# Florida tarpon stolen by Georgia bass fisherman



## captscott (Sep 21, 2006)

Ths story comes to me by way of Capt. Ken Roy who guides grouper and backwater charters out of Clearwater FL area..the email was forwarded to me by a friend who fishes with us both..

Ken writes...
"You ain't gonna believer this S***. 

This is one really strange fish tale. Hopefully you realize that the really strange ones are usually gospel truth as this one is. Right now, I am totally pooped but I have to get this written before I forget some of the details. Yeah, and I gotta go vote too although my heart is not in voting this time. 

I woke up this morning around 4 with a serious fishing itch. Maybe the approaching front started the itch just as a front often triggers a feeding frenzy with the fishes. I checked tide and weather before cooking breakfast. This is unusual for me because, when I get through shaving and dressing, eating is job 1. 

I packed camera, cell phone and GPS into my dry box. Next, I slid my yak into my truck and went in to get a couple of rods. I generally don’t use my best tackle when yakin but this time, my Tarpon rod went in first followed by an inexpensive Mitchell Avocet spinning rig. 

Before I left the house, I checked the leaders on both rods, something that may have made a great difference an hour or so later. I rigged new leaders on both rods, 20# Stren Dura Tuff on the spinner and 30# Dura Tuff on the bait caster. 

I headed for the C-40 ramp in YT but, after looking at the sky, decided to launch at the FMP Station on the CFBC instead. I seldom fish the canal in my yak but with the fast moving clouds and approaching front, figured it might be a good idea. 

I rigged a Pop-R on the spinning rod and a Gulp Jerk Shad about 18” under a long line float on the bait caster. 

I decided to head out to an area of the canal with lots of springs, to see if there were any Redfish around them as there will be in a couple of months. The Jerk Shad was trolled about 50’ back and I was paddling hard to cover ground as fast as possible. 

About a hundred yards past the Hwy 19 Bridge I caught a 5-6# Jack Crevalle. Several hundred yards further on, the rod bowed up again and then straightened. (I was using one of my front mount rod holders rather than one in the rear.) I kept paddling for 50 or more yards when I noticed the line on the rod moving ahead of the boat. It looked kinda strange to me so I picked up the rod and reeled fast to take up slack. The little Mustad circle hook was locked in. I didn’t have to do anything. 

The fish began to tow the boat. “Redfish,” I thought. I amended it to “Good Redfish” a few seconds later followed by an upgrade to “**** big Redfish” soon afterward. After about a hundred yards with precious little drag slippage, I angled the rod to the side to sort of turn the boat a little sideways to increase the drag on the fish. 

This is kinda hard on the wrist so I laid the rod against my knee and kicked back to relax. I passed the old Casino Boat Dock and then the Hollinswood barge loading facility. I was putting a pretty darn good strain on the fish but he didn’t seem to notice. Somewhere about this time, a couple of guys came up in a bass boat and asked what I had on. I was asking myself the same thing right then too. The only logical thing was a big Shark, most likely a Bull Shark. The guys stayed with me as I headed for the Gulf and maybe to Mexico. They even shot a few pics. 

The fish was moving fairly fast but definitely not in a state of panic. At this time, I may have had 50 yards of line out. I decided to tighten the drag a little and aim the yak straight at the fish and see if I could get right on top of him. When I got within about 20 feet, he took off on a smoking run that stripped 50 or more yards of line off the reel and got the yak to moving faster than it has ever gone before. 

When we passed the next to last pavilion, less than a mile from the Gulf, a big boat went flying by at warp speed. This upset the fish badly and, all of a sudden, there was 7 feet plus of Tarpon headed straight up. He turned and headed back east for a hundred yards or so then jumped again. This time, I was looking right at him and the guys who had been following me were within about 10’ of him. 

The jumps took everything the fish had left and I had him along side my yak within about 10 minutes. He was totally whipped. In the last 10 minutes I tried to break him off several times but couldn’t do it. Twenty pound test Spider Wire cannot be broken from a yak. The tiny Mustad circle hook was pinned in the corner of the fish’s mouth. 

I couldn’t resuscitate the fish from the yak. The guys in the bass boat took a bunch of pics of me holding the fish along side. I asked them to tow the Tarpon around to see if they could get him going again. They didn’t have a clue what I was talking about and it took a couple of precious minutes to explain. They held him on my little flying gaff and towed him in a circle for a while then on down the canal. 

All of a sudden, they yanked the fish aboard and headed toward the Gulf at 50mph. They killed MY fish and took my gaff too. 

I hope they have the common decency to return my gaff or the stupidity to have a photo in the paper. I don’t recall ever seeing either of them before and the boat had a GA decal if I remember correctly. 

If you see a pic of a really humongous Tarpon in your local paper, how about cutting it out for me. "



Hopefully he will get a picture out of the deal..IT'S JUST TOO GOOD A STORY NOT TO SHARE IN THIS FORUM! I believe it to be 100% true..


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## Rockfish (May 21, 2004)

Thats to bad they killed the fish. Talk about loosers.


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## Wading Mark (Apr 21, 2005)

Those guys are a waste of space. They will get what they deserve someday.


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## Tarponchaser (May 25, 2005)

I could never see what value of a cheated to get or stolen trophy. I guess lying opens up all kinds of possibilities.

TC


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## jettytarpon (Sep 23, 2006)

thats horrible! what nuts


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## Tall Steve (Jun 22, 2004)

Here is a pic with guys posing with a mako claiming they caught it. Not knowing that people had already seen it washed up on the beach.


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## Scott (May 24, 2004)

Oh, the shark picture is funny.... "LOSERS" - Well, they did "fish it off the beach" ... lol... man, I bet it put up a hell of a fight at the end of that rope. "Stud-muffins", one and all... reminds me of a quote from the movie Stripes... "Hey Cowboy, I want to party with you."


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## Unbound (Jul 12, 2004)

Gotta wonder if they ate it.


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## Mando (May 22, 2004)

They stole that fish!!!! Most pathetic fish story ive ever heard. I not sure which is worse the mako or this!!!! I hope they posed for pics and sent them in like the morons with the Mako.


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## boo (Nov 21, 2005)

Tall Steve said:


> Here is a pic with guys posing with a mako claiming they caught it. Not knowing that people had already seen it washed up on the beach.


LOL yeah I remember that. That didn't even unload the yak!


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## jettytarpon (Sep 23, 2006)

do you know which site that shark pic and story came up at?


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## Tall Steve (Jun 22, 2004)

jettytarpon said:


> do you know which site that shark pic and story came up at?


http://extremecoast.com


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## redfish1947 (Oct 3, 2006)

Thieves are the worst....just goes to show ya what kind of society we live in today....back years ago we would always stretch the truth....as fisherman will do......but that is outright thievery.....great story though....don't expect the gaff back...."How can you look at me with that pious look on your face after a hard day of thievin?" Lee Marvin to Clint Eastwood in Paint Your Wagon.


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## Quint (Oct 20, 2006)

Hehee!


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