Fishing the last week was a little on the salty side. Between the thunderstorms and the scorching sun, I would say it turned out to be a decent trip.
Indian Pass, just a pin tip on the map, but the experience there will last a lifetime. The entire trip was planned well in advance with one thing in mind...Tarpon. If you've never had an encounter with one of these giant fish, then you might want to give it a try. Humbled...that is the only word I can think of.
One week is all we had, and one week is all we got. The fishing was strong, and then the fishing was dead. Back and forth, between the Pass and the Peninsula, we spent our time searching for the massive brute. The Pogies, which I had planned to use as live bait(forgot to ask the baitshop if those treats came in the unfrozen form), were about as elusive as the Tarpon. Although, a thrashing of water would sound their presence, there were times entire schools of bait fish were blown out of the water.
After the many failed attempts to net some of the larger forage, Redfins and Bombers were sent soaring into the water. They were trolled with and without planer boards, by power of Minn-Kota, and also the Suzuki. After talking with one of the local Captains, the cheap plastic would be better off on the heavy trolling gear. When it comes to a good quality rod and reel for Tarpon, go big and spare nothing! If "Mama T" knocks on your door, and you're not prepared for her arrival, she's gonna send you home wimpering!
It didn't take long for the first strike, and man you aint' never heard or seen a strike like this on Lanier. The winner was the all famous B+C Redfin...not at all surprised are you? The sound was deafening, and the salt spray was blinding. It took a short while for the foam to settle and also my rapidly beating heart. The end result was not with a hooked fish, but with a better understanding of the magnitude of these giant scales. The cheap plastic made several more attempts to seduce the Tarpon that day, but all the day ended with was a broken heart, and a bad sun burn.
On the last day(Friday), we gave it one last shot. I had been pondering on leaving early, and heading back to the house, but my wife talked me out of it...I'm glad she did. The Skiff woke us early Friday morning(before sunrise), it was also eager to pudder around the salty flats one last time. We found an entire school of fish about 50 yards off the beach. There were no other boats around at the time, just Seagulls and what we thought were Pelicans. If you didn't know what you were looking at, the giant dorsal fins gliding in and out of the water would look like that of a Porpoise or Shark. That's exactly what a beach dwelling couple had said while we were persuing them...we knew otherwise. Taunting and teasing, that's all we got. Any attempts to send Pinfish or Threadfin into the boils were shielded by the defense of the "Sail Cats."
The sun was as hot as we could remember, and the Captains and other excited anglers were closing in. I decided to throw in the towel and slow troll back to the ramp. One of the lures was sent "shotgun" in efforts to soften the Tarpons attention on the Skiff. With not even a look at the B+C Redfin, I decided to reel in some of the slack...and thats when it happened. The rod made a sudden jolt, so I stopped reeling...silence...DETONATION!!! There she was, around six feet long and six feet out of the water. I screamed at my wife to reel in the other line quick! At that time she was reaching for her camera, she dropped the camera and frantically started reeling. The mega fish then started to peel out line...the reel was screaming...couldn't do anything but hold on! As the big bait-caster, loaded with 65 pd. Calcutta braid, was shreaking helplessly, my thoughts on a landed fish were fading quick while looking at the strans of line on the reel quickly strangling each other, and then...POP!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
The line snapping sounded like a Ruger long rifle firing off. The audience that had gathered quickly faded with the abrupt end of the "Tarpon Tango." Gathering what little pride we had left, we headed back to the ramp..."I give up." The long hours searching for the colossal scaled warrior ended in a tasteful defeat in its salt soaked arena. The entire adventure will slowly fade with time, and condense into a single memory of a 20 second battle. To be continued...
As for a report, St. Joseph Peninsula has Florida Pompano, Trout, Redfish, Spanish Mack. etc... that are biting well. Indian Pass- Tarpon and Triple Tail.
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