Preparing to continue to other waters we had one more shot aboard the Barbie Doll and Cpt Gaff. Ryan, Jiggy’s son, joined us for the afternoon, and what a beautiful afternoon it was! The seas were calm, the sky clear, and the fish finder said there were tarpon about. After purchasing some good sized bait we made our way to the fishing grounds, the back drop was stunning – the sun setting reflecting off the west indie seas and the greenery of the Bocas littering the skyline.
It is a little tricky to get the bait to swim down, but a couple thuds on the deck tended to do the trick. When the a tarpon taikes the bait its not a huge tug on the rod, the line just begins to go out a slight bit faster. It isn’t until after letting him run a bit and you crank down the drag that the real fun begins, but patience is a virtue while tarpon fishing! The circle hook sets into place and you feel the tarpon. Tarpon are a fantastic sport fish as they tend to give a show or two in the air when you hook them, but those aerials come at a high price if you forget to bow your rod tip – pro tip: “Bow To The King”.
But bow, Jeff didn’t do as he reeled in the first Tarpon of the day, the tarpon never jumped! The fight lasted a solid 20 minutes, but never a crack at the surface, suppose he was camera shy. We were using the Stella 20k spinning rod and some Shimano TLDs for hardware that day and they performed perfect. The day would go on to become quite the memorable one as the tarpon proved to be hungry and were happy to provide!
Over the course of the afternoon we boated 6 tarpon, pretty much one after another, so with weary arms and vibrant exuberance we cheers’d the Jager bottle to another successful day of fishing, some great video (below), stellar pictures, and the AA experience. A big Thanks to Captain Gary a.k.a Gaff of The Barbie Doll — If you are in Trinidad for fishing he’s the man!
