Friday night, 6-11-04, I took my boss out for his first tarpon trip to Boca Grande. We met up with our guide, Capt. Jay Withers:
http://silverliningcharters.homestead.com/
at 5:00 PM to catch the outgoing tide at night. The trip started with a short run to the pass, and 2 hours of hunting for crabs with a long handled dip net along the grass lines. After we had about 20 or so crabs, the fun began. 20 minutes into it I hooked up and before I knew it, a big silver flash came out of about 50 feet of water and almost smacked into the poling platform, and my face. I wrestled the fish to the front of the boat, and whooped his ass quick as we had this 80+ pound fish in the boat in about 10 minutes. After the first fish, I took a little break, as I wanted my boss to get one, as he had never caught a tarpon before. He jumped 2 within the next 45 minutes, but couldn't get his act together to get them to the boat. He was as pissed off and disappointed as I have ever seen him, so I decided to rub it in his face and drop a line. Of course I hooked up and got another 80+ pounder to the boat fairly quickly. I put another crab on, and had another hookup almost instantly, and lost it before it even came out of the water due to a hook that couldn't handle the pressure and decided to straighten out.
Well by this time it was almost midnight, and my boss was ready. Not 2 seconds after he was cursing at his rod, the tip dropped. He was hooked up, and 30 minutes later had his first tarpon to the boat:
Rick Rainville with his first tarpon
The night closed out with another big take on my boss's crab, and a 40 minute battle that ended, this is hard to say, by him handing the rod over to me to finish the fish that beat him up. Another 150+ pound fish!
Capt. Jay Withers
A thank you goes out to Capt. Jay for the hard work, as this guy is a class act and a true professional.
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wow what a night . I see you put the fly rod down. Have you been converted to a live bait fisherman? 