Raising them up right.
One of the best things parents can do for their children is get them outside. Not only are there so many cool things to do and sights to see, but making sure your kids aren’t the ones that are scared of a squirrel or a bit of dirt is just overall better for them.
Well, one dad in Florida is doing what he can to make sure his kids aren’t afraid of the water and its various creatures.
While near the water with his kids on Islamorada Island, they noticed some large tarpon basking near the water’s surface and decided to have a little fun.
He got his daughter a small bait fish and had her crouch down near the edge of the dock to try and hand feed one of these massive creatures.
At their largest tarpon can grow to be 8 feet long and weigh over 280 pounds, although they tend to stay in the 25 to 80 pound range.
While the fish this young girl was trying to feed wasn’t a record breaker, it was still quite a large fish as we get to see in this video.
The girl is clearly a bit nervous about sticking her hand down near the surface, especially since she noticed a shark below the surface. Her dad told her the shark wouldn’t jump out at her and she got a bit more confidence and lowered the bait fish down near the surface again and one of those big tarpon leapt up and hit it hard.
In fact, it leapt so far out of the water that it swallowed the girl’s arm all the way up to her elbow. Fortunately, it didn’t really bite down and slid right off as gravity pulled it back down, but my goodness for a second I thought she was about to get pulled down into the shark’s realm.
What a cool moment.
“If you have never heard of Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada, you absolutely must go at least once. You can hand feed giant tarpon. And every now and again, something like this happens!”
Gotta love when kids experience first hand the awesome world of nature and I’m sure she won’t be forgetting about this encounter for a long time.
Florida Woman Hand-Fishing With A Hot Dog Gets Whole Hand Swallowed By Tarpon
These are the times where you listen to the massive sign at your local pond that reads:
DON’T FEED THE FISH.
And here is the perfect example as to why you should heed those warnings…
Because you might lose a damn hand.
Ok, ok… maybe not lose a hand, but who knows what’s lurking in the deep.
In this video, you see a woman holding a hot dog over water, slapping the water with it, while hanging over a dock, and she says:
“Watch this…”
And boy I’ll go ahead and say it, nothing could’ve prepared me for what was to come next.
As she hung the weenie right over the surface of the water, a big ‘ol tarpon leapt from the depths and took not only the weenie from her hand, but basically swallowed her whole hand while she was at it.
This is a bold strategy right here.
If the tarpon hangs onto her hand for about .2 seconds longer, she’s going back into the water with it, and next thing you know the plan has backfired immediately.
The average sized tarpon ranges from 25 to 80 pounds, but big ol’ monsters can get up to eight feet long and weigh between 200 to 300 pounds. Thankfully, they don’t really have teeth, save for these tiny sandpaper-like teeth inside their mouth (similar to how a bass can feel when you grab their lip), but they can scratch you up a bit if you get your hand down deep in there.
Nevertheless, it’s a pretty cool video.
Check it out:
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Tarpon Jumps Clear Over The Boat, Nearly Slaps Fisherman Across The Face
Head on a swivel.
Imagine being out on the calm water casting away just relaxing and then out of nowhere a tarpon jumps up over the boat.
That’s almost a slap in the face… literally, and almost like the tarpon is taunting you.
Tarpon are a popular sport fish, they put up a good fight and can get huge. They can be up to 8 feet and well over 200-pounds.
That doesn’t sound like a fish you want get hit in the face by. With a little momentum that could take a man right off his feet in a heartbeat… or worse.
Three fishermen are seen fishing away on a calm ocean day. It looks so peaceful in the video. Then, out of nowhere a tarpon comes clear out of the water, between the fisherman and right over the boat.
This fish could get a high jump record, what a leap. He didn’t touch a thing.
The men all seem very scared in the video, but how could a person not? This might not have been an 8-footer, but it was still a big enough to give a man a concussion.
Stay safe out there fellas.
Man Grabs Massive Tarpon With Bare Hands, Wrestles It Up On The Dock
Man vs fish. Who will win?
To be honest, after watching this I’m still not sure. Either way, this is some of the craziest shit I’ve ever come across.
It’s the classic story of a man fighting a fish and the fish fighting back.
There are few fishermen who can say they’ve caught a large fish with their bare hands. Sure, it happens with smaller ones fairly frequently, but to come across a big ol’ fish that is willing to cooperate just enough for you to pull it up on shore is an extremely rare occurrence.
Everyone knows someone who’s done it and everyone who’s out there is waiting for the opportunity to present itself to them too.
And tarpon are a big fish. So naturally when you come across some like this you are gonna try to catch one. But, because they are big they are powerful, so it is hard to do.
This man, named Billy, found that one out the hard way.
You can see a bunch of fish swimming in the water below the dock as Billy reaches down into the water holding bait in his hand for the fish. A nice one comes up and grabs his hand which gives him enough time to slide his other hand through its gills and get a strong grip on it.
Billy wrestles the fish up onto the dock which ends up being bigger than him. Two others help him pull it up pout of the water. As he tries to stand up the fish has other plans and continues to fight for its life.
The tarpon flips Billy back down to the ground and makes its way back into the water.
I would call this one a draw. Billy won by getting the fish out of the water, the fish won by knocking him down and getting away.
In the end, we’re the winners because we get this as cheap entertainment.
