Finally, it has happened to me right in front of my face, my feelings can’t describe it…
Last week while fishing for snook in the Eau Gallie River, I was surrounded by rolling tarpon. In the front of the river by Ballard Park was mongos, a little deeper into the river there was mid-sized, and finally near the spillway was juvenile tarpon. I found success early with snook by switching to a smaller presentation, but the tarpon had me retying and trying different tactics all week. This week I returned to the Eau Gallie River / Ballard Park area with a live well full of menhaden and white mullet.
I pulled up to the first spot around 6:45 am and you could see dozens of tarpon already rolling and feeding. The water was flat calm and you could see what looked like rain on the surface, the fry bait was active again. At first, I was nervous that if this was what the tarpon was going crazy for that I had brought too large of baits with me. First, I rigged up a 4-6inch white mullet, no float attached, just 30lb braid, 50lb leader, and a 3/0 circle hook. The mullet went deep quickly, as I rigged up my second pole. This time I attached a float and went for a 2-3inch live menhaden. I was sure the smaller menhaden was going to be the ticket but after a few missed swipes, the pole with the mullet was jumping out of the rod holder. The tarpon shot under the boat immediately, taking the line into the trolling motor. Juggling two rods at the same time (uhhh) and trying to free the line from the motor, I quickly had quite the battle on my hands. Like a dummy, I set the menhaden pole down on the bow of the boat as I freed the main line from the trolling motor. It wasn’t until later that I realized I had a bait in the water still that could have been a pole zinging across the marina. As you can see in the video, the tarpon did not jump at first but instead took me around the boat a few times. Each time the tarpon made a pass it made sure to try and hit one of my two motors, all the way up until the end. After about an eight-minute battle, I finally had the leader through the eyelids of my rod, and the fish boat side. I was able to put on some gloves and take the circle hook out, which was perfectly set in the top lip. It was hard to get an exact measure because I kept the fish in the water the whole time, but I had a butt of my rod at the nose of the tarpon, and the tail went at least past the second eyelid which measures at 50 inches. My guess would be that it was a 35-40lb tarpon after doing a little research online. Measurements aside, an awesome first tarpon!
This coming week I will continue to work on my tarpon catching skills. I’m thinking about spending a couple of days fishing Crane Creek next, just to try somewhere different. Until next time, good luck, and have fun!
Spanky
Awesome job, man. That is a nice-sized fish! It’s been really cool following your journeys these past several months since your first post back in March about scouting the EG River for tarpon. It’s a great example to the many out there wanting to up their fishing game — the knowledge and experience doesn’t all come together from a single outing, but put in the time and work, and you’ll get the fish. Congrats!
That’s awesome Alex! JC nailed it in his comment. It’s been really cool watching you target specific species and put it all together.