed.
The second was 51lbs. on the scale, not a guess and from Aug 6 of this year.
No doubt the Captain's fish is in the 60's.


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## Kim

Those are some fine fish all around!


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## how2fish

Jake all I can is just DAMN! great report ! Glad to see your on the water, looking forward to perhaps fishing with you next year..depending on the "regulations" its getting almost counter productive to come down lately but I'm hoping that changes in the near future ! Congrats!


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## Island24

Wow!


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## Sea-r-cy

jlw1972,

Does the same thing, that's a really nice way of doing it. I'm going to make one like that! :thumbup:

BTY, around 25# is my best gag so far.
Sea-r-cy


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## Aquahollic

Its a fishing picture. Although I have never caught a big grouper (or any grouper in the past 10 years) I am also 6'6" tall. Look at the guys hands. I have big meat hooks too but that's ridiculous. His fists are larger than his head in the second picture from the top.

I don't doubt its a big fish. I doubt the weight.


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## Happy Days

I feel your pain on the losing a big fish. I landed a big snapper last weekend and it never left the water. Vented in the water and tried to bring it back. Nothing worked. Had to let it go and let the sharks have a good dinner.


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## Renegade

That is one big ass gag! I dont care how the picture was taken. I would have actually went a step further and straightened my arm out to get it further from my body. His arm is actually bent pretty decent.

The bottom line is that Jake Adams said it was as big or bigger than any he has been involved with! No matter the lbs it is bigger than any gag I have caught.

Great job Jake and congrats to David for catching it.

Can't we be happy for someone that catches a big fish?

PJ Mcleod


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## Matt09

Pinksnappertrapper said:


> Yea jakes been fishing longer than you have been alive there matt09


 So my youth make's me an idiot? ok.


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## Matt09

jlw1972 said:


> This what ya mean JoeZ.
> 
> The one on top is from April of this year and was 56 lbs. on the scale, not guessed.
> The second was 51lbs. on the scale, not a guess and from Aug 6 of this year.
> No doubt the Captain's fish is in the 60's.


 That one looks bigger.


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## John B.

well aren't you just a negative nancy....:whistling:

That's a giant grouper! good job Jake!


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## Matt09

Like Jake said, It's prolly 50-60. Huge gag. Lucky.


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## bellview268219

nice


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## jim t

James?

Jim


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## Georgiaboy

Hard to understand how anyone could post something critical on that report. Captain, great haul of fish and one incredible gag no matter what he weighs. Congratulations - that is what we are all after.


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