Bait balls and huge packs of goliath groupers…Diving in Florida does not get much better than this!
Each year from late August through the end of September, hundreds of these goliath groupers aggregate on a handful of wrecks throughout South Florida. The baitfish they draw in, along with large schools of snappers and grunts make for a truly amazing dive.
This was filmed over several weekends diving the MV Castor with Underwater Explorers. Big thanks to the owner Kevin for making this experience possible.
Nice job Lee!
When are you going to do this full time Lee?
Thanks Dustin! If you ever plan a trip to FL sometime for diving, you should come down here for this....it's an epic experience!
Hahaha hopefully sometime soon Moses, still chasing the dream for right now Still planning to come down to FL Nov/Dec?
Lee, will go down to West Palm early Dec, will Facebook you the detail later this month. Booked my plane ticket and still shopping for hotel.
Amazing imagery Lee, must be a fantastic experience to see.
Cheers,
Steve
Hey Steve, thank you very much! It was an amazing experience...there were several points where I would stop filming for a few minutes and try to just take it all in...it was mesmerizing just watching the bait balls shift and move all around the wreck:)
Excellent video, one the most enjoyable I have seen in a while.
Amazing! did you use lights?
Hey Rafa thank you!!! This was all shot in ambient light, didn't use any video lights
Bad ass! Thanks for sharing - I love it!
Do the goliath grouper eat the bait ball fish? Almost looks like the bait balls are clustering around the goliath grouper for protection. Do you know what behaviour is going on here?
The bait formations are due to a couple factors. Basically the small fish (scab or cigar minnows) are there to feed onthe eggs when the goliath spawn, while at the same time other predators, mostly jacks and few rainbow runners will feed on the small fish. To exscape the jacks, the small fish will ball up around the goliaths, and yes the goliahs do eat some of them from time to time.
Cool! Thanks for sharing that info. Really interesting.
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