The first fishing charter after the shut down was spectacular! We started out at Haulover marina for this Miami Tarpon fishing charter about an hour before sunset lines were out Drifting a small crabs.
The westerly wind drifted us gently and we marked a few Tarpon, Large beach Tarpon, probably part of the tarpon migration that runs to the keys and here locally.
We looked underneath the boat in the Clear water we could see the images of the Tarpon passing below. Some 30 seconds later the a rod started to shake and the line screamed off the reel and the drag squealed in agony. A monster Miami Tarpon lept high into the sky, well over head height a complete backflip and then another.
This one was screaming drag off the reel and then on the final jump, as spectacular as it was, landed on the hook and broke it.
Not long after we made move to the south beach. Conditions were nice so we rode along the beach looking at the ocean front condos that line the beach from Haulover to south beach. Shortly later it was lines out and on the first drift it was another Miami Tarpon this time he jumped into the night and did a blazing first run.
An Incredible run and then we settled into the fight, as we all celebrated our first Tarpon that was clearly going to stay hooked.
We fought him for about 30 minutes or so and the 80 pound Tarpon came boatside we celebrated photographed revive the fish and celebrated some more it was our first Tarpon on charter after this COVID-19 lockdown.
As a captain I was extremely happy with the results of our charter. We were following the guidelines set forth by the CDC and FWC.
First, we cleaned disinfected the rods and reels before, during and after use. We didn’t share a communal cooler. We wore protective face masks as directed by FWC and CDC for charter fishing crew and patrons.
We photographed the Tarpon and slid the mask down for those photos that we shared on Google Photos and social media.
Surely we will remember the trip well worth the wait for my client and what a "silver lining"
