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I'm back from yet another back surgery, and even though I have been Rip van Winkle-ing it for the past couple of weeks, I have dutifully kept my ear to the water (which isn't very easy when you are laying face up) on what the word is on the fishing scene.

I know I missed some real scorchers, but that's just two less weeks of hot weather I'll have to deal with this year. For as long as I can remember, these two or three weeks or so have always been hot as a firecracker. On the fishing scene, some pretty strange stuff has been going on. Actually, strange probably isn't the best word to describe some of the fishing tales I've heard, because every year during the summer doldrums, some oddity to the area ends up on the end of someone's line.

The winner this year is Josh Sigler, who snagged a big jewfish, or goliath grouper, that hit one of his bottom baits in Port Royal Sound. I never was able to get ahold of him but I'm guessing the grouper weighed around 200 pounds. Why 200 pounds? Well, one person told me 400, another 150 and source No. 3 said 150, so using my pocket edition of "The Fisherman's Liar" book, I divided the sum of all three, multiplied that by 2.785 and then subtracted 43.987 (using the liar's poundage chart on page 245), and Voila! -- 200 was the rounded figure.

As strange as is to catch any type of grouper in our inshore waters, about three years ago a friend of mine caught a goliath grouper around the very same time of year, again right in Port Royal Sound! Since they're illegal to keep, I wonder if just maybe the goliath grouper caught by Josh was the same fish that I helped release back then. I would guess that grouper was around 60 pounds three years ago. Not knowing the growth rate of these grouper, which can reach nearly 1,000 pounds, maybe it was the same fish.

Some of the not-so-normal catches made when the water gets as hot as it is now don't really surprise me at all. With all the bait that flourishes along this part of the coast, just about any fish might wander in to get in on the action. I have seen wahoo just shy of 100 pounds caught at the Betsy Ross, plus sailfish and once even a blue marlin in less than 100 feet of water! Way out of their normal haunts, if I was one of those offshore fish and heard about all the bait inshore, I wouldn't hesitate to beat feet to get in on some fine groceries that are piled up in shallow water.

As for the tarpon bite, they are there but like last year, they are testing the patience of tarpon fishing freaks. One day they are there rolling all over the place and the next day, nada. I did hear they were piled up down near St. Catherine's Sound in Georgia, but even there they have been playing peek-a-boo. A few have been caught in the T-Hole on Hilton Head Island's south end and a few in Port Royal Sound but they just haven't been consistent, which can make for a very long day when the temperature is in the upper 90s, the lovely aroma of squished menhaden fills the air and there are a gazillion sharks you'll have to wade through before hooking up on a tarpon.

There are so many articles regarding the decline in the shark population but obviously those researchers have never fished around here in the summer because by the end of an average day tarpon fishing, you have probably handled a hundred sharks. Add to that their sandpaper skin and at day's end, it looks like someone took a belt sander to your hands, with menhaden mush in the cracks.

In second place behind Josh Sigler is my very own nephew, Capt. Byron Sewell. On a charter last week, he got tired of tarpon fishing and near the top of the tide, took off and puttered along a long tide line with lots of flotsam, looking for tripletail. A primative-looking sucker, tripletail often laze on the surface in these tide lines and just float along. Resembling a board floating in the water, if you see him before he sees you, he will take a bait like a live shrimp or menhaden pretty quickly.

Byron didn't catch one, he got two slobs! The best part is he got one on live bait and the second on the fly. Strong as an ox, he brought them over so I could get some pictures and ended up leaving with a bewildered look as I grabbed the smaller one and sent him on his way. Did I mention that they are some of the finest eating fish in the sea?

Now that I think about it, I don't think I told him either.