Florida has always been known for invasive species from pythons, to iguanas, as well as a host of fish that are now quite common in the spillways and other waterways. Peac*ck bass, knife fish, cichlids, and now arapaima! I’ve heard stories over the last decade of fishermen tangling with them and even heard from a few friends who swore to me they caught them, but there was never a picture they could come up with to make know for sure … until now.
Last month I saw an article with a huge dead arapaima washed up on the shore and it was my first visual evidence after all of these years. I actually saw pictures, but they looked to be from Guyana and not a Florida river that I could think of. A message pops up in my messages from Spencer who just got back from a quick trip to Florida saying, “Check out what I caught on my latest fishing trip”…
Finally got to see one from a well trusted source! This is no adolescent fish either, but quite the specimen!
Before I could even get a “Holy Crap” congratulation out to him on that amazing catch in the lower 48, he belts out another and possibly more amazing catch, of a huge sawfish!
This last few years has been a joy to watch someone fish for prehistoric monsters like Spencer! It’s just adding to the list of spectacular catches from shore like Prickly Sharks, Six-Gills, Great Whites, Makos, Threshers as well as a host of other spectacular catches that I’m probably forgetting.