Tarpon Leaps Clear Over Boat, Nearly KO’s Fisherman, In Florida Gulf

Everything was calm. Until it wasn’t…

Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the best times you can have.

The mostly calm, warm waters are filled with all sorts of cool fish, including grouper, red drum, sea bass, snapper, dolphinfish, and one of the most athletic fish in the sea, tarpon.

Mature tarpon are carnivores, feasting on just about anything they can swallow whole. They range from 4 to 8 feet in length and can top the scales at nearly 300 pounds, but this size doesn’t take away from their speed as they’re able to reach bursts of 35mph, good enough for a top 10 ranking, according to FishingBooker.com.

But the impressive characteristics don’t stop there, as one of the main reasons saltwater anglers love tarpon is their acrobatics. These monsters love to leap out of the water while on the line, reaching heights of 10 feet while covering 20 feet horizontally, according to the NYT.

Well, in this video from outside of Marco Island, Florida, we get to see their jumping ability in action.

Ben Olson, a co-owner of Thorne Bro. Custom Rod & Tackle, was on a trip south when seemingly out of nowhere, a tarpon exploded from the water right next to the boat. But what sounds like an awesome experience nearly turned horrible when he realized the breaching tarpon was leaping directly over the boat.

Like an Olympic high jump, the massive fish powered his way clear over the vessel’s midsection, and came within inches of smacking Ben in the face.

Fortunately, he was able to bob and weave like Mayweather at the last second and avoided any direct contact, but my goodness how close was that?

Also, the fact that a fish is able to soar clear over a boat while weighing hundreds of pounds is almost too much to wrap my head around.

Gotta keep that head on a swivel.