Interesting morning- more Tarpon torment.

I couldn’t sleep last night so I was on the beach for 3.30am.  Throwing a chunk of Ballyhoo into the gulley for a Snook seemed a great idea to kill an hour or so before I met up with Robert. About 5 minutes later I realised it wasn’t so clever. I settled in for what was a sweaty 45 minutes wrestling with what I guessed was a Stingray. I had made up a wire trace in case I connected with a Shark of some description but I had forgotten about these. It was brutal on my travel rod which was in danger of breaking. After 4 attempts I got it over the lip of the gulley an on to the beach dodging the flailing tail in the process before gripping it with my Leatherman. This was about the best solution I could come up with. Getting the hook out and getting it back without doing myself some harm was interesting. Won’t be doing that again in hurry….

Probably knocking on for 30 pounds a Southern Stingray, it was about 8 inches deep in the middle. If I put a bait out again it will be under a wine bottle cork, that might avoid a repeat.


I met up with Robert but he decided to wait for a Russian fly fisherman he had spoken to yesterday. I headed off to meet up with the security guard on the jetty. His palm had been greased so it was now Tarpon time. As I peered over the side into the shadows I could see about 8 fish, two of them were out of my league but I thought a few might be manageable. The GOPRO was on, the circle hook was baited and the stage was set but my knees were like jelly. They were wary but definitely interested. They could smell it and see it but I could tell they had been there before. It started to get interesting when 4 of the fish were close together and it looked like the competition was working in my favour. One of the fish sort of flexed itself turned and took the bait. I wound down and I felt the hook briefly catch but the bait popped out, gutted again. Having watched the video I didn’t strike and did exactly what I’ve down before with circles, it just didn’t get  a grip, possibly as I was more or less directly above the fish. I have one decent J hook, might be worth a try in similar circumstances.

Here is the moment in a still from grainy video imagery, I’m about 10ft up and that’s a big fish.

I then changed to a popper and one fish stalked it before fading away. If I can sort out a livebait either a crab or a fish I think it will be a more confident take.

Not much happened for a while so I changed lures and moved around looking for some action. I spotted 4 Bonefish and gave a wave to another angler who was fly fishing nearby; we had a few casts at them without a reaction. The other angler was Sean from Michigan. He returned the favour, he spotted a Snook and I cast my crab pattern in front of it twice and got two follows. The three of us walked the beach with not much to show for it. I had a couple of nips from what felt like small fish and then I had a proper take, thought it was another Bonefish as it fought really well. The drag was pretty light as I was now on an 8 pound leader, the first two runs were super quick and I got half the fight on video.

No idea at the moment, couldn’t hazard a guess. ( now ID'd as a Mojarra) I’ve not came across anything like it. A big eye tells me it’s a predator; the mouth is extendable presumably for sucking up crabs and shrimps. It’s an interesting fish this one. I’m wondering what else I can pick up casting along the gutter with a crab pattern…..

These are from Wave , tapped across the sand they look good, might try them in the dark cast about 2/3ft out and along the beach. After seeing that big Snook yesterday I suspect these and a lot of the predatory  fish just run the lip on the parts of the beach with the right gradient looking for entering or exiting crabs. The towels were on the sun lounger for 8.30am, not the worst morning I've had.