Miami Fishing Report 06/14/201 Tarpon
Two long time friends, Will and Greg, found themselves in Miami on business at the same time. Even with invites to watch the Heat finals, these guys decided they would rather go after some Miami Tarpon. My kind of guys! It was apparent from the start they just wanted to relax and enjoy themselves and recount some good stories. And boy they had some funny stories! Not only were these guys entertaining me, but Will could have second career as a comedian and is an incredible impersonator. Usually, part of my job is entertaining the crew but these guys were having so much fun I just kept quiet and listened to book-worthy stories.
On to the fishing… Well I must admit we started slow…really slow and I was beginning to question the results, but neither Will nor Greg seemed discouraged by the non-existent bite. This evening was a complete reversal of the previous day’s charter in which we started out on fire; nevertheless, these guys were having fun catching up and were genuinely happy to be on the water.
At some point, I suggest to the guys, “let’s move over 50 yards” and Greg says, “hold on a minute”. Greg spotted his tarpon and pulled his shrimp just in front of its mouth and twitched it. A silver flash and BAM! Greg gets slammed and we jump into action. I start the motor and we pull a 35lb Tarpon out of the piling, we’re clear…the fight is on. We are all amazed at the power and the jumping ability of the Silver King. We all worked together as a team to reel in lines, clear rods, take pictures and set up for the release. After 15 minutes Greg was able to bring the tarpon to the boat. I reached down and grabbed it by the jaw to assist it in for a picture, but before I could get the Gorilla Grip on the fish, it out powered me and came free of my hand and the hook and the same time. Off the Silver King went without a picture but with a full release we high-fived and thumped our chests.
Not to be outdone, Will gets hot and goes on a 4-bite, unanswered run to take back momentum in the battle of two friends. Will had some incredible fish, some awesome jumps and mano-y-mano tug-of-wars with the King. Will was on fire and we figured it was his little forward twitch and then drop back move that was proving to irresistible to the night tarpon. One of his 4 tarpon was on for a good 15 minutes giving him 6 jumps, then came around the back of the boat and slid under taking off in the other direction. It was a crazy battle and then finally lady luck rewarded the tarpon with a break-off. Another one of Will’s fights was a spectacular jump from a 65 lber followed by a hard tug of war that lasted about 10 minutes. The man was on fire!
Interestingly, the mood changed and the stories slowed. The concentration level on the stern of the boat was 100% and there was a new energy and flow of razz-talking going on back there. I love it when this happens and these guys were dialed in and focused.
I started to lose count of who was hooking up but then it happened again for Greg and boy this was a good one. This time Greg gets hammered and the fish takes off going out the back of the bridge and is not going to slow down. There was no stopping this tarpon and pulling him out to clear water. We had to make a u-turn and chase this one down through the bridge where we thought he may have managed to get us around the pilings. We maneuvered through the pilings and jockeyed around and realized we were free and the tarpon was out in open water. We took off and kept pulling the King away from the bridge. At 50 lbs, this fish had the heart of Rocky Balboa and would not come to the boat. It just kept putting its head down in the 12 knot current and reviving with fresh oxygen. Several jumps in the full moon lit sky and 30 minutes of hard tugging action we were finally able to get this guy to the boat. We boated this one and Greg put the gloves on, lip locked the Tarpon and held him up for a few photos before being released unharmed back into Biscayne Bay. We all slapped hands and Greg lets out “I’m Spent” and Will lets out “yeah baby”…
From this point it was late into the morning and the tide was slowing, but we went back to see if the magic could happen one last time. We did get two more thumps for Will while using his technique but could not get the steel in the mouth for a hook-set.. Anyway we finished the night totaling a flurry of hits eight actual hook-ups with two caught tarpon and I think I have two new friends who want to fish again soon.
