Snagging the elusive tarpon

Posted by Mark Chapman on June 20th, 2010 at 4:03 pm

Frank, left, and Dr. Gary Plummer

By Dr. Gary Plummer

I fol­lowed My par­ents to Engle­wood 11 years ago. They decided that Cape Haze would be a great place to retire par­tially because of the great fish­ing in the area.

Even in Iowa, the tar­pon fish­ing here is leg­endary. My Dad and I orig­i­nally went out to Boca Grande Pass in a char­ter boat and were truly dis­ap­pointed when we first moved here. There were just so many other boats in the pass. It was not the open spaces and places we had dreamed of, so we decided to try some­thing new.

We bought two Tar­pon 130 Kayaks from Grande Tours, and we fished off the beach of Stump Pass for three years. We had hits, but no catches. I asked my friend and one of the best cap­tains around, Steve Hogan, what I was doing wrong. He laughed and give me all of his fish­ing secrets. I took his sug­ges­tions to Jim at the Fisherman’s Edge Tackle Shop where he rigged a rod and pole to Steve’s exact­ing specifications.

Things were start­ing to come together, and I got another major break when a patient in the office, Robert Ran­dazzo, told me exactly where he was see­ing tarpon.

On the morn­ing of May 29, one hour before sun-up, my father and I headed for Boca Grande Beach. The water always seems to be the calmest in the early morn­ing before the sun rises, so that’s when we go.

I went a 100 yards off the beach, trail­ing my Dad’s kayak. throw­ing out a shrimp on a bob­ber. Within 45 sec­onds — ka-boom! I had hooked a huge tar­pon that was now danc­ing on the water in front of the bow of my boat. I screamed, “Fish on!” and pro­ceeded to keep my rod pointed over the bow of my kayak no mat­ter which way the fish swam and dived (oth­er­wise he would of flipped me instantly). I also kept my eyes pealed for bull­sharks, which would enjoy me as a meal instead of the tar­pon. Bull­sharks nor­mally cir­cle before they attack.

The fish dragged me right through a pod of char­ter boats that were also out fish­ing. All I could do was yell, “get out of my way, com­ing through!”

It was an epic bat­tle, with speeds fast enough to cre­ate a wake. Finally and hour and 45 min­utes later, I touched the bob­ber and released the fish. The fish came in at over 175 pounds. I was a cou­ple of miles out to sea. But I could still see the shore

What a bat­tle. Thank You, Steve, Jim, Robert and my Dad, Frank Plummer.

You can comment on this story below.

If you want to link to this post from your site, use this trackback link.

2 responses to “Snagging the elusive tarpon”

1. Judith Briscoe

   6 / 20 / 2010
   6:47 pm

   thanks for the fish­ing news!
   Great catch!
2. MSOSailor

   6 / 21 / 2010
   8:53 am

   Great story-but I’m won­der­ing how you knew the fish weighed 175 pounds when you were so far off shore?
   Maybe because the fish had scales?
   I know, I know, but you have to admit—–

Leave a reply:

You must be logged in to post a comment.