One Tarpon Jumped

8.23.10
Weather: Scattered clouds, stormy out in the Gulf
Wind: 10 mph SE
Water: 85 deg.

The first few exciting seconds of a tarpon hook up is one of the most exciting moments that can happen to an angler. Unfortunately, it is one of the least captured moments on camera because of it's suddenness and the shock of what is happening.

We had one today. We were trolling through Mud Cove looking for tarps. The water temp is starting to decline and we know the silver king will soon be leaving the waters of the Forgotten Coast, so we wanted to give it another try.
Nancy was trolling a Bomber Long A in Chartreuse Flash and I was trolling a Yozuri jerk bait. The ol' Bomber was vintage 80's model that I used to night fish for stripers on Lanier when it was the mode of operation for hooking up on those freshwater giants.

We had just started a troll through the muddy water that the spawning LY's had made. I was looking down at my rod when I feel the boat jump and I look up to see Nancy trying to make it to her rod that is doubled over and drag screaming. I look back behind the boat and see a 150 lb. class silver king tailwalking towards the beach. Holy $%*#!!! She can't get the rod out of the rod holder because the monster on the end of her line has the rod pinned with pressure. Again, the tarpon tail walks out of the water! Holy double $%#@!!! I manage to turn the boat so Nancy can get here rod out of the holder, but as she finally regains control of the rod, the lure slips from the fishes mouth.

Wow!!

After a few more trolls that ended up with nothing we headed to the hill.

It was a successful trip. We started at the barrel on low tide and caught 4 14" to 15" trout. Hit the sticks at the OR mouth and caught another trout and Nancy caught a nice red and lost one at the boat. The Jacks started schooling and I caught this guy. They pull like a bluegill on 'roids.

We had a good scare this morn as we were heading over to the barrel. We were running down the sandbar early, and suddenly this huge wake appeared to the port side, I was just cruising half paying attention, and I thought it may have been a whirlpool or a gush of water coming from the bottom.  But it was only 3 feet deep.  I gunned the motor to get past the turbulence.  Slowed to and idle once I was past maybe a 100 feet and it went away.  It could have been a submarine surfacing if we had been in deeper water.  We waited for a few minutes to see what it was, but nothing came up or moved the water.

Started my day with a good heart pounder and ended it with the same.