One of my surf fishing partners and I converged on Flagler Beach just after daylight to give the tarpon a good workin over. I spotted bait schools as soon as I could see the water. I pulled over and saw a tarpon roll in a small pod just behind the breakers. I glassed down the beach and counted 8 other pods.
Rather than jump right on them, I headed north along the beach looking for something even better but the farther I drove the weaker it got so we headed back and decided to put in at N. 6th St.. We could see tarpon aggressively busting bait as we assembled out gear.
The only problem was the surf!! There were some serious breakers pounding the beach with as many as 4 at a time lined up one behind the other. I timed my launch as best I could but in short order there's a wave that's over my head coming right at me and I could see it was going to break right on me! I took a 36"er right in my lap that swamped the boat. I kept stroking and made it to the next just before it curled over. The nose of the yak rose up sharply, came out the back of the wave and did about a 1' free fall. Two more of those and I was home free.
We paddled to the closest bait pod and snagged our baits. It was probably 20 minutes before a tarpon picked up my bait and the line started departing the area. In our rush and excitement to get on the tarpon I had neglected to set my drag for the hook set. I started tightening the drag but the big tarpon got to the end of the line before I was ready. He felt the hook and rocketed out of the water. With one big jump he was free. Man did I drop the ball on that one. Little did I know that would be our one and only shot for this day.
The tarpon were aggressively striking the bait schools this morning and we easily saw over a hundred blow-ups with bait flying in all directions. Once Rick was trying to snag a bait when a tarpon struck beside his yak and pogies jumped in his boat. He hooked one on and tossed it back in the pod!
The problem was the bait was not bunched up tight and was scattered over a large area. This scattered the tarpon. To make matters worse the rough surf had muddied the water and the pogies were all real close to breakers in 10-12' of water. The tarpon couldn't see the bait unless it was right in front of their nose.
The pic is a little blury but you get the idea.....one massive strike!!
We only had one other bite this morning and it was a blue fish.
By 10:00 the striking had slowed quite a bit and the swell was building so we decided we better cut bait and run.
Man were those breakers big! I tried to time it but they were just rolling in to close together. I looked back to see a big one bearing down on my 6. I applied the brakes to the strong side but it was no match for that wave.....up went the back, down went the front with the nose sheeting water out both sides. Then came the roll over. I had everything leashed and quickly got on my feet and flipped the boat before the next breaker arrived.
Rick had bailed out when he saw it coming, grabbed the back of his yak and floated in.
Back on the beach, we could still see an occasional tarpon strike in the bait and it was all I could do to keep from putting back in! There's always tomorrow.
O.E
Rather than jump right on them, I headed north along the beach looking for something even better but the farther I drove the weaker it got so we headed back and decided to put in at N. 6th St.. We could see tarpon aggressively busting bait as we assembled out gear.
The only problem was the surf!! There were some serious breakers pounding the beach with as many as 4 at a time lined up one behind the other. I timed my launch as best I could but in short order there's a wave that's over my head coming right at me and I could see it was going to break right on me! I took a 36"er right in my lap that swamped the boat. I kept stroking and made it to the next just before it curled over. The nose of the yak rose up sharply, came out the back of the wave and did about a 1' free fall. Two more of those and I was home free.
We paddled to the closest bait pod and snagged our baits. It was probably 20 minutes before a tarpon picked up my bait and the line started departing the area. In our rush and excitement to get on the tarpon I had neglected to set my drag for the hook set. I started tightening the drag but the big tarpon got to the end of the line before I was ready. He felt the hook and rocketed out of the water. With one big jump he was free. Man did I drop the ball on that one. Little did I know that would be our one and only shot for this day.
The tarpon were aggressively striking the bait schools this morning and we easily saw over a hundred blow-ups with bait flying in all directions. Once Rick was trying to snag a bait when a tarpon struck beside his yak and pogies jumped in his boat. He hooked one on and tossed it back in the pod!
The problem was the bait was not bunched up tight and was scattered over a large area. This scattered the tarpon. To make matters worse the rough surf had muddied the water and the pogies were all real close to breakers in 10-12' of water. The tarpon couldn't see the bait unless it was right in front of their nose.
We only had one other bite this morning and it was a blue fish.
By 10:00 the striking had slowed quite a bit and the swell was building so we decided we better cut bait and run.
Man were those breakers big! I tried to time it but they were just rolling in to close together. I looked back to see a big one bearing down on my 6. I applied the brakes to the strong side but it was no match for that wave.....up went the back, down went the front with the nose sheeting water out both sides. Then came the roll over. I had everything leashed and quickly got on my feet and flipped the boat before the next breaker arrived.
Rick had bailed out when he saw it coming, grabbed the back of his yak and floated in.
Back on the beach, we could still see an occasional tarpon strike in the bait and it was all I could do to keep from putting back in! There's always tomorrow.
O.E
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