If you have ever considered chasing the acrobatic, high
flying, daredevil fish some refer to scientifically as Megalops Atlanticus,
while others refer to them as poon, silver king, or just plain ole tarpon, now
is the time. On the west coast of
Florida, June is prime time to get into some giant pods of tarpon. The tarpon migration in the Sarasota, Fl area
is around mid may and is really heating up in June and will last until around
September according to several of the local tarpon guides and anglers within
the area. So when the call came from
Mike McDonald and Rusty Driver that it was time for us to head south and get
into the Suncoast Tarpon Shootout, we couldn’t resist. Jason Austin and I fished this tournament
last year and I was fortunate enough to place second from a kayak, a feat of
luck for the beginner that I was, and we have been waiting and talking about
the tournament on a weekly basis ever since.
On Wednesday, Jason and I packed our bags, loaded the truck,
and started on our way around 6:00pm, we were so excited about seeing another
silver monster tail walk across the water like a porpoise at Sea World, we
didn’t even turn the radio on the entire trip down. Day One Tarpon Air Show
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| Team Kaku captain Jamie Hooks Awards Jason Austin a Kaku SUP 12 Honu |
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| Tarpon below the kayak |
We arrived at the location and met up with Mike, Red Dog,
and Chris Conley(former Ole Miss punter) and we loaded up the boat and were on
our way. I was like a kid on Christmas
Eve, I asked every question to this boat full of well oiled, highly respected,
tarpon extraodaniares, like how long do you let them hold the bait, do you set
it right away or reel it, where in the column do they usually strike, what do
you do when they jump, what patterns are we looking for, how do you handle a
14’ hammerhead attack, do you ever get a double hookup, I asked it all. Remember, this is only my second trip
targeting tarpon, yes I placed second last year, but I’m confident that was a
fluke all the way, and I also landed one in the Everglades four months ago, but
I was fishing snook that day and I am still confused how that one
happened. I wanted to mentally prepare
myself for every possible situation that could present, or at least I thought I
would prepare myself.
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| Manatee |
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| Manatee |
After a 10 minute boat ride we turned the corner into the
pass and there they were, Tarpon rolling everywhere, and of course there were
already 40 boats in play in the area, but in the world of tarpon you learn
quickly that there are no personal boundaries, every inch of water is in play.
We stayed in the area for what felt like eternity, but was likely only 30 minutes. My heart was racing nonstop from the second
the engine cut off, like a boy chasing
his first kiss behind the video games at the local skating rink. From there we cranked up the horsepower and
made our way down the beach, it didn’t take long for Mike to look back and say,”get
ready boys, there they are.”
I jumped up grabbed my rod and threw the trolling
motor over board like it was my boat, I can only imagine what was going through
Mike’s mind as I blindly took control over his vessel. Within minutes I was hooked up, and yep, I
pulled the hook. All those questions I was
asking and they were answering went right out the window. With tarpon and circle hooks, you have to
reel down on them hard, and I don’t mean rod bending, I did that, I mean your
rod tip has to actually be bowed over like it’s about to snap and then after
that you can get in three or four good hook sets like it’s a 12 pound
largemouth or a 50 pound redfish. I was
devastated, but then everywhere I looked I could see pods of tarpon rolling in
every direction and it didn’t take me long to get back into the game. During my self pitty party, Mike was able to
hook up with another silvery  |
| Underwater Manatee View |
beast, and it was on. Mike reeled it down until he couldn’t reel
anymore and then set the hook, wham, bam, thank ya mam, and the show
began. This fish exited the water like
an underwater missle headed to the stars, again, and again, and then on her
third double tandom, triple over step summersault, one and a half backflip, she
spit the hook. Mike was working her too, from the front to
the back, the left to the right, he got in every angling position possible and I
was in aww while taking in every move and every response he had attempting to
counteract the fishes every move, I wasn’t going to lose my next one. Tarpon Air Show #2
Mike quickly said look, throw over there, well when the king
speaks, the servants listen, and before my crab could get inches below the
surface, I said the words,”here we go” and I was hooked up. I reeled down until the drag sounded off and
then I set the hook again and again and again.
All that was going through my mind was mimic Mike, do what Mike did, I
felt like that kid in the early 90s commercial, I wanna be wanna be like Mike.
The tarpon made a short run and allowed me to gain some line on her, and then
it happened, she came out of the water like a bullet, I would have sworn she
was 12 feet long and 700 lbs, later I was informed she was between 140-170
pounds, but I didn’t care, to me she was
a beast even if she was 70 pounds. As
she landed back in the water from her double twist, triple sidewinder,
backwalled barrel role, I thought, I got her, I got her, I made it through the
aerial show and she is still on the end of my line. Then I heard her summon me
from the depths, “Negative Ghost Rider” and at about that time she came back
up, and this time she pulled a fast one, she went straight up and shook her
head back and forth so fast it became a blur, she didn’t spin, she didn't twist, she didn’t flip,
in the Olympics she would have been scored a 0.001 for her performance, but
what she did with that not so colorful headshake was throw my hook. I was like, my line broke, Mike chuckled and
said no it didn’t, she threw it. As I
reeled in my empty hook, there was no pity party to be had, I was so stoked I
couldn’t find a reason to be upset.  |
| Actual Picture of us |
Mike immediately cranked the trolling motor on high to catch
up with the pod, and when we got in front of them we all cast our lines, if our
lines were lighted it would have looked like a hundred dollar firework
exploding in every direction, 5 people
on a 17 foot flats boat is a tight squeeze to say the least, thankfully almost
the entire boat was deck.
In the back
corner of the boat, sitting in the shadows came the subtlest yet excited voice,
it was Jason, “I think I’m” and before he could get “on” out of his mouth the
reel started screaming, and I mean
screaming, this was a big fish, and she was making a run to the Swollfest
tournament in Grand Isle, la. She never
let up, she didn’t twist, she didn’t turn, she didn’t jump, it was like in the
movie Prison Break when the guard said, “we gotta runner,” and just like in the
movie unfortunately, during that run she was able to spit the hook and maybe,
just maybe, made it to Swollfest in time.
Minutes later, Mike hooked up again, that’s 5 hook ups within 30 minutes, but this time Mike had
this fishes number, or at least we thought.
He fought her through thick and thin, jumps, twirls, flips, runs,
everything. At one point the fish appeared to have given up and even laid on
her side along the side of the boat like it was all over with, but in the blink
of an eye she took off again, this time she ran out about 50 yards and began
her display, after two jumps, she did the famous tail walk, and during her
stroll on top of the water she began that head shake that I had witnessed just
20 minutes earlier and then it happened, she spit the hook after a nearly 15
minute battle. Tarpon 5 Anglers 0
After this fish, we decided to call it a day, after all we
haven’t slept in over 30 hours. After
visiting tackle shops for more crabs and intel we headed back to Mikes to
relax. With all that was running through
my mind I couldn’t help but get up and go back on the water, alone. I sabki’d my own bait and started my search,
I came across one pod of tarpon but they weren’t biting, at least they weren’t
biting the freshly caught Threadfins I was using. So, I decided to target a smaller fish and
within minutes and the sun going down I landed a Spanish Mackeral on a shrimp
creole colored Matrix Shad. I loaded up
the yak and took my hour drive back to Mikes, and sat up with Jason discussing
the next days tactics.
As 4 a.m. rolled around Jason and I jumped in the truck and
headed to the beach. As we arrived I learned that my live well wasn’t working
properly and I had to hand fill it with enough water to keep the crab alive, I
also left the power on just in case it decided to change its mind and start
working, as it has done in the past.
Within 30 minutes the first pod of tarpon showed up, as I stealthily
approached I suddenly realized I was in the middle of the pod, and as I was
rearing back to cast, my confused live well decided it wanted to be a part of
the game, and it let out the most awful squealing sound you could imagine. The  |
| Tarpon Everywhere |
tarpon erupted around and beneath me like
I was peeing on a buddy from the top bunk.
It was mania in every direction except in the direction of my crab. Fortunately Jason was a quarter mile behind
me and was able to hook up with one of them until it made a quick run and broke
his braided line. After a couple more
hours, we decided to call it quits and go get ready for the captains meeting
and the tournament the next. Playing With Some Snook
Tournament morning we arrived at the launch spot and hit the
water about 5:45 a.m. with a safe fishing light of 6. After a 20 minute paddle and the sun
beginning to break over the horizon, we could see flashes of what looked
like white caps surrounding us. Jason
quickly yelled out, “its tarpon, they are everywhere.” We had  |
| The Battle Begins |
just peddled right into a pod of poon
that was without question larger than the size of a football field. With a quick look at the time and a
confirmation that we were safe to fish, Jason and I immediately cast our lines
out. Within seconds, I heard the sound
of a squealing reel along with a squealing voice, “Fish On…..Fish On.” Jason
was on. As I grinned from ear to ear, I
reeled my line in to avoid getting tangled in Jason fish. As I casted out immediately in another
direction, I grabbed the camera and held it close. 
This fish was pulling Jason’s kayak around so
fast I thought he was gettting up on a plane.
It pulled him 50 yards in one direction and then spun him around to head
100 yards in the other direction, line was ripping, the fish was jumping, and
Josh Maitland and I sat there and watched in envy that it wasn’t us, but in
excitement that it was Jason. After
10-20 minutes, Jason had the fish yak side and was holding the leader. In this tournament all you have to do is get
a leader touch release to consider it a catch, that and a picture or confirmed
outside witnesses. 
As Jason is
screaming, ”I got the leader, I got the leader,” I dropped everything trying to
make it up close enough for a solid picture.
You could see the fish at this point swimming alongside the kayak and
Jason grinning like a little girl that just got her first kiss. As I was fumbling around to get situated,
apparently the tarpon “snapped into a slim jim,” because as I approached, the
beast took a nose dive below Jason’s kayak and to the other side, nearly
flipping the yak. During this run Jason
had a slight equipment failure, his reel fell off the rod. Now he has a 80-100 pound tarpon running at
mach 10 trying to flip his yak, and he is stranded with a reel in one hand and
a rod in the other. 
As the fish made it
to the end of his run and Jason got his yak turned for another Sarasota sleigh
ride, the acrobat show began, with jump after jump until it finally was able to
throw the hook. It was a leadered catch
& release experience for the ages, and I can assure you that neither Jason,
Josh, nor myself will ever forget.
As the screaming subsided, high fives given, and the
excitement slowed, we called the tournament director to record the
release. We then moved up and down the
coast line in search of more pods, and we found them. We saw well over a thousand tarpon on
tournament day, we saw them rolling, tailing, splashing, swimming below us by
the hundreds, but we couldn’t get another one to bite. At one point we were in the middle of 57
boats on the flats while we were following the pods. We probably saw 10-12 hook ups and only one
fish landed between all the boats. The
Tarpon had moved to the 20 foot depth line, and while we could see them, we
couldn’t get down to them, and if we were lucky enough to get our baits down,
they weren’t biting it. Around 1:00 I
paddled up to Jason and asked if he was ready to call it. Jason quickly replied, “I’m only out here
waiting on you.” With that in mind,
along with my pride sitting at the bottom of the Gulf, I decided it was time to
bow down to the Silver King and call it quits.
At least I wasn’t going home empty handed, after all, I get to travel
with, fish with, and go to the weigh in with a winner and a true hero to this
country, with a story, a timeline, and pictures to accompany it all.
While not placing in a competitive event is always hard for
me to accept, being a part of this experience and being able to document
Jason’s first tarpon release ever, sits higher on my pedestal of accolades than
any first place finish I have ever taken home.
I learned a lot this trip, and I feel more prepared than
ever for next year, and we are already putting our plan in play to revisit the
same waters, but with different strategies that will hopefully yield us both
greater results.
So, while only one of
us gets to come home with the cash, we are both coming home winners. And if your ever looking for a true lesson in
humility, it’s time you try to chase tarpon.
These prehistoric creatures have evolved over the years and adapted to a
way of survival that even when hooked can elude capture time and time again. Believe
me when I say, this is not your typical saltwater species, it is something you have
to experience firsthand if you ever want to get the full story, and a show to
go with it. Sometimes the story can be
put on paper, but with a fish like this, you’re going to have to live the
experience to truly understand what it’s like.
Until next time,
Stay Safe & Catch1
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