359lb grouper

[The Dawg]

medical student lands 359-lb grouper



THIBODAUX La. -A medical student who blindfolds his friends to keep his favorite offshore fishing spot secret has come up with a record-beating fish -- a warsaw grouper weighing 359.1 pounds.


The giant hauled in by J.J. Tabor of Thibodaux is 12 ounces above the previous Louisiana state record, a state biologist confirmed.

It's been cut down to fillets. The first fillet weighed 53 pounds, Tabor said.

He caught it near an oil rig 70 miles south of Fourchon, in 400 feet of water. He won't give a more specific description.

'It's J.J.'s secret,' said Joey Rodrigue, a friend from Baton Rouge who joined Tabor and Tabor's father, John, on the record-making trip Saturday. 'I don't even know where I was. He blindfolds us on the way out.'

Tabor said he thought at first that his hook with a live hardtail on it had it the bottom 'until I felt the head shake.'

Rodrigue steered away from the rig.

'I put myself in a harness and just had to lay back and fight,' J.J. Tabor said. 'It was about a 15 or20 minute fight.'

Tabor cleaned the fish late Monday afternoon outside his father's auto repair shop in Thibodaux.
'We'll split it up,' he said. 'I'll make some phone calls and try to get rid of it fresh. The rest, we'll vacuum pack it and cook it later.'

Tabor says he believes the fish is about 33 years old. He plans to send an inner-ear bone called the otolith to a university in Florida where researchers can help determine the age of the fish. He hopes to get the results in about four weeks.


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[Tinney]

The need to kill fish that big I will never understand

[Ubertuber]

I'd have thrown it back...after taking a few pictures of course.

[Nailgunslinger]

The need to kill fish that big I will never understand


The exact same need a hunter has when he wants to kill a big land animal. Food and trophy.;-)

[115 or bust]

Grouper are like rockfish and if it was caught in 400feet of water the decompression would have killed it anyhow. sad as killing an ancient fish like that is throwing it back would be the bigger crime.

[Deerwhacker]

Whats more wrong is killing the smaller fish (which there is nothing wrong with at all), A fish that big has probably spawned many times and his jeans are spread all over the place .

[Thunderstix]

I killed 183 lb halibut several years back and always (about 5 days after catching and then really thinking about it) regreted it for two reasons: 1) Meat quality no where near that of a 30 lb'er, and 2) Those big ones are usually females and are the big breders. i would not be surprised if it were the same for groupers...having that, I judge him not for keeping it what-so-ever.

[GrizGuy92]

Amazing fish can get that big.

[Islandeer]

Great Guppy!!!!:eek::eek: