Everglades Fishing – Captain Ned Small

Dan Newman on the foredeck, perfect weather for tarpon hunting, light onshore winds, high barometer and heat. We tore around the Islands on dawn patrol trying to find some active fish. They were in Gemini’s. We used the “Dreaded Eight Weight Billy Baroo,” a twenty pound tapered leader fastened to a fifty pound flouro bite with a Slim Beauty. It took an hour and a half of quietly poling through the surges of adrenaline that engulfed us every time we moved a fish but we did it. We hooked a Giant. When she jumped, over and over, other tarpon would jump out of her crashing place, scatter in every direction like quail, Giant Tarpon! Dan got her to the boat in forty three minutes. About a hundred and thirty pounds. No camera, yet, Nikon is repairing it for free, maybe next week. (March 19, In my excitement at battling the first Giant of the season I neglected to report that we landed a fifty pounder later in the day on the same rig.)