Dog Days Tarpon

After yesterday's outing at the Canaveral National Seashore road to Playalinda Beach, I expected another stellar day hooking and releasing ladyfish and tarpon, however, today the fish had a serious case of lockjaw.

I left the house around 1:30 pm and arrived at the pond I fished yesterday around 2:00 pm.

Despite the overcast conditions, a  lot of people were on the road going to the beach but nobody was fishing the Vistas or the ponds.

I stopped and pulled out the outfit I used yesterday with the beat up XPS Slim Dog, smeared it up with some Pro-Cure Inshore formula gel, and started casting around the same areas as I did yesterday.

After the third or fourth cast I hooked into the biggest tarpon to date.  The fish was well over three feet long and could only get half out of the water when it tried to jump and toss off the lure.

The fish stayed hooked until the fourth jump which was really a head shake when the hooks pulled out of it's mouth.

I was not a happy camper because I really wanted to get a pic of the tarpon for this site but I put on a happy face and continued casting around the area looking for another bite.

For the next hour, I made an undetermined amount of casts with several topwater baits and never got another hit or follow up from a tarpon or even a ladyfish.

I tried two other Vistas with the same result.

I have no earthly idea what happened to put down the bite but it stopped cold.

With my tail between my legs and sweat dripping down my shirt, I gave up the idea of fishing and headed home for some air conditioning.

I may get out to fish again before heading back out of town, but I hope the fish are hungrier than they were today.

Till next time, Tight Lines.