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A Night To Remember
by the OldMaster85
Yesterday morning we went
about 20 miles off shore and found a large school of dolphin. The fish
were hungry and grabbed our baits, or jigs, as soon as they were
presented. After 2 hours of continuous action we called it quits and
went home for a shower and a nap.
Just after the shower, the
phone rang and it was my good buddy and expert fishing partner,
Bryan. He excitedly told me about the arrival of big tarpon at the
bridges and said we should go. I asked, "When?" and he
said, "Tonight, of course." He said something about
"striking while the iron was hot". We got in the skiff and
left the dock at 9 p.m. with about 6 rods of varying sizes, spinning,
conventional, and fly - in short, we were fully loaded with 8 lively
mullets in the live well.
I never was too keen about
fishing in the dark but Bryan was so excited describing his action of the
night before that I began to feel that tingle of excitement too. The
previous night he had hooked up seven tarpon and landed three weighing
about 40 pounds. He broke off two, about 70 pounds each, after a
series of wild acrobatic jumps.
The ride to Channel 2
Bridge was uneventful. It was a cool night with practically no wind
and a flat sea. We anchored about a hundred yards off the bridge.
The tide was just about ready to go out. We put over two baits and
waited for the tide. Three minutes later there was a great splash in
the stern and I heard Bryan grunt. At the same time, a huge tarpon
came up out of the water. When the tarpon came down, a cascade of
water came into the skiff and soaked both of us.
Before I could yell
"Hoorah!!", I felt a tug on my line and the slow steady pull of
a fish taking the bait. I kept the reel in free spool for a few
seconds and then locked up the drag and struck hard. The rod bent
forward in an arc as the fish took off for the bridge. Both fish
must have gose to jumping school because they jumped again and again,
water cascading off their sides each time they came out of the
ocean. Their silver bodies glistened, catching the reflected lights
from the bridge. The tarpon eyes have a bright orange glow giving
the fish an eerie almost supernatural appearance. One fish was really big,
not less than 80-90 pounds, so we slipped the anchor and chased after
it. The other fish broke off after a few hard jumps. It was about 50
pounds.
Fortunately, the big fish
headed away from the bridge giving me some breathing space. Bryan
kept the spotlight on the fish as it went through a series of runs and
jumps, gradually tiring. When I brought it alongside the skiff, we
were astounded to note that the fish was over 6 foot long with a back that
was very, very wide. As it lay on its side, the bright orange eyes
glowed. I cut the leader and watched the fish swim away slowly…
what a fish!!!
We returned to our anchor
buoy and hooked up again. Bryan put out another mullet and before he
had time to sit down, another tarpon took the bait. Bryan yelled,
"he’s on!" I put the spotlight on the fish as it came
out of the water twisting its body and making the typical rattling sound
by shaking its gills. Two more jumps and the fish was free. I
could hear Bryan breathing heavily and I was not so calm myself as I put
over another mullet and waited.
I didn't have to wait
long. This time the strike was very sudden and very hard. No
fooling with the bait. The tarpon grabbed it and took off in a
vicious run that made the line peel off the reel like magic.
Somewhere out in the dark distance we heard a loud splash as the fish
jumped and got off. It wasn’t a big fish but it sure was a good
swimmer!
Bryan had another bait over
in about 5 minutes and was sitting minding his own business when we heard
a tremendous loud "bang", just like a gun shot as his line
parted. We never knew why until he found that the line had somehow
gotten caught around the handle of the reel - and, when the fish took off,
the loud shot occurred as the line parted.
The next fish was hooked up
minutes later and as Bryan was bringing the fish to the boat, it
happened! For the first time in my life, a big, 60-pound tarpon
JUMPED INTO THE BOAT. I ran up as far as possible to the bow while
Bryan bravely or foolishly got down next to the wildly jumping fish and
tried to convince it to get back into the water where it belonged!
Again and again the fish refused and continued to bang around making
shambles of the boat until my buddy got his arms around the fish and threw
it back into the water where it left without so much as a "so
long".
I figured we had had enough
excitement for one night and went home. I slept very well with
visions of jumping tarpon filling my dreams.
Truly, this was a night to
remember!
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