Key West Catch of the Week - January 15, 2015

While January typically marks a low point in the year when it comes to the catches we see on our Key West fishing charters, that has proved to not be the case this past week. With warm temps and fantastic weather, each one of charters had a number of amazing catches that vied for the Key West catch of the week. However, it was the massive Goliath Grouper that was caught by Ashlee of Tampa, Florida that caught our eye and clearly displayed why it should be the Key West Catch of the Week. This huge species of fish is typically very difficult to hook and reel in, which makes the catch by Ashlee all the more spectacular.

The Goliath Grouper is one of the more interesting species of fish that can be found in the waters of Key West. There are two different types of Goliath Grouper, the Atlantic variant and the Pacific variant. As Key West is in the Atlantic Ocean, the variant that is prevalent in these waters is the Atlantic Goliath Grouper. This species of fish can typically be found in the more shallow waters around Key West, usually around artificial reefs and corals. That being said, younger Grouper are found primarily in mangrove swamps and oyster beds. The most amazing thing about the Goliath Grouper is that they can vary wildly in both length and weight. In fact, they can grow to be just above 8 ft. in length and around 900 pounds, though they tend to average about 400 pounds once they have matured. Their massive weight is what is so noteworthy about this latest Key West Catch of the Week. The food from a Goliath Grouper is considered to be extremely tasty and was highly sought after due to this, at least before the harvest of this species was banned.

Though this species of fish tends to be very heavy, they can be relatively easy to reel in once they have been spotted. This is due to the fact that Goliath Grouper are typically not that afraid and actually curious about things that can be dangerous to them. In fact, they will often come back to some of the locations they've been to, which helps if you happen to lose one that you're tracking. In general, Goliath Grouper feed on everything from crustaceans and octopi to barracudas and sharks, which usually depends on how large the Grouper is. This species of fish tends to swim among warmer waters, which is likely why one was caught even in January, as the water temps were relatively high throughout the week. While they prefer warmer water, they've actually been found as north as Massachusetts. If you would like to try your hand on one of our Key West fishing charters and see if you have what it takes to reel in a Goliath Grouper and maybe see your catch as the Key West Catch of the Week, feel free to drop on by Key West today.