West Coast of Florida Archives

September 9, 2020June 28, 2017 by Joseph Simonds

Holy Goliath Grouper Honey Hole!

After watching countless videos of anglers pulling up Goliath Grouper in and around the famous old phosphate dock at Boca Grande, I always knew that there must be a bunch of them down there.

And after fishing around this area many times and getting broken off in the pilings, I knew there must have been tons of grouper down there…

But I had no idea it was packed wall to wall with them.

Make sure to watch the entire video to see just how big this school of Goliath Grouper really is.

Wowzers!

The diver, explorer, and photographer David Vanden Bosch (aka Diver Dave) was the guy who captured all of this amazing footage last month while down at the bottom of the old Boca Grande Phosphate Dock.

To say that those old pillars were LOADED with fish is an understatement.

Not only did he find what could be the world record Goliath Grouper hideout, but he also saw snook, snapper, spadefish, and even a toadfish!

Great job David! Thank you for sharing this amazing dive with us.

I know there are countless anglers that have always wondered what the view was like down there.

Enjoy.

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P.S. – If you think your friends or fishing networks would like to see this, please Tag them or Share this with them. You Rock! Pa-POW!

December 1, 2016November 30, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

This could be Redfish Heaven!

A while back I posted a video called, “The Biggest School of Redfish Ever Captured on Film” (if you never saw it, make sure to watch it here).

And in that Redfish post, I asked any and all anglers to send me video footage of a bigger school of redfish (if it existed).

I heard from a few people that had seen larger schools of redfish, but unfortunately, they didn’t have any video footage of it.

And then I heard from Harry Heath Huelsbeck from Pensacola, FL.

He sent me this redfish video below that was nothing short of AWESOME.

Not to mention, Harry accomplished the following feats with this redfish video:

Certainly the biggest school of redfish captured on film
He catches a ton of redfish on a fly rod
He puts in some fist-pumping music for some extra icing on the cake

Well done Harry.

It is pretty clear why you are screaming up at the sky yelling, “Holy Redfish School!”

And if this doesn’t get you fired up about catching winter Redfish, I can only assume you hate puppies and icecream as well.

Related Video: “These Two Girls Tear Up The Redfish Near Cocoa Beach, FL” (watch it here)

P.S. – If you think your angler friends would like this, please Tag them or Share this amazing video. You Rock! Pa-POW!

May 27, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

He’s back…

Alex Fogg, aka “The Lionfish Killer”, is a back with another awesome video where he and a few of the Reef Rangers put a hurting on the pesky lionfish.

This time they are in Pensacola (approximately 15mi Southwest of Pensacola Pass). in 100ft of water.

Notice a few sharks come up hoping for a free lionfish meal.

Also, if you are interested in killing loads of lionfish and helping clean up the reefs here in Florida, make sure to check out the Reef Ranger program. They are looking for a few good men and women.

Related Video: “The World Record Lionfish Massacre! 1,399 Lionfish Killed” (watch it here now)

P.S. – If you think your friends or fishing networks would like to see this, please Tag them or Share this with them. You Rock! Pa-POW!

May 17, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

Here at Salt Strong, we come across a TON of fishing videos…

Some are good, some are great, and some are nothing short of amazing.

Well, this video below from Dustin Dykes and Savage Charters (with Capt. Chris Law) fits in the amazing bucket.

As you will see below, it is nothing short of every inshore angler’s dream… to see and catch tons of inshore fish. And they didn’t just capture one species on film… their drone footage captured just about every inshore Florida fish imaginable.

In fact, the worst part of this video was all of the time it took me to agree on a headline for the post. There was just so much over the top footage that I couldn’t decide on what to focus on!

For instance, in this amazing Boca Grande video, you’ll get:

A bird’s eye view of how many fish (and how they move) on a Florida grass flat
What happens when a shark comes up to a school of tarpon (the drone footage of this is epic)
And a whole lot more!

If this doesn’t make you want to fish Boca Grande, then nothing will.

Enjoy!

Related Video: “The Best Tarpon Video To Ever Come Out Of Boca Grande” (watch it here now)

P.S. – If you think your angler friends or fishing networks would like to see this, please Tag them or Share this with them. You Rock! Pa-POW!

May 12, 2016May 12, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

When most 3-year olds are learning the ABC song, this little angler is giving fishing lessons.

The young man in this awesome video is Kellan Hunt. Little 3-yeard old Kellan baits his own hooks, he lands sharks, he nets sheepshead, and he even gives a lesson on rigging and tying knots.

Love it!

He also happens to be Capt. Scott Moore’s grandson.

Now if you don’t know who legendary angler Capt. Scott Moore is (you can see him in “The Complete List: 85 Must Know Florida Saltwater Anglers” here), he is one of the most respected captains in all of Florida.

He has put more people on fish in the west coast of Florida than almost any other captain.

And as you can imagine, fishing runs in his blood. In fact, Scott Moore’s son Justin was running one of Scott’s boats in Boca Grande at age 13.

By age 18, Justin officially had his captain’s license.

So when I found out that this little angler named Kellan Hunt was a grandson to Capt. Scott Moore, it all made sense (Kellan’s parents are Courtland Hunt and Kelly Moore Hunt – Scott’s daughter).

It’s like having John McEnroe as your grandfather if you were a young tennis prodigy.

I have a funny feeling this isn’t the last time we’ve heard the name Kellan Hunt associated with fishing.

Great job guys! Keep up the great work with this young gentleman.

Enjoy this awesome video.

P.S. – If you think your angler friends or fishing networks would enjoy seeing this, please Tag them or Share this with them. You Rock! Pa-POW!

May 2, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

IMPORTANT WARNING: Kids, adults, and anglers of all sizes and ages… do NOT try this at home. It could end up costing you your fishing rod, your boat, or even your life…

In what could be the most dangerous and riskiest fishing stunt ever captured on film, Captain Brant (from Angler Up With Capt. Brant) and his sidekick fishing buddy not only take bananas out fishing, but they use them for bait.

Yep, bananas for bait… and I know what you are thinking right now…

Has the world gone completely mad?

Or have these anglers just gone “Bananas”? (what a zinger!)

Now before you watch the video, it’s important to note that when the monster snapper are literally next to your boat begging to get caught (most likely from a nice round of chum), it probably isn’t that tough to catch them on anything.

However, we must give credit to Capt. Brant for having the courage to take bananas out in the first place.

He is very fortunate that the fishing gods were kind to him that day and didn’t sink his boat, or explode his engine, or send a pod of porpoises to scare every fish in the vicinity away…

It is also important to note that there was no footage of them making it back safely with no boat or mechanical issues… just saying… haha

Here at Salt Strong, we highly recommend that no one take physical bananas out on the boat while fishing. In fact, we went as far as to create a shirt to let all of the fish know your boat is “Banana Free”.

Enjoy.

P.S. – If you think your angler friends or fishing networks would like to see this, please Tag them or Share this with them. You Rock! Pa-POW!

April 30, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

If you like catching speckled trout (aka spotted sea trout), then you will love this video!

Anthony of TB Wild Images took his scuba gear, a couple of scuba lights, and a GoPro down and captured this amazing evening speckled trout feeding frenzy.

It was all filmed at night, and the lights were attracting the bait fish, which attracted the trout, which attracted some awesome trout attacking bait footage!

Just want until you see how many trout showed up by the end of the video.

What a trout feeding frenzy!

So cool to see this up close like this!

I guess we all know when and what we should be using to catch hungry trout in the Tampa Bay area now…

Amazing footage Anthony!

A big thanks to Logan Roberts of Tampa for sending this along.

Enjoy!

P.S. – If you think your angler friends or fishing networks would like to see this, please Tag them or Share this with them. You Rock! Pa-POW!

March 8, 2018April 26, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

If you’ve ever been fishing for redfish, you know that some days they won’t touch any lure or live bait you throw at them, while other days they will hit just about anything…

This is one of those latter days…

Two things about this video on catching a redfish with a set of pliers:

You are going to want to see this guy catching a redfish on a set of pliers!
You are going to want to share this one with your friends as they certainly won’t believe it unless they see it!

Here is what went down in Boca Grande, FL…

Captain Justin Moore and Ben Guth were out fishing for redfish in Boca Grande.
They were catching redfish after redfish on live bait and topwater plugs.
So a bet was made…
Could they catch a redfish by casting out a set of Hemostat Pliers?
They did what any curious and competitive angler would do in that situation…
They attached a hook to the pliers and wasted no time in testing them out as bait…
And on the second cast, Ben lands a nice redfish on the pliers!!!

Amazing job gents.

And we agree, you might want to patent that lure Captain Justin Moore and Ben!

March 22, 2016 by Joseph Simonds

He’s back…

Yep, Alex Fogg (aka the “Lionfish Killer”) has a new video out.

And this time he featured not one, but two new marine cameos… a camouflaged stingray and an angry lobster.

Check out Alex and the Reef Ranger team go to town on this pyramid reef near Pensacola, Florida.

And if you don’t think we have a lionfish problem here in Florida, just look and see how these invasive species have taken over this entire pyramid.

But thanks to the good folks at the FWC and the Reef Rangers, our reefs stand a fighting chance.

Great job on the 400lb lionfish removal guys!

Enjoy.

P.S. – If you think your friends or fishing networks would like to see this, please Tag them or Share this with them. You Rock! Pa-POW!

Two things about this video on catching a redfish with a set of pliers:

Here is what went down in Boca Grande, FL…

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