Tarpon?
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 11:16 am
Hey All,
Great board, lots of awesome info.
I'm just getting into kayak fishing. Had the family in Longboat for a week at the start of July. Saw tarpon rolling at the surface, some days I'd see 5 or so, sometimes in pairs, other days I'd see a dozen singles?
I was trying for tarpon, hooked 3 fish landed zero. The first fish never jumped? Is that abnormal for tarpon? I suspect it was a tarpon, the other two jumped. It towed me off shore a long way, fought it for two hours. I was using a rod rated for upto 20lb test, and was using 30 lb braid. That fish hit a dead lady fish under a balloon. I think I did a couple of things wrong. First I let the fish tow me all over the place, and didn't feel that comfortable getting pulled sideways (more drag), and I would catch up to the fish and be over top of it, which I think would put less pressure against the fish than if I was 25 yards behind it. Open to suggestions? Obviously the goal would be to tire the fish out quickly and release it. Are there better areas to fish for tarpon?
Thanks,
Neil
Great board, lots of awesome info.
I'm just getting into kayak fishing. Had the family in Longboat for a week at the start of July. Saw tarpon rolling at the surface, some days I'd see 5 or so, sometimes in pairs, other days I'd see a dozen singles?
I was trying for tarpon, hooked 3 fish landed zero. The first fish never jumped? Is that abnormal for tarpon? I suspect it was a tarpon, the other two jumped. It towed me off shore a long way, fought it for two hours. I was using a rod rated for upto 20lb test, and was using 30 lb braid. That fish hit a dead lady fish under a balloon. I think I did a couple of things wrong. First I let the fish tow me all over the place, and didn't feel that comfortable getting pulled sideways (more drag), and I would catch up to the fish and be over top of it, which I think would put less pressure against the fish than if I was 25 yards behind it. Open to suggestions? Obviously the goal would be to tire the fish out quickly and release it. Are there better areas to fish for tarpon?
Thanks,
Neil