Searching For Tarpon

On Thursday afternoon when Karen and I went searching for tarpon along the Canaveral National Seashore, I had a lot of action with several hookups but I couldn't land a fish to save my life, so late Friday afternoon, I decided to see if I could change my luck.

I left the house without anything but a box of topwater lures and some water.  

I don't know what the heat index was, but the air temperature was in the high 90s and there was a lot of thunderstorm activity in the area.

When I entered the Canaveral National Seashore, I didn't waste any time getting to Vista 7 but after making several casts in the area without even a follow up I decided to check out several other areas.

I tried two small ponds along the road that produced a few busts on the XPS Slim Dog topwater bait I was using and managed to land a couple of small ladyfish that I quickly released.

When I finally got tired of casting, I decided to head out of the area but on the way I stopped at a large pond just before the Bio Lab road exit to give it a final last shot.

I smeared up the Slim Dog I was using with some Pro-Cure Inshore formula gel and started fan casting around the area.

On my second cast I missed a good fish that I couldn't identify but it looked like a large ladyfish.

A couple of casts later in the same general area produced a small ladyfish that was double hooked and put up no fight.

I continued casting farther out in the pond and hooked into a large juvenile tarpon that was in the three foot category.  The fish made a jump that shot him at least 6 feet out of the water and tossed back my lure.

I waited a while and juiced up the Slim Dog with some fresh Pro-Cure and after another couple of casts hooked into another tarpon that was larger than the first fish.  

The fish jumped once and made a fast run down the channel close to the road.  On the second jump, which was next to the shoreline, the fish tossed the lure back to me into the bushes.

I couldn't believe that I couldn't land a damn tarpon, but that fishing.

Anyway, I continued tossing the Slim Dog around and caught several more ladyfish that started hitting like crazy just before it started raining in earnest.

I put on a brimmed hat and continued tossing the topwater plug and managed to hook and lose three more tarpon in the three foot category before the bite stopped completely.

The rainstorm evidently perked up the bite and when it stopped raining, the fish stopped eating.

Ticked off at myself for not being able to land just one tarpon, I headed for home to get in my daily walk.

I plan to try the area again tomorrow, God willing.

Till next time, Tight Lines.