Fish tale: Maryland youth snags giant fish offshore from Naples

There's nothing like a good fishing tale, and we have one for you.

On a recent visit to Naples, 12-year-old Reece Rich of Maryland had the experience of a lifetime when he caught a fish that was as big him. The King Mackerel Reece caught in the Gulf of Mexico weighed almost 60 pounds and measured 64 inches by 25 ½ inches around.

According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, the record in Florida for a King Mackerel is 90 pounds. Norton I. Thomton reeled in that fish on Feb. 16, 1976 in Key West.

Florida does not have a youth record category, but the International Game Fish Association has a Juniors category (11 years old to 16 years old). The record in that category is 68 pounds. That fish was caught in December of 2002, also off Key West.

Here is the story of how Reece Rich caught his King Mackerel

This fish tale is told through the words of Marek Rich, Reece's father, who emailed us last week to tell us the "big"news.

My twin brother and our oldest sons set out for our annual father/son fishing trip on Monday, April 3 with Captain Eric Root with Solo Lobo Charters in Naples, Florida.

I brought my son Reece (just turned 12) who is about as avid fisherman there is at his age. After motoring out of the marina, we caught some small baitfish just offshore to use for the trip as bait and tossed them in the live well. We then set out west around 26 miles offshore to some of the captain’s favorite spots where we proceeded to land the usual dinner fare - snapper and grouper (we also landed a 5-foot reef shark, which was a bit of a surprise).

After filling the cooler with dinner, we set off for other spots looking for more "grip and grin" fish vs. food! After trolling some of the live bait for around an hour without success, we switched to a small blue runner around six inches long and within a few minutes the rod bent, and line started screaming out.

My son grabbed the rod, and the fight was on. While we couldn't be sure, the captain thought it was either a shark, Wahoo, or King Mackerel. After around a 10 minute fight (with lots of coaching from his father, his Uncle, older cousin and the captain, who we all terribly worried we’d somehow lose the fish), the fish finally revealed its identity - it was a massive King Mackerel!!! The crown jewel of these waters. But we still needed to land it.

The captain initially grabbed a gaff − a large stick with a hook on the end used to bring fish out of the water and onto the boat. His initial gaff was too small, so he switched to a larger one − and sure enough Reece maneuvered the giant alongside the boat and to our collective sigh of relief and utter excitement − he was able to bring the giant on board. To say this was a fish of a lifetime is an understatement. It measured 64” x 25 ½” around and weighed just shy of 60 pounds.

To put this in perspective, you’re pretty lucky to land one King, and if you do it’s typically around 15-25 pounds. So, this was something special. (The News-Press and Naples Daily News environment reporter Chad Gillis contributed to this report.)