NO Belt...NO Harness...NO BRAINS

[Capt Bob]

You'd think I'd have learned by now....NOOOO not me!!

I haven't been playing in the canal across the street as I've been going through boxes and stuff and working on the move up to the place I bought on Grassy Key..

So my neighbor who's house is on the canal tells me there are Tarpon rolling ...so I grab a heavy tarpon rod and a tarpon size spinner...he caught some Yellowtail early in the day and had the carcasses so I used one for bait..out under a float on 50 lb Power pro and a 10/0 snelled on 100 lb flouro


while I'm casting my Bucktail combo ( 1/4 oz Striper Bucktail w/ a 8 inch white twister, makes great slow working or rippin bait down here) the float starts "drifting seaward" my neighbor says "...your bait is being chased it's swimming away from some thing" then I remind him "it's a carcass!" so I tighten up and am hooked up for about 10 seconds to an unseen fish.
I pull it in and find the hook had gotten turned into the head and hadn't bit .

so I put a fresh head on it and toss it back out...about that time about 6 Tarpon come swimming by the wall in about 18 inches of water and as I reach for my spinner I look down and see a BIG Goliath about 2 ft behind the last Tarpon. When I move the Goliath sees me and in a HUGE swirl of mud takes of for deeper water ( about 6ft deep)

so I start casting the bucktail in hopes of a nice Silver King, now my float disappears, I'm thinking that a Tarpon has the bait as it was in direct line with their swim path.


I reel down and rear back in my best "cross the Tarpons eyes hook set" and the rod does a 270 towards the water and the uncovered gimbal digs into my gut...first thought...that's gonna leave a mark and did it ever, except that it's in a region that Brandon wouldn't approve of having posted I'd take a picture and post this "wound"...72 minutes later and about 50 yards of dancing up and down the seawall keeping the fish away from boat lifts and docks and all the while feeling him rub his face on everything imagineable on the bottom he is starting to come my way...still haven't seen it, and there are 3 boats sitting waiting to come into the canal and see what I've hooked up to, It's now dark and the skeeters have arrived...in force... my neighbor hobbles ( he's the nice older guy who broke 13 bones in his foot and ankle when he fell off his boat lift) over to my patio and grabs the long gaff and brings it back...it's now 90 minutes + and I have it in about 2 ft of water right by my neighbors fish cleaning table...my neighbor is going to gaff what ever it is until he turns the light on that shines in the water and there sits a GOLIATH ABOUT 4 FT LONG and about 4FT around with my hook firmly in his upper jaw...Now Goliaths are protected and can't be legally killed, so my neighbor looks at me and says I'm not gaffing that sucker he'll yank me right off the dock ( my neighbor has a tough enough time walking, much less walking and hanging onto this critter) so I loosen the drag and hand him the rod and I catch a stroke of luck, probably because of the halogen shining in the water, he doesn't see the gaff coming, so I slip it in his lower jaw...did I say luck????...WRONG he went ballistic!!! with me attached, at the end of a six foot long aluminum pole!!

I had to lay on my stomach to get the gaff in and now i'm in NO POSITION to put any pressure on this beast...after giving me a good thrashing he slid over my neighbor hands me a stanly tape measure and it looks like the critter is 47 inches long...I get the hook out and slipped the gaff free...he slid back about 2 ft and turned and with ONE swipe of his tail took off like he had just taken a stroll thru his under water garden
I am one bruised, tired, scraped, cut and insect bitten individual...next time I even THINK I'm gonna put a big bait out I WILL have a belt and a Harness with me!!!

I may be getting older...but I do learn!!!! sometimes the hard way...but I do learn!!!

Now I'm going to take a VERY LONG...VERY WARM SHOWER... a couple of Vicadin and maybe a Skelaxin or two...and pray I can still move in the morning!

[L HOLMES]

Man thats a hell of a story! Sounds like some good fishing down there Bob. Did you all hook any of the tarpon?

[Capt Bob]

No that big ol hoss took the bait and I was WAY too busy just staying on dry land ...they pull boats around like foam corks ...most who target them regularly use a plate with a rod holder welded in it mounted onto a pedestal on the bow of the boat...if I had hooked him in more open water I'd have never held him on thet light outfit ( light for Goliaths that is) he'd have just swam, all over the ocean. being in the canal he didn't have a lot of running room, unless he had decided to go seaward, instead of slugging it out on the bottom grouper style, then it would have been a one sided battle with him stompin all over me...( he did a pretty good job of that as it was) If all goes as planned I'll take a shot at the tarpon again in a few days and I will bring a belt and my light weight harness ( it's made by Anglers Choice costs about $20 and it really takes a load off the back muscles) its just too warm to pull out the tuna belt and harness

They had a fishing show on last week or so and these guys up on the panhandle went Goliath fishing They broke like 6 rods and then changed over to hand lines...HANDLINES...huge circle hooks about the size of your outstretched hand with a big old fish head as bait, about 10 feet of 500 lb. mono tied to about 100 ft of 1/2 in braided nylon rope with a heavy duty rubber bungie for shock absorbtion ( the rope was tied to a cleat!!!...one very healthy guy let a Goliath thrash around at the boat while he was holding it by the lower jaw...they showed his hands X rays at the end of the show...with all the different broken bones...

[redcat]

Great story Capt.Bob
It reminds me of the country song about the guy with 6 brke ribs and front teeth knocked out but he's a winner!!!

[Capt Bob]

I know what ya mean, I weigh 280 and work out almost daily to keep the muscles tight and that beast just plain whoooped up on me!!!

[kellerl2]

Capt. Bob THANKS for a great post, laughted my butt off... Larry

[Capt Bob]

I went to Vegas for a week a few days after the "experience" and took advantage of the nice pool at the Casino ( no damn Bull Sharks In their Water). The bruise ( about the size of a football) from the rod butt showed about an inch and a half above the waist on my swim trunks and a lady about 30 asked "is that a bruise?,( why a 30 yr old is looking at a 57 yr old guy is beyond me) I said yes it is, she said "my Gawd, what causes a bruise like that"...I told her a fish...she asked what kind? I told her and she googled it on her lap top and just dropped her jaw as she watched some video of a guy doing battle with a big Goliath using huge Penn Senator reels and 1/8 in aircraft cable for line!

I told her mine was a little one...only about 4 ft long....some poor people just live sheltered lives and miss so much of the world around them...and this guy will be very content to be "sheltered" from and miss another Goliath for a while

[freeflow_23]

Excellent story. Would have loved to have witnessed that. Good luck with the big baits!

[StepChild]

Great read!!! One hell of a FISH!!!

[ratherfish]

Aint Florida GREAT!