A solid nurse, his first...and at 8', his biggest fish.
Later in the night we would wake up to find Joey fighting another fish, this one would actually give him a good fight taking line at every given chance. He got the fish within leadering distance, but fate had other plans for his catch, the hook pulled at the worst moment and we never got to see the beast.
The next night we decided to switch locations. It was dark by the time camp was setup, I wasted no time getting a bait out, and the first fish of the night wasted no time picking it up. By the way the fish stuck to its ground, I was sure I had a nice bull on, but the fish finally submitted, ascending to the surface 50yds off the beach, and there on the edge of our lights floated one of the biggest fish I've ever layed eyes upon. Pier Rat drags the monster to the shallows and we gather around speechless, mesmerized by its size.
At 6'6'' long and a girth of 5'5'' this fish weighs in at 412lbs using the weight formula.
It was shaping up to be a good night, some more fish were caught, and more were lost. Just before sunup I hear my friend Houstons reel taking off. I sprint to the other side of camp with Houston nowhere to be seen, I take the reel, set the drag and began yelling his name, when I notice someone in the kayak buried underneath a mountain of towels and mosquito netting.
I give a few firm kicks and say…
“Wake up, you got a fish on”
“You can have it man”
“Seriously? It feels like a good one!”
“yeah, I just came here to watch”
“ooooook”
The fish made multiple runs unlike anything I’ve felt before, I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I heard “TARPON!!!!”
At 5’8’’ it wasn’t the biggest, but it’s my first. Not the intended species for half a bonita, but I’m so glad to finally get that monkey off my back. As of writing this it’s been almost a week since I caught this fish, and still haven’t stopped thanking Houston.
We packed up leaving the fish and the bugs biting. It was hard knowing there were still fish dreams are made of swimming offshore, but we were satisfied with the ones we did get. I guess you have to leave some for next time.
Good friends, good fish…good times.
