6/25- Bow to the King! Serious '**** is finally here, oh yeeeeaaaaa! 1/3 baby!
Boattronics
Posts: 5,217 Admiral
Bow to the silver king that is! When the mighty silver king leaps from the water, you better show some respect and bow down! Otherwise, that line is going to be tight when the mighty beast crashes back down into the water, snapping 60lb flouro under it's body like a dry twig!
Can you feel my enthuisiasm? Tarpon fishing is the pinnacle of big game sight fishing in north Florida. There is no fish in the water (besides maybe a marlin) that will test your angling and tackle skills like the majestic tarpon. After being drug around in my kayak last year for nearly two hours, I have had a whole new obbsession for these animals.
Finally, tarpon have shown up on the first coast in numbers that anglers can now target. Our adventure started a couple days ago when long time customer Mark Boyer called me up to ask a few questions about his boat. It wasn't long into our conversation that I changed subjects..... "Dude. The tarpon are here, I know where they are at, and I know how to catch them!" I say to Mark. His response- "Well what are we waiting for?" You see, I knew Mark has done some serious tarpon fishing in the keys, but he hadn't tried targeting them up here yet, so it wouldn't take much for me to bait him in!
We made a plan to target the late afternoon bite, tarpon supper time. I went out during the day and caught some choice baits, a whole live pen full of perfect 6-8" mullet at one of my honey holes. Mark scooped me up about 4:30, and we rounded the jetties about 5 'o clock. Perfect time to crack open a tall Budwieser!
Somehow, within 15 minutes of leaving the jetties, in gnarly conditions with storms overhead and waves crashing over the bow of Marks Shearwater flats boat, we had spotted our quarry. The usual tactics quickly went down, a freelined mullet on a heavy spinner, a floated mullet on a heavy spinner, (all baits with 6/0 circle hooks) and a new to me trick (big shout out to Rusty at B&M, I love you man!) two bottom rigs each with 15' of 60lb flouro leaders, attached to the main line with a uni splice, with a 6 ounce bank sinker tied on with a rubber band at the line splice.
Sure enough, after only having the baits down a few minutes, WHAM! The heavy bottom rod bends over and the drag begins to scream! FISH ON!!!!!!!!!! Mark grabbed the pole and I cleared the other lines, and the mighty fish began it's typical leaps. It didn't take too long on heavy tackle, and Mark had broke it's spirits. He was now doing circles around the boat and I tried a couple times to grab the still green fish, but he wasn't having it. Finally, I had a death grip on the fish and we could film the glorious release.
Click on the videos to watch-
And finally, a healthy release! You can see how gnarley it was out there when a wave crashes over the gunnel, but I wasn't going to let go untill the mighty king was ready, and she swam off strong!
Like I said, this was 15 minutes into our trip! It wasn't long untill we had another one on, but popped off almost as soon as a blazing run began.
Then, perhaps the biggest fish that's ever been hooked on my 30-50lb class Trinidad/Crowder combo starting melting off line! Even on the heaviest tackle, with heavy drag engauged, there was no stopping this absolute monster! It all happened so fast, the fish had nearly spooled some 500 yards of braid before we could clear the other lines and begin a chase. We tightened the drag to try and slow the fish, and POW! The line snapped as the 200lb class fish revealed his self in one last display.
With now broken hearts, we continued to fish. As it got dark, we continued to catch bull reds under the pods, but no more tarpon to be found. Here is some pics and video of that, you can see I'm still like a kid in a candy store when double hook-ups occur-
A couple of the bulls-
Carefull releases as always-
After repairing so many lightening damaged boats, I don't play around with fire in the sky. Lightening started crashing down near us, which cut our trip short, bummer, cause we were into some serious action!
Back at the ramp, I snapped some pics of Mark's gorgeous boat, along with my sweet work. We outfitted it a year or so ago with all the latest and greatest from Lowrance and a awesome stereo system consisting of Rockford Fosgate components-
Awesome HDS10 display-
Rocking audio by Rockford Fosgate-
Two transducers work as one to make the side/down scan imaging possible, which at times looks like a photo of the bottom!-
Tarpon candy in the wells-
And that sums up another fishing adventure with Boattronics, hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading! The tarpon are here, go get 'em! Expect more tarpon reports as soon as I can find time in my busy schedule! Untill then, tight lines!
Can you feel my enthuisiasm? Tarpon fishing is the pinnacle of big game sight fishing in north Florida. There is no fish in the water (besides maybe a marlin) that will test your angling and tackle skills like the majestic tarpon. After being drug around in my kayak last year for nearly two hours, I have had a whole new obbsession for these animals.
Finally, tarpon have shown up on the first coast in numbers that anglers can now target. Our adventure started a couple days ago when long time customer Mark Boyer called me up to ask a few questions about his boat. It wasn't long into our conversation that I changed subjects..... "Dude. The tarpon are here, I know where they are at, and I know how to catch them!" I say to Mark. His response- "Well what are we waiting for?" You see, I knew Mark has done some serious tarpon fishing in the keys, but he hadn't tried targeting them up here yet, so it wouldn't take much for me to bait him in!
We made a plan to target the late afternoon bite, tarpon supper time. I went out during the day and caught some choice baits, a whole live pen full of perfect 6-8" mullet at one of my honey holes. Mark scooped me up about 4:30, and we rounded the jetties about 5 'o clock. Perfect time to crack open a tall Budwieser!
Somehow, within 15 minutes of leaving the jetties, in gnarly conditions with storms overhead and waves crashing over the bow of Marks Shearwater flats boat, we had spotted our quarry. The usual tactics quickly went down, a freelined mullet on a heavy spinner, a floated mullet on a heavy spinner, (all baits with 6/0 circle hooks) and a new to me trick (big shout out to Rusty at B&M, I love you man!) two bottom rigs each with 15' of 60lb flouro leaders, attached to the main line with a uni splice, with a 6 ounce bank sinker tied on with a rubber band at the line splice.
Sure enough, after only having the baits down a few minutes, WHAM! The heavy bottom rod bends over and the drag begins to scream! FISH ON!!!!!!!!!! Mark grabbed the pole and I cleared the other lines, and the mighty fish began it's typical leaps. It didn't take too long on heavy tackle, and Mark had broke it's spirits. He was now doing circles around the boat and I tried a couple times to grab the still green fish, but he wasn't having it. Finally, I had a death grip on the fish and we could film the glorious release.
Click on the videos to watch-
And finally, a healthy release! You can see how gnarley it was out there when a wave crashes over the gunnel, but I wasn't going to let go untill the mighty king was ready, and she swam off strong!
Like I said, this was 15 minutes into our trip! It wasn't long untill we had another one on, but popped off almost as soon as a blazing run began.
Then, perhaps the biggest fish that's ever been hooked on my 30-50lb class Trinidad/Crowder combo starting melting off line! Even on the heaviest tackle, with heavy drag engauged, there was no stopping this absolute monster! It all happened so fast, the fish had nearly spooled some 500 yards of braid before we could clear the other lines and begin a chase. We tightened the drag to try and slow the fish, and POW! The line snapped as the 200lb class fish revealed his self in one last display.
With now broken hearts, we continued to fish. As it got dark, we continued to catch bull reds under the pods, but no more tarpon to be found. Here is some pics and video of that, you can see I'm still like a kid in a candy store when double hook-ups occur-
A couple of the bulls-
Carefull releases as always-
After repairing so many lightening damaged boats, I don't play around with fire in the sky. Lightening started crashing down near us, which cut our trip short, bummer, cause we were into some serious action!
Back at the ramp, I snapped some pics of Mark's gorgeous boat, along with my sweet work. We outfitted it a year or so ago with all the latest and greatest from Lowrance and a awesome stereo system consisting of Rockford Fosgate components-
Awesome HDS10 display-
Rocking audio by Rockford Fosgate-
Two transducers work as one to make the side/down scan imaging possible, which at times looks like a photo of the bottom!-
Tarpon candy in the wells-
And that sums up another fishing adventure with Boattronics, hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading! The tarpon are here, go get 'em! Expect more tarpon reports as soon as I can find time in my busy schedule! Untill then, tight lines!
Tony Eden-
Certified, licsensed and insured, Marine Electronics and rigging master, and "Dream boat" build winner with 20 years of professional experience.
Boattronics.net
Over 80 seperate, recent reviews from captains on this forum-
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?5295-Recent-Boattronics-reviews!
Please call with any questions or a free estimate for the lowest price/best work available!
904-545-1270
Certified, licsensed and insured, Marine Electronics and rigging master, and "Dream boat" build winner with 20 years of professional experience.
Boattronics.net
Over 80 seperate, recent reviews from captains on this forum-
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?5295-Recent-Boattronics-reviews!
Please call with any questions or a free estimate for the lowest price/best work available!
904-545-1270
Replies
Mark, Sweet Ride!! Your boat makes me tingly in my dingly
Keep the reports comin
Helluva day man, appreciate the good detail in your reports
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuoEhL9E-Fzwygo1YMUGE0w
Hells yeah! I can't wait to chase one down on the skidoos.... when are we going?
Thanks, and good luck brotha! They are finally here in targetable quantities, go get you some!
Thanks a lot for the kind words Mark, always a blast with you! We gotta get that pretty boat back out soon, the tarpon are calling......
Thanks Greg! We whooped him on heavy tackle, I tried to lip it 3 or 4 times before he was finally ready. How about the waves crashing over the side of the boat, made for a more dramatic scene..... man I love to see that fish kick away strong!
Thanks brotha Mark!
Thank you very much for the kind words, it's replies like that that make me want to post more often! There's an old fogie or two around here that hate on me for slipping a sweet boat pic in but I know most of you love it all!
Choppy? Thats funny! Good luck with the amp, you are very welcome. (See Mr.Hater, you know who you are, most folks appreciate a little "techie talk" every now and then.)
Thank you very much my friend!
Thank you very much! I really do try, unlike some others here on this forum that just want to call someone out. I'm glad most of you appreciate my efforts, I love you guys!
And incase any of you missed it earlier, I want you to try Rusty's breakaway rig for tarpon. We had all three hookups on this rig, even though we had freelines and floats in the water, that never got touched! Again, it was a 15' 60lb flouro leader, attached to the main line with a uni to uni splice, or for extra confidence, tie a bimini on your main line first, then attach a bank sinker at the line splice with a rubber band, so it breaks away as soon as the tarpon takes it leaving you able to wind the entire leader up. It's an awesome rig and one that has now found residence in my bag of tricks.
I can't wait to get back out there!
Certified, licsensed and insured, Marine Electronics and rigging master, and "Dream boat" build winner with 20 years of professional experience.
Boattronics.net
Over 80 seperate, recent reviews from captains on this forum-
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?5295-Recent-Boattronics-reviews!
Please call with any questions or a free estimate for the lowest price/best work available!
904-545-1270
Certified, licsensed and insured, Marine Electronics and rigging master, and "Dream boat" build winner with 20 years of professional experience.
Boattronics.net
Over 80 seperate, recent reviews from captains on this forum-
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?5295-Recent-Boattronics-reviews!
Please call with any questions or a free estimate for the lowest price/best work available!
904-545-1270
So I guess you won't be reelin in any of our kingfish
Townsend Roofing
26' Angler / 150 Yamaha's
Ha! I'll be very gentle when money is on the line.... but I'd rather gaff anyway, seein how I never miss! We'll let your boy angle.
That is if you ever finish partying in Lousianna and come back so we can fish! You are making me very nervous! It's gonna be hard for me to break during the week before I finish this hydrographic survey vessel..... tons of work with a deadline approaching! We might have to fight the weekend warriors!
Certified, licsensed and insured, Marine Electronics and rigging master, and "Dream boat" build winner with 20 years of professional experience.
Boattronics.net
Over 80 seperate, recent reviews from captains on this forum-
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?5295-Recent-Boattronics-reviews!
Please call with any questions or a free estimate for the lowest price/best work available!
904-545-1270
Certified, licsensed and insured, Marine Electronics and rigging master, and "Dream boat" build winner with 20 years of professional experience.
Boattronics.net
Over 80 seperate, recent reviews from captains on this forum-
http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?5295-Recent-Boattronics-reviews!
Please call with any questions or a free estimate for the lowest price/best work available!
904-545-1270