After visiting family in South Carolina, my dad and I traveled down to Boca Grande, FL in hopes to hook up with some mammoth tarpon. We met Captain Mark Bennett (http://www.tarponsnook.com) at the dock around 5:30 to head out for the rolling pods of tarpon. Immediately we were surrounded by 30 boats doing the same thing, except Capt. Mark was different.
You could quickly see that most of the fishermen out were, to put it nicely, a bunch of idiots. He moved past the first pod and further out to sea. All of a sudden we see more pods of bigger fish. We tossed some crabs around and finally got our first hook up! Looking around, it was the first out of anyone out on the water. I was up first so I led the fish to the deck of the boat and just held on. It was unlike any other fish. It felt as if I hooked into a Mac truck. it thrashed, darted, ran, dove and thrashed some more. I saw my line straightening out and realized what was about to happen. I just watched in amazement. The famous tarpon jump. It was awesome! I had no idea how big the fish was until that point. It was the size of a person! I wrestled that thing for 20 minutes or so and finally got the leader in. This fish was big. It bumped the boat and took off again. It took about 10 more minutes to bring it back in and shortly before it breached the surface my heart sank. I saw a tarpon leap out of the water, but it was unable to fully. There was a bull shark attached to it. As soon as I saw that I dropped my rod and pouted. That is, until my line shot out again. It wasn't my fish! I pulled it up toward the boat again. Just before it came into sight I felt a thud. "That can't be good." The tarpon comes to the surface with a chunk missing out of its belly and a trail of blood behind it. Only a few seconds later do I see the culprit. Two 12 foot bull sharks come up and carry it to the depths. One of the craziest things I've ever seen. The only thing I have left of the fish, other than some photos, is a scale left floating in the water.
Shortly after, we find out that the other boats that swarmed initially spooked the tarpon down into deeper water and were only rolling occasionally. Not only did they not catch fish, but they ruined it for everyone else. Assholes. But we are venturing out to try our luck tomorrow. Hopefully my dad will be able to get a big one, too. He's an old man and has caught baby tarpon in Puerto Rico once, but he deserves a monster. He worked hard to get here and it's only fair that he shares the experience with me!
Here's the video of the bull shark attack: Bull Shark v. Tarpon
And here's the link to Capt. Mark Bennett's Facebook page. He updates it every day it seems!
UPDATE
Went out again this morning and it was rough weather. We were strolling through a small pass when we marked tons of tarpon on the depth finder. At this point, it was 5:45 so we couldn't even see off the boat. we fished the beach area and found TONS of fish. But today was my dad's turn to catch a fish. Early on, a friend of the captain hooked up and landed one, as did another guide. Finally we got a bite! It took off and we were all convinced the hook set was perfect. It felt otherwise when it jumped and threw the hook. Bummer! We stalked some more pods and hooked up again. The fish immediately jumped. It was a monster of a jump! Sadly, it also threw the hook. After that it took forever to find more fish. They were rolling occasionally, but would stay close to the bottom. We finally spot more rolling, but when we approached, they seemed to vanish. The depth finder said otherwise. First cast we hook up for the third time! Another huge jump, but the hook stays in. Game on! We're going to land this one! Just as we were all thinking it, the tarpon spit the hook under the water. By this time the day was over and we had to call it. That's just the way it goes sometimes which is why it's called fishing, not catching!
Shortly after, we find out that the other boats that swarmed initially spooked the tarpon down into deeper water and were only rolling occasionally. Not only did they not catch fish, but they ruined it for everyone else. Assholes. But we are venturing out to try our luck tomorrow. Hopefully my dad will be able to get a big one, too. He's an old man and has caught baby tarpon in Puerto Rico once, but he deserves a monster. He worked hard to get here and it's only fair that he shares the experience with me!
Here's the video of the bull shark attack: Bull Shark v. Tarpon
And here's the link to Capt. Mark Bennett's Facebook page. He updates it every day it seems!
UPDATE
Went out again this morning and it was rough weather. We were strolling through a small pass when we marked tons of tarpon on the depth finder. At this point, it was 5:45 so we couldn't even see off the boat. we fished the beach area and found TONS of fish. But today was my dad's turn to catch a fish. Early on, a friend of the captain hooked up and landed one, as did another guide. Finally we got a bite! It took off and we were all convinced the hook set was perfect. It felt otherwise when it jumped and threw the hook. Bummer! We stalked some more pods and hooked up again. The fish immediately jumped. It was a monster of a jump! Sadly, it also threw the hook. After that it took forever to find more fish. They were rolling occasionally, but would stay close to the bottom. We finally spot more rolling, but when we approached, they seemed to vanish. The depth finder said otherwise. First cast we hook up for the third time! Another huge jump, but the hook stays in. Game on! We're going to land this one! Just as we were all thinking it, the tarpon spit the hook under the water. By this time the day was over and we had to call it. That's just the way it goes sometimes which is why it's called fishing, not catching!