By Keith Lozott Contributing Writer
Out of nowhere, my twelve year old daughter said she wanted to watch the sunrise from the boat and go fishing!!! I responded, “Excuse me, am I hearing things?”. She never wants to go fishing or on the boat unless it involves the sandbar with a friend. I’ve been able to get her out fishing once or twice, but this trip would be different! The night before she picked out a bathing suit that she thought would be best for fish pics that she could post on social media and send to friends. She went to bed early and woke up at 5 a.m. to get ready. At this point, the pressure was on. I didn’t sleep very well thinking about how to keep her interested.
It was dark out when I hooked the boat up and threw rods and some tackle in for the upcoming action. The sun would be rising during the relaxing ride to a spot that I knew held some jacks, the occasional tarpon, and of course ladyfish to keep the action up. I hoped that would be the case. The ride to the spot was awesome as she said “Daddy, now I know why you like it out here, it’s awesome on the water this time of day”. So far so good! The ride was going perfectly. She noticed the sun rising and popping up over some houses, and when we got to the Roosevelt Bridge the sun was fully up, and she was grinning ear to ear. First part of her plan for the day accomplished!
Now the fishing was hopefully going to go as I prayed it would. When we arrived at the spot that I thought would give us an opportunity to catch something, it had some tarpon rolling along with some other small blow ups on bait. I grabbed a spinning rod rigged with a topwater, hoping she would get a nice explosive hit that excited her and kept her in the game. She made a few casts, not quite as far as you’d like, but she was able get the lure out there, even with her little experience. On one cast, a ladyfish blew the topwater out of the water and she was amazed! I then made a long cast for her and sure enough a 20-25 pound tarpon smashed the lure, and the fight was on. The fish made several jumps and she got it boat side. Just as I sat down to release the fish it made one last leap to free itself and stay off social media. The jump and power the fish displayed blew her away. After that she landed two jacks and a ladyfish. I couldn’t have been a happier man at this point.
There were tarpon rolling all over and I really wanted to stay but my daughter requested a boat ride. I quickly came to my senses; I knew that if I had any chance of experiencing this again, I better put the rods away and take a nice cruise. Spending time with my daughter on the water and watching her smile light up will be etched in my mind forever!!!
Thank you Baby Girl!
Keith Lozott
The Fishing Realto