Goliath Grouper on a Jig

[CFScheer]

Myself, Sierpe del Pacifico manager Guillermo, and SDP builder Marc had the pleasure of taking a client from Wyoming out for some jig and popper fishing yesterday in the fruitful waters of the Osa Peninsula - Costa Rica.

Our first stop was the Marenco rock - my #1 spot for big roosters. I promptly raised a few large gallos on topwaters, but couldn't get them to commit. A couple of casts later I connected on a massive cubera that completely left the water on the strike but didn't get a good hookset and promptly lost it. That was it for the morning topwater action. Fortunately we connected on the jig though. Marc managed to hook and land our first ever goliath grouper on a jig. The 40 lber. hit a williamson vortex jig being yo-yoed right off the bottom in about 60 ft. of water. I assume that this is rare, as I've never heard of a goliath being taken on a jig before. I feel like we've really started to get the hang of the yo-yo technique in the past few months, hence our increased successes with big grouper.





We spent the rest of the morning and mid-day beating up on a big school of hungry almacos. We landed around 60 in just a few hours. The biggest came in at around 50-60 lbs. Guillermo managed to get a double all by himself on just one jig. A mixed bag of rainbow runners, striped bonito, pompano, and jacks made their way into the boat as well.















We finished off a very early day with some small roosters on jigs and were back on the dock by 2:00. Twas another solid day in the Osa.







Here are some pics of some topwater dogtooth snapper and a big broomtail grouper from last months fishing.











Pura Vida - Cassidy
Costa Rica Eco Community Real Estate - Sierpe del Pacifico

[gottaflylee]

Wow, congrats, you guys got it going on. Great fish...

[HOLWACHAGOT]

The Cubera on the popper is very cool...
What kind of Grouper is this? I realize you call it a broomtail, it looks much different than what I am accustomed to seeing called the same....a.k.a. Scamp. Thanks for the pics.
Holwachagot

[LuckyLady]

Awesome shots ! ONE DAY I will get fighting and holding a rooster fish!

[SeaBiscuit]

Love these reports! You have found a piece of heaven for sure!
SeaBiscuit

[CFScheer]

The Cubera on the popper is very cool...
What kind of Grouper is this? I realize you call it a broomtail, it looks much different than what I am accustomed to seeing called the same....a.k.a. Scamp. Thanks for the pics.
Holwachagot

Yeah, the broomtails are very similar looking to your black grouper, or "scamp", in the U.S. The most notable difference is on the tail. Some of the spines have a membrane that continues out past the edge of the tail creating a "broom-like" shape.

[paul708]

great pics and report.
very nice

[Jared D]

Yeah, the broomtails are very similar looking to your black grouper, or "scamp", in the U.S. The most notable difference is on the tail. Some of the spines have a membrane that continues out past the edge of the tail creating a "broom-like" shape.

It does like like a mix between a scamp and a Black grouper. Blacks are generally larger and colored like the one in your picture. A scamp is smaller (largest ones are right at 20 pounds) and have the tattered tail.

My question is, do those fight pretty good? (A black is a bruiser while a scamp is dead weight)

[CFScheer]

My question is, do those fight pretty good? (A black is a bruiser while a scamp is dead weight)

The fight like champs until you get them 1/3 the way off the bottom, then they give up the ghost. You basically win or lose in the first 60 seconds. If you don't lay the heat on them they'll rock you.