What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Boatless Fishing Reports for Monroe County, Florida Keys
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robwas
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What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by robwas »

Been coming to the keys for years and have caught many sharks, tarpon, rays, ladyfish, etc at nght but tonight we were fishing in the lagoon behind our rental and hooked into something else, something about 2 1/2 - 3' long that fought like crazy, it didn't jump but headed out to the ocean and nearly spooled my big reel loaded with 50lb braid. Caught on the bottom with a decent sized live grunt at about 9pm today. Only reason we know it's not a shark or tarpon is we had a spotlight and got an actual look at the fish. Could a snapper grow that big and be found in a large lagoon in Marathon key behind the airport? Really curious if some of the pros could have an idea what this fish was, really upset I lost it (unlike sharks that we generally don't care to land). Thanks in advance, rob
Rob from NJ

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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by SaltyDog »

Ramora

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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by Sandbar »

Anything is possible if the laguna is connected to a larger body of water such as the ocean.

3 foot long snapper. Doubt it.

3 foot long Bermuda Chub. Maybe.

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fishnfool73
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by fishnfool73 »

Never had a snapper spool a reel or come close to it. (tommy Cubera is a possibility with the mullet around the cuberas come around to feed on them.
Dreaming the dream that one day I can be as good as some of the boatless pros and catch some 12 inch mangrove snapper.

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gruntking
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by gruntking »

Sandbar wrote:Anything is possible if the laguna is connected to a larger body of water such as the ocean.

3 foot long snapper. Doubt it.

3 foot long Bermuda Chub. Maybe.

i wouldnt doubt that i come across some real monsters when im down
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robwas
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by robwas »

Thanks for the possibilities guys and yes, like someone said there's surely some monsters down here. The address is 122 Alynn Pl, Marathon, that corner house and the lagoon goes out to the gulf which is where this fish seemed headed. I surely wasn't stopping this one on my tackle and when it broke loose I was trying to tighten down my already tight drag to prevent losing all my line on a large boat type rod with a big baitcaster on there. This rod has landed 250lb plus bull sharks and the like so this really surprised me. Had the fish not swam along the shore where boats are docked and caught my line on them there was a chance I could have landed it... at least we got a look at him with the spotlight and saw it wasn't a shark which really surprised me. I even thought a large jack or fish like that but I don't think they bit at night. Most of the time at night the only "real" fish we catch are mangrove snappers or groupers. Why do the big ones always seem to get away!
Rob from NJ

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HJared
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by HJared »

SaltyDog wrote:Ramora
cuban wahoo

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BEOWULF
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by BEOWULF »

So what did you see in the spotlight, describe it?

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fishnfool73
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by fishnfool73 »

Jacks bite at night and would fight as you describe.
Dreaming the dream that one day I can be as good as some of the boatless pros and catch some 12 inch mangrove snapper.

robwas
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by robwas »

Didn't get a great look at it but it wasn't shark shaped or ray, it was white maybe silver and the shape of a fatter not longer fish (tarpon, ladyfish etc, not those). I had no clue jacks bite at night but if they do it surely fought like one. Having another go at fishing from our house tonight, bought 8 pinfish and still have some grunts we saved from the bridge fishing. Maybe the monster will return, lol... at least it was some excitement.
Rob from NJ

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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by swordfish »

robwas wrote:Didn't get a great look at it but it wasn't shark shaped or ray, it was white maybe silver and the shape of a fatter not longer fish (tarpon, ladyfish etc, not those). I had no clue jacks bite at night but if they do it surely fought like one. Having another go at fishing from our house tonight, bought 8 pinfish and still have some grunts we saved from the bridge fishing. Maybe the monster will return, lol... at least it was some excitement.

Definitely a big diesel jack... Especially since you say it was a lagoon. At first I thought big tarpon, the bigger smarter fish don't jump for me, they literally dig in and GO! My money is 100% on big jack, which are down there year round, but much more now chasing mullet!

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robwas
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Re: What kind of fish could I have lost that bites at night?

Post by robwas »

Well, last night's fishing of the lagoon produced a few ladyfish, maybe 20" at most but for the size a fun fight, three decent sized grunts, hooked up to a really big tarpon but that only lasted a minute or so before he threw the hook and had a few fish grab the bait, swim it out and drop it. Ironically the tarpon hit on a chunk of half dead grunt on a wire leader with a huge hook I had set out for shark bait, not the live pin I had out there on heavy flourocarbon and a lighter live bait hook. A boat with fisherman came by also and confirmed that there are some really big fish in our lagoon and there's also structure as well. The center of the lagoon is 25' deep which for the keys is quite a bit. Anyways, just thought some might enjoy the update/report of last night's attempt to catch the monster again. A big jack would definitely fit the bill the way it ran. Thanks again everyone for all the input.

Rob
Rob from NJ

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