Record Goliath grouper caught in SC waters?

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
http://www.carolinasportsman.com/details.php?id=14360

May not qualify as a record but possible of accepted as state record
 
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Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
My buddy caught a 5lb one off his dock this year. As for the big ones, I don't know if I have ever heard of them being caught here. Everywhere south of here can keep them unless they loosen the regs and allow harvest.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Those Jewfish at the docks in Key West are amazing, they look like VW bugs swimming around under there....or did before the hurricane. They are probably already back eating all the injured fish that got beat against the docks.
Back in 1979 we caught one that went head first into our try-net and drowned, that was the largest I'd ever seen at the time. He weighed in at 680 pounds on the scale at the fish house.
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
My buddy caught a 5lb one off his dock this year. As for the big ones, I don't know if I have ever heard of them being caught here. Everywhere south of here can keep them unless they loosen the regs and allow harvest.

A 75 lber was speared off Wrightsville Beach edited to add- illegally speared in 2009.

While not an adult still much larger than the SC fish
 
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Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
A 75 lber was speared off Wrightsville Beach edited to add- illegally speared in 2009.

While not an adult still much larger than the SC fish

Knew about that one and seen some diving. Even know about one bigger than that being shot recently. Catching them on conventional tackle is the rare event. Seeing them diving is not all that uncommon anymore. Since they are being caught as juveniles inshore I suspect it will not be long before they become a problem like they are in FL.
 

NCST8GUY

Frozen H20 Guy
I knew lots of folks who saw jewfish diving close to inland structures. I swear that youtube has done more to amplify these fish's existence than 3 decades worth of magazine subscriptions (with pictures) could have. About every website I've been on this week had a link to "huge grouper swallows 4 ft shark". And the headline doesn't quite completely miss the mark.

So my question is, IF they open up a slot, and since I have never known someone who has knowledge,......are they edible?

If not, and the purpose of the slot is to let smaller fish in their word get bigger, then anit's will have a field day watching a few get slaughtered for the good of the ecosystem.
 
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Tipmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
Yes, jewfish are very edible. We caught them all the time in the bahamas and tortugas in the 70s/80s.
 

bryguy

Old Mossy Horns
Yeah they are edible. The only issue is as they get bigger, they are more likely to carry ciguatera, as all predatory fish are in the tropics. When I was in the Bahamas working a couple of summers, we would release the large grouper over about 30 pounds or so because of that concern. The reason for the slot is to slow the population growth of those things. They are almost everywhere down here and are almost as much of a nuisance as the red snapper are.


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