The tarpon beat me bad this morning.

[Rik]

I beg forgiveness for my incredibly stupid, rookie mistake. I also beg for a St Croix rod and Quantum Cabo 60 to magically appear in my garage. Yes, this is a tale of woe.

The water was much better then expected this morning. Showed up with the Tarpon 16 expecting to launch in crashing surf but it was not at all a problem. Paddled out a ways, tipped the sabiki with some bits of Gulp and had bait quickly. Sent it out and was soon 'rewarded' with a 20 inch catfish. And this is where the problems began. To get it in quickly, I cranked in the half turn of drag I usually have backed off as I wait for the tarpon to hit.

Got rid of the catfish, caught another bait and sent it out in deeper water to avoid the catfish. Not long after, I was rewarded with big silver going airborne in front of my kayak. Ahhh, I'm thinking to myself, my newly acquired magic touch continues. Two big jumps and I see my float alongside the fish while it is in the air. This one is hooked.

It starts to make that long run striping line so I crank in the 1/2 to 3/4 turn of drag that is normally loosened up to lessen the hard hits by these fish. Then the fight is really on. I saw this fish and it was not big, a 70 pounder. In my mind I'm thankful for a smaller fish but, in my hands, this feels like a 150 pound fish. Strong fighter maybe? It didn't feel right but I had a tarpon on the line and was going to boat it.

It spun me like a top for about 5 rotations and then started going this way and that way, forward and back. You know that down and dirty you're supposed to do to the fish, constantly changing the direction of the pull? The fish was doing that to me. Damn this fish felt a lot bigger than it was.

Then the fateful moment. It started going behind me and then turned and ran perpendicular to the kayak, straight under me. I pulled and pulled on the rod wondering why no drag was being pulled. The fish took my rod right under my boat and levered the rod right out of my hands about 2 seconds before it about flipped me.

Yep, rookie mistake. A costly one at that. After cranking back in some drag on that damn catfish, I never loosened it back up. When the tarpon hit, I cranked in more drag and found myself in a bad spot but not able to figure it out in that first 5 minutes of madness.

In absolute shock, I watched $400+ of rod and reel disappear quickly. Paddled around a bit hoping for the fish to settle down and maybe I could see the float. Instead, it never settled down but did jump two more times trailing my rod. And then it was gone.

Man, I feel stupid and tarpon gear poor right now.......and that fish kicked my ass.

[justabucup]

It happens to the best of anglers. And this is just proof.

[shamus]

Your wish has been granted. A St. Croix Tis80hf with a Penn 560 is waiting for you. In the immortal words of Bob Barker "Come on down".

[Manning]

I witnessed the whole thing and there is really not much that I can add to what Rik said. It was sad to see happen, but the way the fish ran under his kayak right at about his hip he had little leverage to resist.

On a brighter note two tarpon were boated today. DaveR caught one that we estimated in the 80 lb range and I finally caught my first one. DaveR and Noles estimated it at about 70 lbs. which I think was the perfect size for my first one. DaveR said that I had it to the boat in under 15 minutes so I felt pretty good about the whole thing. I took video of the end of DaveR's fight and will post that later.

Just as I was coming of the water at about 10:30 I saw Noles put one in the air, but it came unbuttoned.

[DaveR]

I was down the beach a ways and Steve was lending Rik a hand so I continued fishing. My phone rings and it's Kato. He said he's pretty sure Rik lost his whole Fu$&(:? rig! Our conversation was interrupted by my drag screaming out so I was then off to the races. Rik was kind enough to lend me a hand, working through his grief. Sorry mate. An expensive lesson. Better that than you capsizing and losing all your shit and worrying about Barnacle too. These fish can put a hurtin on ya.

[Rik]

Congrats Steve! You were overdue to keep on on the hook!

[noles]

Something for you to remember the rod & reel by:

[Rik]

My hat! I didn't have my lucky hat on!

[ZeroSix]

That sucks Rik. Sorry for the loss. You are proof positive that you can never be too experienced to not make mistakes.

Congrats to Steve and Dave though.

North was interesting this morning - no one could find bait. There were half dozen of us on the water at around 5:45 and I do not think anyone had bait worth talking about until 7:30 or better. Though morning.

Not sure about Tommy as his radio was tits up but Heywood jumped one and I two but nothing to the boat.

Walt's brother-in-law did fight a nice fish to the boat around 8 or so.

Refitting gear to chase snook off honeymoon island this afternoon.

Report to follow.

Joe

[Rik]

Not sure about Tommy as his radio was tits up ....

Must be a military thing. In my book, tits up, or in any direction, ain't a bad thing.....

[Heywood]

Tits up is bad, very bad.


"Why dont you get yourself a real boat"

Idiots.



Congrats to everyone today.

[EZYLYF]

My hat! I didn't have my lucky hat on!

I have a hat for you!

[BigFlyReel]

"Why dont you get yourself a real boat"

Idiots.

In-effing-deed.

Today was my first time off the beach. I was off the water by 9 thanks to my wife passing along her GI bug, and having to get home for honey-dos. Great to see Walt's BIL's fish in the air off my bow. Had one roll on my bait and sink the float, but no joy.

Looking forward to the next time!

[BigFlyReel]

<moment of silence for the gear>

Well, at least you didn't just drop it into the water as I've had clients do with mine...

[Manning]

North was interesting this morning - no one could find bait.

Bait was pretty hard to find down our way also today. The ying to that yang was that a couple of us caught catfish on our sabikis. Just what I didn't need.. a slimed sabiki rig.

[Urban Legend II]

Condolences for the gear.....