Capt Bob
04-18-2007, 09:03 PM
it was so absolutely gorgeous today, warm with a mild breeze, I decided to go across the street and bail up a bucket of lively ones for the next few days and see if I could nail another nice Snook from the group thats been patrolling the canal lately, so I pull up one of my neighbors chairs aand proceed to bail my pinfish and put one out under a float on one of my Tarpon rods as the Tarpon are showing up in big numbers and some are flat out huge. So I'm looking out to sea over the flats as the water is starting to cover the exposed areas and I watch a Pelican make a really cool wheeling curving dive into the water, he comes up and is swallowing his fish when he disappears in a huge splash! Not another sign....just GONE>>>>>
So I'm watching my float alot more intently now....and tossing Pinfish into my live bucket on a pretty regular basis, fed one to the resident Green Moray who likes to watch me fish, he's a nice guy about 5 ft long but really non aggressive.
My float goes down and I set up and its a 'cuda about 30 in long, SHARK BAIT,,,toss him behind me and put out another pinfish still looking for that Tarpon or Snook...about 15b minutes goes by and my Pinfish starts going nuts all over the canal...there's Mullet everywhere ( of course my cast net is across the street in my truck) suddenly a large wake chases my float and it heads seaward at about mach 3...I'm thinking TARPON!!!!!...but wait...no jumps to throw the hook...so I lean into the hook set and a Torpedo goes airborne...biggest 'Cuda I've ever seen much less hooked, I'm thinking this is gonna be a 2 second fight he's gonna chew thru my 80# mono leader in a second and be gone....wrong again kemosabe....don't know how long it took but I worked up a good sweat and he's on his side dockside glaring at me with his cold eyes and gleaming teeth just waiting to get a chunk of me.. and my 9/0 hook is planted firmly in the corner of his mouth...used my gaff to pull the hook ( my hands were not going any where near that mouth) and watch this denizen of the flats slip out into the canal...I don't know how big he was but he was bigger around than my thigh and he reached from the ladder to one of the tie up poles, tomorrow I'm gonna measure that distance, but I'll bet it's every bit of 5 + feet...I quit at dark, and vacuumed the small cuda for shark bait...now it's time for a cold one!!! oh heck make that 2 cold ones.....
So I'm watching my float alot more intently now....and tossing Pinfish into my live bucket on a pretty regular basis, fed one to the resident Green Moray who likes to watch me fish, he's a nice guy about 5 ft long but really non aggressive.
My float goes down and I set up and its a 'cuda about 30 in long, SHARK BAIT,,,toss him behind me and put out another pinfish still looking for that Tarpon or Snook...about 15b minutes goes by and my Pinfish starts going nuts all over the canal...there's Mullet everywhere ( of course my cast net is across the street in my truck) suddenly a large wake chases my float and it heads seaward at about mach 3...I'm thinking TARPON!!!!!...but wait...no jumps to throw the hook...so I lean into the hook set and a Torpedo goes airborne...biggest 'Cuda I've ever seen much less hooked, I'm thinking this is gonna be a 2 second fight he's gonna chew thru my 80# mono leader in a second and be gone....wrong again kemosabe....don't know how long it took but I worked up a good sweat and he's on his side dockside glaring at me with his cold eyes and gleaming teeth just waiting to get a chunk of me.. and my 9/0 hook is planted firmly in the corner of his mouth...used my gaff to pull the hook ( my hands were not going any where near that mouth) and watch this denizen of the flats slip out into the canal...I don't know how big he was but he was bigger around than my thigh and he reached from the ladder to one of the tie up poles, tomorrow I'm gonna measure that distance, but I'll bet it's every bit of 5 + feet...I quit at dark, and vacuumed the small cuda for shark bait...now it's time for a cold one!!! oh heck make that 2 cold ones.....