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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
May 15, 2002
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
Homosassa Tarpon Get Eaten
I guess all creatures of the sea deserve to live even if they are sharks. God put them there for a reason. There have been many sightings of large sharks in Citrus County this past week. The sharks seem to be attracted to the warm water and one of their favorite meals, tarpon which are now plentiful in the area. Tom Turvaville of MacRae’s of Homosassa spotted a school of 100 tarpon near the Bird Rack west of the St. Martins Keys in 6 feet of water.
Hammerheads to 16 feet regularly hang out near the massive school of tarpon in Boca Grande Pass some 150 miles to the south of us. Yet swimmers just yards away from these ravenous creatures have never been attacked.
I have never heard of any swimmers in Citrus County being attacked by a shark, although I have seen several violent attacks on tarpon that were hooked. Two got eaten this past week. The first tarpon to fall prey to a shark attack was an 80 pounder caught by Capt. Jim Long’s client, Norman Cannella of Tampa. The second attack happened that same morning when Capt. John Bazo of Nature Coast Fly Shop and myself took a Holiday and we lost our 90 pound tarpon to a shark after a 11 minute fight.
My feelings at that time were if I had a gun, I would have shot the shark. We tried franticly to hit the shark with the stainless steel tip of the push pole. That might have just have ticked the shark off, and it may have tried to bite the pole in half.
Thirty one years ago, my Dad, Eustace Locklear, Don Bradshaw, and the late Bob Trotter once had a huge Hammerhead shark attack the boat prop after poking it with a gaff and the shark shaked the boat from side to side causing them to stumble. They finally got the motor started and escaped uninjured. They came out the next day with a bang stick only to find the tarpon and sharks have moved on.
In other action aboard the Hells Bay 18' Marquesa "Mid-Life" was a 120 pound tarpon brought to the rod tip in 5 minutes by John Maddox Jr. The fish was cosidered caught at that point under gentlemens rules for healthy tarpon releases. Six minutes later the fish broke the line after a rocketing jump caused the fish to land on the class tippet. The fish would have been voluntarily broken off after 30 minutes to give the tarpon reserve energy to escape a shark attack.
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