January 8, 2014

The seas have turned seasonably rough here on the Caribbean and rain has been abundant, but the tarpon fishing remains excellent!  We enjoyed a fantastic day of fishing with our newest friends from France; Isabel, Jerry, and Ludo along with Gilles from 3 Bamboo.  While trolling produced little more than the dry heaves for Ludo, we did at least see several schools of mackerel feeding on the surface but despite our best efforts, we just couldn't get them to take a lure...such is fishing.  Things changed (although unfortunately not for Ludo who continued to expertly chum the water) when we switched from trolling to drifting live bait for tarpon.  Once set up, we were quickly treated to our first hookup when a massive silver king took a shrimp on a light line that Gilles was using to catch bait.  Proving that size does not matter (at least not to a die hard like Gilles) he challened the silver king to a brief albeit exciting battle that resulted in the tarpon peeling most of the line off his reel before releasing its grip on the bait and then miraculously returning his entire rig to him intact.  The group got their first glance at the size and power that these fish possess which in turn caused the excitement to ramp up a notch.  Personally, I never tire of seeing a persons expression the first time they witness the beauty and display of aerial acrobatics that tarpon are famous for.  With the fever barely died down, we got a second bite on a bridled sardine that failed to hook up.  Patience persevered and the third strike hooked up solidly and provided an hour long fight that was shared among all four anglers.  For first timers they did a fantastic job of bringing the 1.60m fish alongside to claim their trophy scale.  While neither Celestino nor I speak French it's pretty safe to say that ooh la la and tres bien must be French for "now that's fishin'!" and "man are my arms sore!"