Chasten Whitfield
In our neck of the woods it’s tarpon time and the season is the best season ever where I come from, Cortez, FL. Some even say tarpon season is better than Christmas! During the week on a pretty strong outgoing tide I was able to scoop a couple of crabs in the pass and keep them in my bait pen fed frequently while waiting for a calm day.
As we know around the Skyway Bridge the weather is just unpredictable and if the winds turn it could just be uncomfortable let alone dangerous. We got the right day and up and out early we headed out with some threadfins. Our first hook up which was near the bridge broke off along with our second. We repositioned our boat a little farther away thinking we could keep the tarpon from using the bridge to break off. Next hook up the fish goes in between the two pilings of the bridge, but this time we motor up to the bridge to get him off on the piling, however, these fish know how to escape! Now we repositioned the boat so that we were fishing a shadow line on the back side of the bridge so if a tarpon hits this time we’re hoping he will go out into the open water rather than going under the bridge against the current. Nope, next hook up same result. These were our only hookups this day. The following weekend, we figured we would try the beach area and as soon as we got there we saw a tarpon free jump all on his own. My mom immediately got two crabs ready and as we got closer we saw a school of tarpon. She throws a crab right on top of them as we are idling away hoping to not spook them. As she opens her bail, she lets the line out to keep from pulling the crab away from the tarpon pod and I hear my mom yelling the line is getting tight and she hands the ride over to my boyfriend Garret who has never caught a tarpon. Garret fought this tarpon for about 45 minutes saying it was the best fight he has ever had. We were actually able to get in the water and revive this beautiful tarpon. It’s absolutely amazing the show that these fish give you when they get hooked. Which in turn makes me now hooked on tarpon fishing!
Check out the video on YouTube of this one Tarpon who took us through the combat zone.
