Fairdeal- Tarpon?

[pstephens46]

do you tarpon fish? I hear they are thick in spots down there now.

[fairdeal]

don't target them, not a good fit for my Attention Deficit Disorder

I did hook one once, under the Bahia Honda bridge
got to see it rocket straight up out of the water - twice.

At the second jump,
it was clear that the fish had cleverly wound the line around the bridge support
and then he broke it off

[Jason2tpa]

As a tarpon fanatic I couldn't resist chiming in. I live for May, June & July...targeting poon's where I live (Tampa) during the week, then heading down to Boca Grande on the weekends. The photo below was sent to me a few days ago. That's the bottom of Boca Grande Pass. And as you can see at the bottom left, depth is 56ft. Poons are stacked 20ft up from the bottom. Incredible.

[boscoe99]

I was fishing for speckled trout once upon a time using an ultralight rod, six pound test monofiliment, casting a curly tail grub. In maybe four feet of water. A damn tarpon bit the grub, came smoking up out of the water right beside me and threw the lure. Scared the crap out of me. I was in a 14' boat at the time. The tarpon seemed to be the length of the boat. It was a moment to remember.

[Jason2tpa]

That is a good memory to remember. Here's another....some years back in boca grande during tarpon season we were fishing about 100 yards off the beach in 15ft of water, top to bottom visability. We spot a very tall dorsal fin sticking out of water some 80-100 yards away. We crank up and slowly motor over. As we approached we can see it's a huge hammerhead eating a tarpon. Blood everywhere. As we got right up on him, he submerged to the bottom and remained still for a few moments on our starboard. The length of boat we were in was 18ft. I kid you not, this hammer was the length of the boat. Taking notice of this....it was the very first time in my life I truly felt physically intimidated, despite this goliath being in the water and me in a boat. True story.

[99yam40]

pulled up on a shrimp boat that had just dumped its by catch some years ago and saw a Tiger shark swimming thru eating .
some of the guys decided to see if they could hang it.
I asked what they thought they were going to do but strip their line off or just cut it if they did get it to bite.
some just do not think too well when off shore.
that was a big shark.

I have hooked a poon also years back saw it jump a couple of times before it spit the hook.
strange thing was the fish jumped way away from where the line was running into the water and in a different direction

[Jason2tpa]

pulled up on a shrimp boat that had just dumped its by catch some years ago...

Shrimp boats are a very common sight when fishing in the Gulf, and they're usually *****ing not to far offshore. When I see a shrimp boat on the horizon I make a bee-line right to it. All sorts of species of fish follow these boats all day and night, waiting for a free meal. Little do they know the free meal I'm presenting to them is held in place by a hook. Winner for dinner.

[boscoe99]

Rumor has it that most shrimp boats will trade tons of shrimp for a case or two of beer. Any truth to that rumor?

[fairdeal]

there are still a few shrimp boats working around Key West - but I don't get down that far - on water.


My target species is wahoo - but rarely successful.
Usually just tuna - skipjack, blackfin, Little Tunny and mahi

here's a photo from yesterday:

(btw - the F225txrd has just gone past 2000 running hours! )

[rodbolt17]

one day, I will be back fishing the rio chico system in venezuela again. you can set the hook over 100 times a day. as the water is shallow they have no where to go but up.

[99yam40]

Rumor has it that most shrimp boats will trade tons of shrimp for a case or two of beer. Any truth to that rumor?

not a ton, but use to pick up shrimp from time to time.
depends on how long they have been out on the water and who owns the boat

[Jason2tpa]

Rumor has it that most shrimp boats will trade tons of shrimp for a case or two of beer. Any truth to that rumor?

Some truth....definitely is an unequal trade though, as beer to most deck mates is worth it's weight in gold.

[99yam40]

slant eyes would not trade or you could not get the idea across
as long as it was one of a fleet ,( not one owned by the captain) you could usually get some trading done
some would want whisky, some cheap beer, and some were particular about what beer.
we just kept some 12 packs not iced down stowed away in case we found someone willing to trade.
the hand off was interesting some times tho