To further the discussion on ladyfish merits vis a vis tarpon, remember that of the three primal relatives, bone, tarpon, and ladyfish, the latter is most rapid-moving open water hunter of them all. Bones graze, tarpon can sit on bottom, slurp, roll, and can hit with vigor on nightime bridges, but ladyfish are far more the unmitigated predator of the three. Witness the times they show up alongside jacks, mackeral, and bluefish. Also, when was the last time you cast at "laid-up" ladies?
Not much! It would kind of be like that long ago, in a galaxy, far,far away a tarpon and mackeral-like fish spawned and voila!, a ladyfish- clumsy, but the idea does hold. It's easy to tell by the way ladyfish feed, they are not lazy. They are aggressive, on the move, and never drive you crazy just rolling and not feeding. It has been my experience to also notice that while tarpon and snook, too, can tolerate horrid water, ladyfish seem to opt for the slightly cleaner more saline waters of beaches and bays. Many years ago, I caught a ladyfish in North Biscayne Bay that was almost 6 pounds on the then-popular Chatillion scale. By the battle of the first run, I thought I hooked a big bone, until I saw the first jump. Heavyweights by their nature make a big splash- John Ruiz, Golotta, the Klitschkos, and Brewster, but I'll stop to think- and you can if you want- what it would be like if Lennox Lewis had to fight a 240 pound Floyd Mayweather. The fact they do not grow bigger than 5 or 6 pounds in no way prevents me from this speculation.
Jan
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