Haulover Canal Tarpon

This morning seemed like a great day to hit Haulover Canal and try for some black drum.

I loaded my heavy surf rods into the back of my truck, stopped at the local bait shop to pick up a half dozen blue crabs for bait, and headed for Haulover.

When I got to the canal the bridge was down so I hit the northwest side and got a spot right at the bridge.

I cut a blue crab in half and put one piece on both of my heavy rigs.  

I was using a 10 foot Tournament surf rod with an Okuma baitrunner reel loaded with 60 pound Power Pro.  

The current was pretty strong so I rigged the 6/0 hook on 40 pound fluorocarbon leader with a 3 oz. sliding sinker to hold bottom.

The other rod is a Penn Fierce III spooled with 30 pound Cajun Red line and the same terminal tackle setup.

I tossed the baits out, set both rods on medium drag and sat down to enjoy the beautiful day.

I immediately spotted a Cormorant swimming under my rods to grab an oyster cracker for lunch.  As I caught him on video I also caught a couple of tarpon busting the surface just under the bridge.  Click on the pics to see a video.

There was a pod of about 7or 8 tarpon in the 80 to 100 pound range rolling on the surface in the area of the bridge for about an hour after I arrived.  

There were a ton of glass minnows in the canal, so I assume that they were chowing down on them.

I briefly thought about trying to hook up with one of them but there wasn't a chance in hell I could have landed one that size from the bank, especially were I was set up.

I continued watching the fishermen on the other side of the canal and a little blue heron that was catching glass minnows for his lunch as I waited for something to bite.

Finally, the baitrunner took off and I tightened up the line to set the hook on the fish.  As soon as I pulled back, I felt the weight of the fish briefly before the fish cut me off on the rocks.

I reeled in the barrel sinker without the hook and snelled on another 6/0 Owner hook.  I baited up with another half of a crab and tossed the bait almost across the canal.

The current was getting stronger than when I arrived and there was a lot of weeds in the canal that were causing problems holding bottom.  

After 5 minutes or so, you had to reel in, strip off the weeds and make another cast.

Finally, I got tired of catching weeds and moved to another spot near the middle of the canal, hoping that the weeds would not be as much of a problem.  Unfortunately, after an hour of removing weeds with only one bite that took my crab, I decided to call it a day and give it up.

I normally fish artificial baits but I do enjoy fishing the canal but when the weeds are this thick, it's too much like work.

I finally packed it in around 5:00 pm and let the tarpon have the canal to themselves.

Till next time,

Tight Lines.