A Day at the Beach

Pictures and Report by Rich Morgan

I wasn't planning on fishing this weekend, but I got a text from a fishing buddy asking if I was fishing this weekend. I told him I hadn't planned on it and asked what he was doing; and he said he was thinking about doing some tarpon on the beach and said he had room for one more, so I took him up on the offer.

We launched early at the south ramp at Coquina beach, got threadfins at the bridge by the pass quicker than expected, and we were off. Where to, we didn't exactly know, as we were both fishing unfamiliar waters. Beach fishing for tarpon was a first for both of us, but we knew they were running the beaches from all of the reports on the net and talking to other crazed tarpon addicts such as ourselves.

We went out about a half mile from shore and started cruising parallel to the shore looking for any signs of life when we spotted a school of happy Silver Kings.

We eased into position ahead of the school but were just out of casting distance to the fish. We tried adjusting our position, but some other boats moved in on us. One boat hooked up but the school disappeared. We motored further south looking for another pod of fish and saw nothing. Next, we went back to the north when we spotted another pod of fish and set up well in front of them. I threw a bait out waiting for the fish to get closer. They showed about 20 feet off of the bow and I reeled my bait in and cast it right on top of them. At first I thought I spooked them, when all of a sudden the line came tight and I was flying a tarpon. My buddy cranked the motor to chase the fish but unlike fishing around the bridges and passes with all of those obstacles, I was able to fight the fish "one on one" without having to chase it. After about 10 minutes the fish was boatside but wanted nothing to do with us and ran for another 10 minutes before it became official. My buddy landed my first beach tarpon for a DNA scrub.

I got my hands dirty for a photo opportunity.

With my first beach tarpon landed, scrubbed and released we searched for the pod again.
After locating another pod we set up ahead of the school. I wanted to see my buddy hook up a fish since we were on his Sea Pro boat with all of its mojo. The same school got close enough for a shot and he put his bait right in their face. The fish chased the bait completely out of the water, pulled the line tight and nothing but a hook left to show for it.

My buddy was ready to head in, calling it a successful trip, but we had one threadfin left. I suggested we give it one more shot since the fish seemed to still be hungry.
We set up in between 3 pods of fish figuring one of the pods would get close enough for a bite. Persistence paid off as one of the pods got close, and my friend put the last bait right on top of them. I said 'You're gonna get bit" when all of a sudden his line came tight and the sweet sound of drag started screaming off his reel.

Sure enough he was hooked up with his first beach tarpon. As he was fighting the fish
he got 3 jumps and about 10 minutes of fight out of that fish before it gave up the hook.
We bumped fists and called it a very successful trip, in an area and technique we had never tried before...but will in the future.

Thanks for the report Rich. Check out Rich’s website at keepmbent.com