Big Tarpon Time ! ...

Springtime has definitely come to SOFLA and the tarpon push is on. The water in north and south Biscayne Bay has edged into the seventies- at least for now. March in Miami does feature cold fronts, but they are more of wind event versus a temperature-dropping event.

One of the reasons my stories and reports have waned during the last few weeks is in fact, my near-rabid pursuit of the silver kings. I've been fortunate enough to have landed three fish from 80 to 120 pounds in as many weeks. They were caught on either 10 or 12-pound class tackle. The baits for these gamesters were determined by how and where they were feeding- a white bucktail tipped with shrimp, a live shrimp, or in the case above, strips of kingfish bellies.

As to the possibly indiscrete and unfashionable nature of my hero pose, some comments are in order. It would have been hard to pose the fish in the water unless I grew 12-foot legs. In addition, the most recently-recommended guidelines of the horizontal double-handed under-gripped pose is often a mistake. Anyone who has tried this on a big tarpon ought to admit that a ton of protective slime was lost as well as the possibility of some scales as well. Maybe the fish was even dropped on the deck. Big tarpon simply cannot be posed like the small fish of the Yucatan peninsula. As for the concerns of the viscera-displacing damage of the vertical pose, I seriously doubt a three second event could accomplish this. This tarpon shot off like an oiled banshee when I released it. I never touch any gills, but get a grip AROUND the cheek and throat tissue; and the remaining two fingers are placed under the gill plate. I brace my wrist, as 80 pounds is a big load for that thin connection between hand and arm. I noticed that this tarpon seemed far more well-constructed than people.

Some words are in order about tarpon size and the angler's experience. If you are told small tarpon up to twenty pounds do the same things as big tarpon, you'd better reconsider that remark thoroughly. Fighting a big tarpon is an epic experience that is totally different than battling a small fish. You often wind up releasing your fish very far away from where you hooked it. The 100-pounder I released today was hooked off the north Coconut Grove and released 1 mile south of downtown Miami- this battle was spread over two miles! This fish was caught on 12-pound tackle. If the same tackle were employed catching a 15-pound tarpon in a creek on Tamiami Trail, Grand Cayman, or Chetumal Bay, it's likely the angler would not even have to move, much less the skiff- if there was one! Going to 6 or 8-pound class tackle (whether it's fly, plug. or spin) spices up the battle. Nevertheless, battling a 100-pound tarpon is not the same experience as catching the same species weighing 10 or 15 pounds.

Jan