Record-Breaking Grouper Reeled in By Florida Man

When Alex Newman decided to compete in Saturday’s Offshore Rodeo and Reggae Party to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities, he probably didn’t expect to come home with a fish tale to end all fish tales. But, that’s exactly what happened.

After a slow day on the water, he and members of Team Sunset Air were about ready to concede defeat and call it a day.

That’s when it happened: a monster of a fish tugged on Newman’s line.

The minutes after that first tug are a bit of a blur, Newman told Patch.

“It’s hard to remember,” he said. “My adrenaline was just pumping the whole time.”

After a brief struggle, Newman began to bring the fish out of the water. Before it broke the surface, Newman and his teammates thought they might have snagged a protected goliath grouper, but then they realized they’d struck gold – black gold, that is.

“It was just frantic,” he said of the moments after he “horsed” the fish onto the boat.

Satisfied they were in the running for the tournament prize, Newman and the members of Team Sunset Air (Danny Watkins, Louis Santagata, Eli Mendes and Jason Schreyer, Sunset’s owner), headed back to the dock.

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The second surprise of the day came at the weigh-in. Members of the team knew their catch was a big one, but they didn’t know just how big. Thinking the catch weighed about 90 pounds, Newman said he was in shock when the weigh master gave an official nod to his 124.18-pound catch.

“It looked like a dinosaur,” Newman said.

That dinosaur may have won Newman a world’s record. He’s filling out the application to submit the catch to the International Game Fish Association. The current world’s record for black grouper was set in 2003 by a fisherman in Texas. That critter weighed in at 124 pounds even.

An avid fisherman, Newman said he’s been casting lines into the Gulf pretty much since his family moved from Ohio to Fort Myers in 1999. When his father bought a boat in 2004, the hobby became a passion. Now he spends his off time searching for new fishing spots and says the sport is his “passion” alongside family and work.

“Everything I do is for fishing,” he said. “We’re constantly looking for new (spots). That’s what keeps it fun for me.”

As for Saturday’s big catch, he said it’s especially sweet since it was reeled in during a charity tournament to benefit a good cause.

“A fish like this is once in a lifetime,” he said.

It is unclear how long it will take to determine if Newman’s catch is indeed the new world’s record.

Photo courtesy of Alex Newman