A man’s gotta eat…
I love videos like this, it just goes to show how much catching a fish means to the folks that chase after them. If you’re willing to jump into the water and swim to get your line unstuck, I’m not gonna question you. But I might look your way to see what’s going on because I know you’re serious about fishing. Fishing brings out so many emotions and constantly offers the opportunity to create long lasting memories with friends and family… it’s why it’s one of the best sports around. Whether you’re a professional or a weekend warrior, it’s tough to beat a good day on the water.
Tarpon are just one of those fish though… they grow to massive sizes measuring up to 8 feet long and weighing well over 250 pounds. Even a small tarpon is a pretty big fish compared to the average freshwater catch. A fun and challenging species to fish for, they are an extremely speedy fish that fights with all they have to break away. Tarpon also require a hard hook set as their boney mouth make it harder for the hook to catch when they strike.
This man is seen fighting a tarpon but the fish had other plans. It went underneath a bridge piling in an effort to break the line and escape. Quickly realizing his hopes of catching this fish were in trouble the fisherman literally jumped into action. He is seen jumping right on into the water and swimming down and around the structure to get the line untangled and free. He surfaces with the line free, the rod in his hand, and the fish still on.
That is a power move right there.
“When a tarpon tries and outsmarts you sometimes you have to do what ya gotta do. I ended up landing this one. It is amazing how they know what to do.
At first they’ll just run and jump but sometimes after a while they’ll make a beeline for the bridge or pilings. Even though they may be a long way away. They regain their composure and make a run for it.”
In the next clip, you can see the man, back on his front deck, soaking wet, still fighting to get the tarpon in. After a clip of the fish busting out over the surface, we see another with the tired out catch up against the hull.
What an absolutely epic catch… I bet this man has some good seas stories too.
He went on to explain more about what went down:
“I received a lot of comments on my previous post about how I didn’t land the tarpon. I am posting some pictures of me fighting the fish after jumping in with wet shirt (not exactly wet t-shirt quality) and shot of fish jumping and next to boat.
Honestly, we catch a lot of tarpon and they’re really not that hard. This one wasn’t particularly large at about 110 so we really didn’t go nuts for a bunch of pics. All out tarpon are caught on ten pound test and my bucktails. Super smoother drag are of utmost importance and I find that the Penn Spinfisher VI and authority can’t be beat.”
Tarpon Jumps Clean Over Boat, Nearly Hits Fisherman In The Head
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.
Florida Fishermen Fights Alligator To Land A Tarpon
Fishing in Florida ain’t for the faint of heart. Probably a bit more than these lads bargained for when fishing from a bridge, but hell, in that neck of the woods maybe they are on their toes a bit more for this kind of stuff.
Alligators are one cool animal. They will eat just about anything the can get ahold of, some have even been found with license plates and bullets in their stomachs. They can get massive too, with large males pushing 1,000-pounds and 11-feet long. On top of the fact that they have the strongest bite force in North America. That’s not an animal you want to have trying to bite your catch.
This group of fishermen are seen standing on a bridge fishing. They hook into a nice one and a gator starts attack the fish. They won’t give up the fight and double down. One lad is even seen beat the gator with the handle of his rod. They must really want to get that fish in…
As they try to net it, the alligator opens his jaws and lunges. The group continues to fight and as it lunges again towards their fish. They get it into the net and up to safety from the gator. They boys came out with a really nice tarpon for a catch.
Helluva fishing story.
@davidbrowning0423♬ E – Matt Mason
And here’s the fish:
@davidbrowning0423 Replying to @noah_sheldt ♬ original sound – David Browning345
