April 23, 2015 Report (Tarpon)

Kyle and his wife Liz were in town from VT and booked a last minute tarpon trip so off in the dark we ran in order to get into a good morning bite and be back at the marina before the crazy Sunday boaters hit the water. As we pull in to the morning's tarpon spot we see fish rolling around. A bit later Liz's bait goes down and she's on a tarpon! She reels to come tight to the fish and there is no tension. HUH? We reel in the bait and it's half eaten, the tarpon never got the hook in it's mouth. Geeze! A while later the other rod goes off and Liz is on a big tarpon jumping and tail walking right towards her! She reels in the slack, the fish comes a few feet from the motor and makes a long run. After a brief battle she hands the rod to Kyle and he fights the fish for the balance of the hour long fight. The tarpon dragged us about 3/4 of a mile from where we hooked up and soon I see a big bull shark near the boat. In an effort to save the tarpon we put max pressure and get the leader release on Kyle's first tarpon and try to drag the fish back to a flat away from the big shark. Unfortunately, 5 minutes after the leader release the shark obliterates the 150lb tarpon so close to the boat we could have grabbed its dorsal fin! It was a very exciting but very sad ending to see this fish lost to a shark. You never know what to expect in Miami!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409