Snook and brutal Tarpon fishing.
There were 3 of us and we all caught multiple snook. Some were so large we couldn't slow them down from getting tangled in the mangroves. Our female friend tangled the largest tarpon and we were cheering her on. She fought and fought that fish. It made one final jump and broke the line. She was so excited and worn out she had to sit down and rest before going on. These fish initially rip line off your reel, then they dive deep and its all you can do to hang on to your rod. Then they come straight up leaping into the air shaking and doing aerobatics that to sum up in one word "breathtaking". Now captain Steve told us when they jump lower your rod and point it towards the fish. Of course in all the excitement we would forget and the tarpon would either throw the hook or break the line. We would laugh and say another "L.D.R." Captain Jeff didn't know what L.D.R. meant. We laughed, it means we count the fish as a "long distance release" He laughed. I had one on that I was catching on, dropping the rod and pointing the rod towards the fish when it jumped. Three jumps and I still had it hooked. But, the fourth jump the fish threw the hook. It was a blast trying to get one to the boat. We shared fish stories with Captain Steve and found him to be very knowledgeable of seasonal patterns of fish, how temperature and tide plays a role and how fish position themselves in the water. Even though our trip was only 4 hours 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. we got there early and we left early. Captain Steve wasn't a clock watcher he asked us if we had anywhere we had to be after fishing and we told him no. Since we were catching and losing so many snook he let it go on for another 45 minutes beyond the 1:00 P.M. We were all impressed with how stable his boat was and handled some chop on the water with ease. Can't think of anything negative to say because we truly had a great time.
