330-pound grouper caught off North Coast

IT only took five men to get the fish on the boat, but Varoon Boodram and a team of fishermen caught a Warsaw grouper weighing over 300 pounds off the North Coast on January 12.

Boodram, along with Andrew Cameron, his brother Donald, Timothy Ramai, captain Garry Fortune, Sean Lee and another man called Mr Trevor, were all part of the special catch.

Boodram said it felt like a regular catch when the fish started to bite and he did not know the fish was so large.

"Honestly when the fish took the bait it did not feel like a massive fish because when I felt the fish was biting it did not actually feel like a grouper, it felt like one of the amberjacks which we were catching at the same time."

The grouper weighed 330 pounds and measured six foot six inches in length, the heaviest fish Boodram said he ever caught.

It was a team effort.

Boodram said, "It took five of us to bring it over the boat...when it floated up roughly 200 feet behind the boat we saw it break the surface and we were like, 'That is a big fish.' It is only until it reach inside of the boat we actually saw how massive it was."

It was a battle between the fishermen and the grouper.

"It was really an intense fight...when that fish pull, it bend the rod...I thought at that moment I was going to hear, 'pax,' the rod was going to burst.

"However, it was a nice hour-and-a-half fight.

"Originally three of us tried to pull it in the boat, (but) he (the fish) looked like he was pulling us out the boat."

Boodram said for a previous fishing trip he was sick and could not help his friends. He was elated to make up for that disappointment.

"I am calling this one the redeemer, because the first time I went out with these same guys on the north side...I ended up coming down with the flu. I spent the entire day on the boat sleeping...they say, 'We bring a man to fish and he sick whole day, sleeping.'"

Boodram has been fishing for a few years and loves the excitement of being on the sea.

"It is just a hobby that I love. I don't eat fish, but I just love to go hold it. I love the excitement in it."

One of Boodram's neighbours in Bamboo bought the fish.

"My neighbour buys and sells fish, so when he saw it he said, 'What you are going to do with it?' I say we going to cut it up and my brother-in-law will take it. He said, 'I will buy it from you, if you are willing to sell it.'"

Boodram was glad to part ways with the fish, as he did not have space to store it. It was sold for $3,300.