You gotta love the Florida Keys, especially if you are a fisherman and have a boat or know somebody who has a boat and likes company. You have your choice of waters. The blue water of the Atlantic on the east side of the Keys peninsula or the green water of the Gulf on the west side.

Although I have fished the blue water of the Atlantic way out on the hump, I am becoming more and more of a “flats man.” The fish are bigger out on the hump, but so are the ocean swells. We tried to get out on the Hump the other day, but the sea was running high. We opted to turn back, and the winds weren’t much more than 10 knots. Again, the weather guys promised a friendly following sea. Again, they didn’t know what they were talking about. Who wants to get pounded about on a pitching boat for few fish fillets, especially when you have the Gulf option and the flatter water. The fish generally aren’t as big, but they bite well.

Once we got back and crossed under Snake Creek bridge, there was a slight chop and we were able to run full out to our secret snapper hole, about 8 miles out into the Gulf. Running across the flats in a streamlined shallow­draft flats craft at 32 knots is a lot of fun. Coming and going to the fishing spot you see stuff – sea turtles, sting rays, sharks, dolphins, pink pelicans, you name it.

Our snapper hole really is a closely guarded secret. It is where it is because of what is there: a small sunken craft amidst miles of sandy bottom and turtle grass. It is a haven for fish looking for shade and a place to hide from patrolling sharks. I could give you the coordinates for your GPS but then I’d have to shoot you, or my son-­in­-law would have to shoot me.

At the hole, along with the snapper and sheepshead, there is an abundance of black grouper. The grouper poses the biggest challenge. Like big ole freshwater bass who hang out on the edge of protective underwater structure, these grouper have advanced degrees in evasive maneuvering. Once hooked they make a beeline to get under the jagged encrusted boat hulk. Seven out of ten times, your hooked grouper will snub up and you’ll never see anything but a snapped line with a curled end where the hook once was.

That’s not the only impediment. Florida fisheries managers have a special fondness for black grouper. This fish is highly regulated. Between the grouper’s trickery and the strict regulations, we have come not to expect a cooler of grouper fillets very often. Catching a 24 inch grouper for the cooler is akin to bagging a buck over 200 pounds.

In fact, we have visited the snapper hole many times over the past 10 years and I think we took one legal grouper. Then yesterday, I hooked into Old Walter from the grouper galaxy. The second he grabbed my shrimp there was no question. He was not your average grouper and he would surely run for cover under the old wreck. I snugged him up with all the drag I had knowing there was a good chance he’d snap the line or bust the hook knot. I figured it was better to lose him in a clean fight than have him get away by holing up and skulking under the sunken boat.

Old Walter fought valiantly, but my rigging held and he never could get to his lair. The pastor of my church, Mark Fowler, who was enjoying a break from the Maine deep freeze, boated the big grouper for me.

The fish measured 26.5 inches, a legal grouper, or so we thought.

A quick check of the Florida fishing law book indicated that the grouper regulation had been changed yet again. No fillets this time. Last year he was legal, but not this time. Not until April 1 grouper in our cooler. Back in the water he went to fight another day, or be eaten by a Nurse Shark.

Disappointing yes, but we still had a good day and enough fish in the cooler to have a fish fry.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co­host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News­

Talk Network (WVOM­FM 103.9, WQVM­FM  101.3) and former information of icer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e­mail address is paul@sportingjournal.com . He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.”

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