# Tarpon at Bob Hall Pier



## Mattikins

It has been a long time since I have fished Bob Hall Pier during the Summer for Tarpon, Kingfish and Jacks. I went last week with the old man and caught some bait periodically throughout the day waiting for that one hit. There was a gentleman next to us that caught a King around 2:00 PM and about an hour after that another man caught a Tarpon and beached it. Well we were patiently waiting for our turn, checking the bait on the lines throughout the day making sure it was still alive and replacing them as they died. Well we wait it out till 8:30 PM when we decide to call it. I get up and walk to the slide line to reel it in and I reach for the rod/reel when all of a sudden the reel starts screaming I immedately grab the rod and the fight is on! I *almost* forgot what a fish of that caliber felt like, guess I have been fishing for Trout and Reds too much. After about a 15 minute fight the old man took out his cell and grabbed a quick 1 minute video of the Tarpon and me.

Here are some pictures I was able to pull from the video. If anyone wants to see the short 1 minute video then I can post the link to it as well. Please excuse the poor picture quality, unfortunately I didn't have the GoPro or the Cannon DSLR with us.


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## Bill C

Very cool. Well done.


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## sotexhookset

Very cool bud. The video would be neat to see as well.


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## Mattikins

Thanks guys. Here is the link:





It won't win an Academy award and this was taken when the fight was pretty much over.

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## troutsupport

Nice work!!


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## fishinguy

wow a tarpon on a pier is an awesome accomplishment


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## Mattikins

Thanks y'all. Yeah it gets a little dicey catching them from a pier because they can: shoot the pier, wrap around a piling and cut you off, pick up the bait and wrap around a piling before you even have a chance to grab the rod. Sometimes you got to just lock it down and Jack 'em up! There is no chasing them down in the boat lol. It is a ton of fun though.

We have been catching some nice Kings from the pier as well.









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## dbarham

Nice!!

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## ToTheBacking

Nice fish!


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## Whitebassfisher

The only time I have personally seen a tarpon hooked and landed was on Bob Hall pier. I was probably 12 years old, and some of us would give live fish of some particular species to the tarpon guys for bait. Two were hooked and jumped and 1 landed. The one landed was about 6' if I remember right. After all this time I still remember seeing it first jump.... spectacular. If I could have filmed what I witnessed it would have been Nat Geo worthy, at least as I remember it. :doowapsta


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## Mattikins

Whitebassfisher said:


> The only time I have personally seen a tarpon hooked and landed was on Bob Hall pier. I was probably 12 years old, and some of us would give live fish of some particular species to the tarpon guys for bait. Two were hooked and jumped and 1 landed. The one landed was about 6' if I remember right. After all this time I still remember seeing it first jump.... spectacular. If I could have filmed what I witnessed it would have been Nat Geo worthy, at least as I remember it. :doowapsta


My dad is a little older than you and we used to go all the time to BHP during the Summer. I've seem him catch a lot of them over the years (and hook up to many more) while my brother and I caught the Kings,Jacks and smaller Tarpon. Whenever we get them right below the pier we bust the line at the float or leader. We don't bring them on the pier because that would put unneeded stress on the fish. Most of the (large) Tarpon that are brought up on the pier usually tend to not make it. You have to ask yourself if you are willing to have that Tarpon potentially die just so you can take a picture with it. We rather bring them in as fast as possible, release them as fast as possible and give other anglers a chance to catch that majestic creature.

If anyone would care to watch the video of my dad fighting his Tarpon the following night here is the link: 




It is mainly of him fighting the fish with a few portions of the Tarpon coming up to the top of the water towards the end of the video. I do apologize for the lighting in advance.


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## DA REEL DADDY

Good deal! And congratulations!


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## Mattikins

DA REEL DADDY said:


> Good deal! And congratulations!


Thank you. That is my personal best Tarpon.

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## BrandonFox

Great stuff! And thank you for not dragging the tarpon up the pier.


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## Mattikins

BrandonFox said:


> Great stuff! And thank you for not dragging the tarpon up the pier.


No problem, I couldn't bring myself to drag a big Tarpon up the pier. If I ever catch one down the beach or on a boat then I will get that picture next to one.

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## rtoler

Wow, thanks for posting pics!


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## Mattikins

rtoler said:


> Wow, thanks for posting pics!


No problem. I noticed Texas Tarpon was looking a little dry and figured I would share my story and pics with y'all. Hope you enjoyed it.

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## Gleds

Nice. I've gotten into them there though nothing huge.


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## Weaselmender

I used to fish for tarpon from BHP until I caught half a tarpon, that made me start shark fishing!


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## Mattikins

Gleds said:


> Nice. I've gotten into them there though nothing huge.


Yeah sometimes you will see some 2-3' ones being caught but the majority of the ones I have seen hooked are usually 4'+. It's nice hooking up to a 5 1/2+ and hear the drag scream and watch it jump.


Weaselmender said:


> I used to fish for tarpon from BHP until I caught half a tarpon, that made me start shark fishing!


Shark fishing is definitely a lot of work and a lot of them never catch a shark over 5' but when you finally hook up to that 1 big one it makes it all worth it.

Did you ever get to feel the pull of a Big Tarpon from BHP?

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## nonstop

You put in the time and hit the lotto. Pretty cool


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## wadennis

The first and only time I ever saw a Tarpon caught off Bob Hall was in 1984. I was building a restaurant in Corpus and the man that was doing our parking lot invited me to do some shark fishing at Bob Hall. I meet him and not sooner did we get the rods set when one of them went off. He had told me, first bite is yours. Well, the hook had no more than be set when a huge Tarpon made a tremendous jump. Of course, the guy that invited me said, "forget it buddy, this one is mine." It was right at 6 feet and from what I understand the first one caught in years along the coast.


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## Scott A

SkullIsland said:


> in 1984.... from what I understand the first one caught in years along the coast.


Not exactly, but good story. Glad yall got a chance to land it.


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