Part III Port St Lucie
With a few days left of our trip, I spent the last early mornings fishing solo in the Jon Boat. My one and only goal: Tarpon…….and then maybe snook. I had recalled several years earlier seeing thick mullet getting hammered by Tarpon one day, when we didn’t have a vessel small enough to stalk them in the calm water. Our first revisit to this same location (our first day to our grandparents) resulted with my hooking a small alligator on topwater, then shortly afterwards jumping a 30 lb tarpon that shook the plug on the 2nd jump. The fish were nowhere near as thick as I had remembered, but the mullet were in there by the hundreds of thousands. A couple lazy rolling tarpon were the only indication they were around..but very sparse. My guess was that we were still a few weeks early before the tarpon really “found” the bait.
As my trip was nearing a close, I woke up early after a thunderstorm and took the SeaArk back to the same flat. On the glassy water, I could see an occaisional gulp from the tarpon. When you tried to use the trolling motor to draw near…they would disappear, then gulp about 100yds further away from you than the last time. I decided to troll so far, then let the tide draw me nearer to the fish, as I patterned their movements. I began to think that casting was hopeless. Then a great fish suddenly surfaced and took chase to my fly. He ate and missed three times before I stuck him. The battle was awesome, somersaults, cartwheels, and rattling gills. I chased him around the bay for about 20 minutes, as he tried to stay under the boat. Couple girls on a jet ski stopped by and helped me take photos...probably around 50 lbs. My knuckles were scarred and my fly was bent as I tried to free it from his dense sandpaper crushers on the roof of his mouth. I will not forget it.
I returned the next day for the same type of morning. Same scenario—hopeless feeling as fish stayed well out reach. Then an unexpected nearby gulper---cast, strip----WHAM! Jumps, runs and splashes for nearly 2 solid minutes. I tried to video the action, but lost him on a backflip where I did not bow properly. As the sun burned off the morning I landed a 30 lber (no pics) while blind casting in the windy choppy water. He shook off as I grabbed his lower jaw.
Photos:
Tarpon are very Slimy
Here’s a video (poor man’s GoPro) as I tried to film the fish with my beltclipped camera. I was a bit excited—sorry for the shakes.
The morning I had to leave..all packed up at the house, I decided to try the Ft Pierce Jetty on a strong outgoing tide at 5:00 AM before sunrise. In about 30 minutes before sun up, I managed to hook and land 3 nice snook on topwater---they were busting like crazy until the sun rose..then nothing.
Only big problem….RATS! Everywhere in the rocks—I must have spotted 40 of them in less than one hour. You could see them scurrying across the parking lot in packs of 3-6. Freaky! And on the concrete sidewalk—Giant roaches! It was like an Indiana Jones movie when they start playing the creepy music. Both disappeared at sunup—Thank God.
I took a few shots of the fish with the auto timer, then it was time to pick up Crystal and head home to Tennessee---yearning more than ever to return again for those tarpon.
A few other Florida sights:
Sorry this was so long winded guys….I do these posts more as an archive for myself in a journal. Hope you enjoyed it.
Travis
