I recently scanned a photo found in my grandfather's personal photos.

 

No one in the family has any knowledge of the photo. So it is just an image with a date and place written in pencil on the back of the photo which simply says "Punta Gorda, Florida 1944."

 

My grandfather was 6' 1" tall, and 43 years old in 1944 when this photo was taken. In this photo it appears he is lifting all of the fish he can out of the water as it bumps into the bottom of the small dock it is tied up to in what appears to be a man-made canal behind the house.

 

I am wondering, how large do you think this fish is in size and weight, and what was he going to do with it? Carve it up and eat it? I have no idea, but I'd sure like to hear what some of you think about its size and what would he have done with this fish???

 

That's a giant fish for sure... I believe he is just lifting the fish for the camera operator.

I couldn't begin to guess the weight.

Cool picture, for sure!

That's a big one, I've seen them the size of a VW beetle, never caught one.

They can't be harvested in Florida, larger ones should be unhooked while still in the water, same for tarpon.

I've caught black and gag grouper, groupers are very powerful.

Back then that would be dinner. I would guess that to be 200-300 lbs. We used to catch them quite frequently off Marco Island & 10,000 islands area in the gulf when I was younger. We did catch one in the 100-150lb range.

That's just a monster smallmouth bass, you guys are amateurs....

Awesome!

 

They were called Jewfish back then.

The hook-&-line world record is 681 lbs 

 

Roger

Awesome!

 

They were called Jewfish back then.

The hook-&-line world record is 681 lbs 

 

Roger

 

 

The bible story about Jonah being swallowed by a big fish could have been a goliath grouper. 

That fish looks to be around the 200lb range.  Based on the string attached, the fish probably ended up as food since regulations to protect them were not in place "back in the days".

Looks, to me, to be around 100-150 lbs. Back then, that probably fed the family for a while. I hear they're good eating. Now illegal to harvest of course, though I personally think there should be limited harvest as they tend to take over certain reefs.

That's just a monster smallmouth bass, you guys are amateurs....

Before the zebra mussels, snakeheads, and lampreys, they reached that size regularly

And that fish looks a LOT bigger than 2-300lbs