Win or Lose – Tarpon Fishing
For some reason most of my fishing mishaps have something to do with a tarpon. These guys are so unpredictable that you never know what’s going to happen. One of my favorite things to do used to be catching juvenile tarpon out of the South Florida canals from my canoe. It was a simple enough process, I would paddle along until I saw a fish roll and pitch a bait on the swirl; most of the time the bite would soon follow. On this particular day I was fishing with my brand new Abu Garcia bait casting combo that I had finally saved the money to purchase and I was ready for action. It didn’t take long to find my first fish. I eased into position and placed the perfect cast just after the fish gave away his position. With a quick bite I wound tight and jabbed back to set the hook. “Game on” I though as the 15 pound fish screamed across the canal and came up for a head shake. No sooner than I thought that I had the upper hand the fish turned and came right for the boat and with one leap cleared the canoes low freeboard and flopped right onto the deck! This was not how I saw this whole thing playing out, but in the excitement I managed to flip the canoe and both the fish and I went overboard. It all happened so fast that I still see it as a blur, but what I do remember is seeing fishing rod sinking slowly, but well within reach. As I grabbed for it the fish came tight and took off, taking my brand new combo with him. Chalk one up for the fish! I had to paddle back with no fish, no rod, and sopping wet in the middle of winter, but what can you do; that’s fishing. To hear more tails of whoppers and mishaps give me a call and let’s put together a fishing trip and until then “catch em up”!