gottafish

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I have always dreamed of catching a tarpon, and have only hooked one once off of a pier. (I was not among the 5% of people who actually get those monsters to the beach.) <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I pulled my kayak out about 5am Sat. 7/19 at <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Navarre</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Beach</st1:PlaceType></st1lace>. Like my 1st try last Sunday, I was only targeting tarpon (used a 7/0 circle hook/100lb mono leader and a lure ready for casting), but Needtofish did catch three 10-15lb throw-back kings. I didn?t even spot a tarpon last Sunday, but did manage to catch a personal best 11lb bonito on one rod and a small shark on the other. Seas were again calm, but dead-calm on this day-water met the sand like a lake-perfect for sight-fishing tarpon.<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Not much happening early, but I did manage to catch a 9lb over-sized redfish at 8am. I had only seen 1 tarpon roll by 9am, so I decided to venture away from the vicinity of the pier down the beach to enjoy the glassy water with no wind to paddle against and beautiful view-Oh, and to hope to see tarpon. <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">At 10am, I saw a tarpon roll on the surface in front of me, but 10 seconds later my rod goes screaming in back of me! :letsparty As the fish is taking out line, I can see that it is a tarpon, but when he jumped, I could see it was a BIG tarpon. A conservative estimate of the 7 footer would be 125lbs, which is about twice the weight of my kayak. Well, he jumped up and spit the hook out. I wish that I could have gotten a picture for you to see, but it is etched on my mind because he jumped clear out of the water in a lateral position about 4-ft above the water-an awesome sight!!! Below is a visual, but just think longer and thicker (about 2.5 ft bellow to back)<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" oreferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><vath o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"></vath><o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"></o:lock></v:shapetype><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">He ate my last frozen LY, so I knew I wanted to catch some <st1lace w:st="on">LYs</st1lace> or threadfin herring. Luckily, I was able to catch (two) foot-long LY?s and a few moonfish. (Do they eat moonfish?) At 11:30am, my same Dale Cecil custom rod goes off and this time, I tried to make sure the line was tight when he jumped. This jump was your typical tarpon skyrocket leap and this one ?only? weighs about 80lbs. At that point, my 100lb leader breaks in half.<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o></o><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">At noon, my other rod starts screaming that had the other LY on it! This one did not jump, so I thought maybe I had a chance of getting this tarpon in!!!! Not a chance, because it was a shark! Not quite as big as the kayakshark that I had landed a month ago, which ended up being the largest fish in the tournament byalmost 30lbs.(See story on previous post that ending up http://pensacolafishingforum.com/fis...0068-36-1.aspx), but still was 5ft long weighing about 50lbs. I got this one to the kayak and just cut the line. By this time, the wind had picked up, and I made my way back. On this memorable day, I also saw 4-5 other tarpon roll, 4 manta rays jumping out of the water and 1 small mako shark jump out of the water and several schools of Spanish Mackerel, which I just enjoyed watching smash the surface rather than straying from my goal of hooking a tarpon in my kayak.

__________________
Hobie Outback (Key Sailing)
'11 GCKFA Tourney 2nd Place King Mack
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Cobia/King Kayak Tournament Winner
'11 GB Optimist Fishing Rodeo 2nd Place Cobia
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB King Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Key Sailing Snapper Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Bluewater Offshore Kayak Tournament 3rd Place King Mack
'11 KBF Red Hot Nights Winner
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Tarpon/King Kayak Tournament Winner
GCKFA Master Kayak Angler

biggamefishr

great report...hopefully you'll get a tarpon soon out of your kayak.

when you say a 2' long LY...are you talking about ladyfish/skipjacks?

kahala boy

I think he meant 2 as in quantity LYs Josh.... at least that's what I think I read later on what hit the bait....

gottafish

Yes, the 2 were both huge LY's.

__________________
Hobie Outback (Key Sailing)
'11 GCKFA Tourney 2nd Place King Mack
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Cobia/King Kayak Tournament Winner
'11 GB Optimist Fishing Rodeo 2nd Place Cobia
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB King Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Key Sailing Snapper Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Bluewater Offshore Kayak Tournament 3rd Place King Mack
'11 KBF Red Hot Nights Winner
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Tarpon/King Kayak Tournament Winner
GCKFA Master Kayak Angler

need2fish

Dang Craig - great post. Wish I could've been out there with you...not that I would've had a shot an any of thosetarpon but I would have loved to see it.

Chris V

Good luck next time. Thats one of my goals this summer as well; to catch a tarpon out of my new O.K. prowler big game. So far I've only had time to fish the backwaters out of it.

__________________

401 Cay

Thats awesome! Stick with it and you will get one to the leader!

true-king

Sweet report! I got jumped and spittwice by twotarpon in my yak last year not two minutes apart! I definately will have do some tarpon fishing in my yak soon. I might come down to navarre beach.

clap

SheYakFishr

Wooohooo... Great post! One day soon... I'm going to get out there... if I can ever leave the 3 mile. lol :bowdown :letsdrink

gottafish

Mark, you told me to post how it went. :letsdrink Sorry you "had" to go on vacation where there isn't an ocean for a couple a thousand miles. I missed you being out there.(You know, so you could have gotten a picture ofmy jumping tarpon like we planned to the previous weekend. :takephoto)

You should have just as good a chance as me of catching one-Maybe we can get out there in a couple of weeks. (I can't go this weekend.) The tarpon should be schooled up pretty good by then-It will be exciting since the big bull, mako and hammerhead sharks may be following them! Anyone up for an adventure!!!

__________________
Hobie Outback (Key Sailing)
'11 GCKFA Tourney 2nd Place King Mack
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Cobia/King Kayak Tournament Winner
'11 GB Optimist Fishing Rodeo 2nd Place Cobia
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB King Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Key Sailing Snapper Kayak Tournament 2nd Place
'11 Bluewater Offshore Kayak Tournament 3rd Place King Mack
'11 KBF Red Hot Nights Winner
'11 Broxson Outdoors NB Tarpon/King Kayak Tournament Winner
GCKFA Master Kayak Angler