Tom Matey is no stranger to fishing. He would often take himself and his two sons, Brandon and Michael, out on a few of the many freshwater lakes Ohio is known for… often catching Bass, Walleye, Crappie, and other species you would expect to catch in that area. That all changed 3 years ago when Tom decided to move his family to the beautiful city of Bonita Springs, FL.
Sure, there are plenty of freshwater lakes in Florida, not to mention some of the biggest bass you are going to find, but there was something bigger that caught all three of these guys’ attention…. Saltwater fishing! Tom says, “It was like learning to fish all over again. There were so many new factors to take into account. Even the boat we were in affected the way we were fishing”.
Originally, Tom and his sons were using a deck boat but found that it was difficult to do what they really wanted to do, which was some serious saltwater fishing. The decision was made: the deck boat had to go… Tom upgraded to a 23’ Key West Bay boat and it changed everything. Now that the guys had what they needed to get to the fish and along with the help of the Salt Strong crew on how to fish these waters, the guys decided to go give it a try.
Over time, they became more and more proficient at the sport that consumes many of our lives, but on April 10, that all changed. The three men would catch a fish that made all three of them do a double-take.
It was a typical day in Bonita Springs, the winds were calm, the temperature was a nice 80 degrees with fair weather clouds floating by, so the guys decided to go out that afternoon and do some fishing. Going to a few mangrove islands and grass flats, they caught several Snook, Reds, and some Trout. The only problem was, Tom and Michael, caught all the fish.
Now… you know as well as I do if everyone has caught a fish on the boat except for me, we’re all going to be in for a long day. Brandon did exactly that, he decided he wasn’t done. They moved to another area, and after scoping it out for a few minutes, Brandon decided it was time to show everyone up.
Armed with the Shimano NAS3000 spinning reel paired to a TFO medium action rod, Brandon blind cast his ZMAN paddle tail with a quarter ounce DOA Jighead in hopes of getting the bite.
On the first bounce of the bait, he felt the pop, set the hook, and finally could say, “fish on”. He could tell it wasn’t a big fish, but nonetheless, it was a fish. Coming closer to the boat the three guys could tell it was a Redfish. It wasn’t until the fish was on the boat that Brandon’s brother Michael realized this wasn’t just any Redfish. Pointing out the discovery to his dad and his brother, all three men could not believe what they were seeing… the fish had two mouths.
You can imagine the shock they all felt as they tried to figure out exactly what they were looking at.
During the interview with the men, I asked if it was really a mouth. Brandon replied, “Yes, it appeared to all of us to be a second mouth. It had a pair of lips, it had a tongue, and it shared one throat with the mouth on top.” He also mentioned they noticed the fish couldn’t close his mouth. The top mouth, which took the bait, worked fine but the second mouth was fixed in an open position. Being 13” and only weighing 2 lbs. this was probably the reason the fish was so skinny. It would eat a live bait with its top mouth, only to have its meal swim out of the second mouth.
After getting their heads wrapped around what Brandon had just caught, they decided to get some photos to back up a fish story that’s almost too hard to believe.
Due to the time of the year, all the fish caught that day were released to maintain the FWC guidelines for harvesting, so this oddity of nature is still out there waiting for the next bite. As for Tom, Michael, and Brandon…They have a great memory and a fish-tail that will last for generations.
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