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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
May 15, 2001
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Tarpon Excitement Spreads Like Wildfire
The recent landing of the 202 pound tarpon by Jim Holland(could be jr. or III) of Oregon is still buzzing among the tarpon fleet. Sources say that Jim was very humble about the possible record on 20 pound fly tippet. It was said that this was his second visit to the Nature Coast tarpon grounds.
Everyone is talking about it except the man who made it happen, Capt. Steve Kilpatrick. I promise to run him down tomorrow after fishing and hopefully he will release to me a photograph of the monster fish.
Capt. Kilpatrick is now trying for a 8 pound test record with angler Bob-O. The tarpon would have to weigh in the neighborhood of 140 pounds to beat the old record.
Capt. Johnston Gets Locklear Ice-Breaker
After a miserable two weeks of northeast wind the weather finally changed and the gulf waters warmed to 78 degrees. It is this number that I think makes the silver king tarpon eat a little better.
On a busman's holiday, my good friend, Capt. Ted Johnston and I ventured to the Tarpon Central in calm seas and clear skies. We found one hungry tarpon. I was reminded why rich people do this sport. Nothing else can compare to the difficulty or satisfaction of the sport.
As I cast upwind to a pod of poons, the excitement was almost too much for me to properly cast the fly. In fact, I was downright sloppy on a couple of cast.
Finally, I got it right and WHAM! I was hooked up. Since I was using Johnston's GLX G-Loomis rod, he abruptly scolded me in a kind tone for raising the rod tip. "What are you trying to do, break my rod? Drop that tip?" I just looked at him knowing I was wrong and dropped the rod level with the water.
We had just got started, so I did not want anything to do with the fish except to get a few jumps and then break him off. The 80-90 pound tarpon leaped two times near the boat and then headed for Dodge. I cranked the drag down tight as the fly line peeled off
quickly into the backing.
The last jump the fish made, I did not bow the rod tip and the fly line went slack. After the fish leaped 10 feet into the air with a gainer he broke the hook and bent it, too. We both commented that we had not seen a hook of this type actually break.
Feeling confident now, I felt that my clients could now catch tarpon. With errands to do we headed back home.
Rawson Connects With First Cast
In real short form, the feeling was awesome for Rawson when he hooked a tarpon, as I poled him silently along the flats from the Pro-Line skiff. This was today's catch, a 120 pound poon estimated weight(because I saw his scales when jumped) and broke off after 7 large jumps out of the water. I will give you more on this after I finish next two days with Mr. Rawson.
Log on for more poon action in a oouple of days!
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