We’ve all reached that moment while fishing where logic ceases to apply and you want to start flinging out the biggest bait in your tackle box to try and land a lunker.
99.9% of the time that method fails, leaving you with nothing more than a mess of seaweed on the hook or an irretrievable snag that sends you home for the day out of pure shame.
But on occasion, when the stars align and aura of Poseidon beams down on you, something enormous hits the bait and, if for only the day, you’re a hero.
A professional angler who goes by Zak Catch’em decided to take this to the next level a few years back while out in South Florida and man did it work.
He and his crew decided to drop a turkey down on a line to try and catch some goliath groupers. No, not a turkey thigh, or some gizzards, or a wing, but literally an entire turkey and good sized ones at that.
I’ve used hot dogs and random pieces of leftover chicken to try and get some catfish, but man this is an expensive way to bait a hook…
Before they just sent the whole bird down to the bottom, they did a bit of fishing with some actual live bait and it was truly incredible the assortment of marine life they had swimming below the boat. Seemingly dozens of huge grouper were chomping at the bit, so it’s not exactly surprising what happened when they finally did toss the gobbler into the water.
It floated down to the bottom while the grouper started taking notice and it wasn’t long before one hit and I mean hit. If the guy with the pole wasn’t supported by another full sized man, he’d have easily gotten pulled into the ocean.
After quite the battle, they were able to pull the goliath grouper up to the surface and my goodness it was a complete monster. They said it was at least 5 feet long and 300 pounds, which is actually on the smaller end for what those guys are capable of growing too, proving that the fish of the sea are an entirely different beast than in freshwater.
What a catch. I didn’t exactly think that a whole turkey would work as bait, but maybe that’s why I’m still a struggling angler…
Here’s a short video that someone clipped from the original
And here’s the original video with all of the context and backstory.
Honestly, it’s worth the watch if for nothing other than the visuals, which are top notch.
