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Marine Artist Brendan Coudal Tarpon Fishing Casey Key
Capt. Sean Hagen
July 9, 2011
Tampa Bay - Saltwater Fishing Report
Tarpon Report by Artist & Angler Brendan Coudal
My wife Nicole and I started out early Friday morning. We were drifting a quarter mile from the beach off Casey Key as the sun first peaked over the tree line. A pod of tarpon broke the slick surface just to the North of us. We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I cast out a freshly caught pinfish (Nicole had sabikied up minutes earlier) ahead of the south bound school and held my breath. The cast looked good, and seconds later I felt the familiar tap and the subtle pull of the take. I wound up the little bit of slack left in the line and drove the hook home. I have fished for tarpon this way for over twenty years, and till this day, I have never seen a big tarpon jump as high as this one did. The fish was no more than fifteen feet from the boat when it felt the sting of the hook and blasted out of the water like a missile. We stood there awestruck as the fish shot upwards, easily twenty feet in the air. The trajectory was a perfect ark and the fish seemed to keep propelling herself as she ascended higher and higher. She jumped twice more almost as grandly and then peeled off a blistering run straight towards the beach. The battle ensued for twenty more minutes in the four foot deep swash channel until we could get her to the boat for some quick pictures, measurements, and a DNA sample before releasing her.
The fish had a 35" girth and 70" length, and that puts her weight at approximately 119 pounds, not the biggest tarpon I have ever caught, but one of the most memorable, and certainly the most spectacular jump I have ever witnessed of any fish!
To checkout Brendan's Tarppon & Marine Art Vist: www.Brendangallery.com
Captain Sean Hagen
Eupro Pro-Staff Director
Fishing Like A Pro with EUPRO!
WWW.SHAMROCK-FISHING-CHARTERS.COM
1877 357-HOOK
Target Species:
tarpon
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