Walt Hudson's chunky red grouper is destined for the dinner table.

We caught grouper weighing between 20 and 30 pounds, amberjack to 40 pounds, and a shark. All were released except three grouper (a warsaw and two reds) and an amberjack.

The limit of one warsaw per boat per trip has helped these big groupers make a real comeback, according to Rincones. He has caught, tagged and released warsaw grouper that have been caught, tagged and released numerous times. His record was a warsaw that had been caught and tagged eight times. He tagged and released it again.

The typical bottom fisherman’s bag off Sebastian would include scamp, gray (gag) grouper, speckled hind (Kitty Mitchell), a few black grouper, quite a few red grouper, lots of red snapper and amberjacks, and an occasional big mangrove or lane snapper to spice things up.

Big-fish tackle on the Sea Aye starts with a 6/0 reel spooled partway with 100-pound-test monofilament and, for the last 150 yards, 80-pound Spiderwire, a spectra-type line which has the diameter of 25-pound test. When the current is running, the thinner line lets an angler use less weight to reach bottom. It is also sensitive, allowing anglers to feel strikes better. The typical rod is a fast-taper 7-footer with a very solid backbone and a light tip—useful for red snapper fishing, where the bite is often more subtle.

Basic terminal rigging consists of a 10- to 16-ounce egg sinker free to slide on the main line, stopped by a plastic bead and swivel. On the other end of the swivel is a leader of 100-pound-test monofilament. Baits are usually croakers, spots or pinfish, caught inshore. Others (tomtates, grunts, etc.) are caught on ledges and wrecks in 60 to 90 feet of water on the way out to the grouper and snapper grounds. On the deeper bait spots, drop a sabiki rig with small hooks to the bottom. Reel up and you should have baitfish on the line if they are there. If you don’t feel anything, jig it a couple of times. If nothing happens this time, drop it down again and repeat the procedure.

On the grouper grounds, Rincones advises fishermen not to bump the sinker on the bottom—it seems to spook fish. Once the lead hits bottom on the initial drop, crank it up a few feet and hold on for action, rodtip up at the 10 o’clock position. You’ll have an edge when a grouper or snapper takes the bait, especially when using live baitfish. When you feel the fish bump the bait, drop the tip until the rod is pointed straight down so that the fish doesn’t feel any resistance.

“When your rod is almost vertical to the water, then you start cranking like crazy to get the fish away from structure,” Rincones said. “Don’t try to set the hook. Just reel. Crank—don’t yank!” After the angler gets the fish coming his way, then he can start pumping and reeling.

The skipper told about one of his clients, a 6-foot, 6-inch man who was as strong as a bull. When Rincones took him out to do some serious bottom fishing, the mountaineer had never caught anything larger than a 2-pound catfish back home in the streams of Kentucky and West Virginia. When the man latched onto a giant warsaw, Rico began coaching: “Reel! Reel! Reel!”

The fisherman took his advice, but the huge fish headed straight for the structure. Although the angler gave it all he had, and was so strong he bent the handle on a 6/0 reel, the giant fish finally broke off. Then, the man with the bent reel handle in his hand turned to the captain and said, with as much emotion as he could muster, “Shooot Far! Did you see that critter kick my butt?”

It was all the captain could do to keep a straight face.

Rincones has fun and catches plenty of big fish, but his type of bottom fishing is not for the faint of heart. It requires strength and stamina. After a full day of bottom fishing, anglers return to port with ample fish in the box, but feeling like they have had a good workout. And they usually sleep well that night. An average day for Capt. Rico with three or four anglers is 10 to 12 grouper, six snappers and a couple of amberjacks along with a cobia or two. On a good day, when all the elements come together, weather, seas, currents, fish feeding, etc., he may double those numbers. He takes plenty of fish home, but he releases a lot, too. “I believe in conservation,” he said. “Take a few big fish home and leave some for tomorrow.”

Whether on board a charterboat or in your own vessel, when you arrive at the fishing grounds and locate the fish, you are in for some back-stretching exercise and lots of fun when the grouper, snapper and amberjacks turn on. Lots of fish will be in the 30-pound range, but there are some tackle busters down there that will top 100 pounds. It’s just a matter of getting them up.

Capt. Rico has had great success at coaching his clients on how to hook, fight and get fish to the boat. His only defeat has been trying to teach his parrot, Tuffy, how to speak nautical lingo. He’s tried to tutor him into saying: “Ahoy! Crank—don’t yank!” and “Reel! Reel! Reel!” but so far he’s heard only: “Pretty bird” and “Huh?”

FS