Fishing bridges and lights for tarpon

Fishing bridges and lights for tarpon

Mid summer nights are perhaps the most productive times to fish bridge lights for Florida's favorite inshore gamefish - the tarpon. It has to be the most comfortable time of day, and also a peak period when the big silverkings are on the move.

By Kevin Fenn

Last weekend I had a chance to make a trip up to my native North Florida area for a visit with friends and family. While there, the itch to go fishing at some of my old favorite waterways became irresistible.

I contacted my good friend Bob Minke to see if he has been good enough for his wife to allow him to entertain me with a day of fishing. Boy, was I ever glad I called him.

Bob told me he'd been sight casting to above-average size tarpon while sitting in his boat. He added that he was still studying the area and needed some more time to figure out why and how to catch the fish. Even though he couldn't guarantee a catch, all I heard was TARPON! We agreed to meet to meet at a local ramp that evening at 8:00 PM.

Arriving on time, I was happy to see the boat in water with engine running. "When and where are we going to sight cast to tarpon," I asked. "Look over my shoulder toward the bridge," he replied, "that's where happiness awaited." I was eager for him to get the boat running so I opted to hold further questions until we got there.

Setting up under the bridge using a 100' line with a claw style anchor, we were planted right on the edge of the lights in what Bob said was the right place.

After anchoring, he pulled out the ammo for our night's fishing. This included a stiff 12-weight fly rod and broomstick style boat rod loaded with 10 feet of 100lb. shock tied to 30lb. line. Our lures of choice were a Purple and Black Fly for the long rod and a large D.O.A. Shrimp for the other rod.

He told me to cast up current away from the light and let the lures drift into the light past the nearest piling. I opted to cast the conventional rod instead of the fly rod for fear of flaying the line in the air or hooking Bob in the back. We took turns casting in to the light with no luck. I told Bob that I wanted to see some action . As soon as the words left my mouth, the water exploded all around us!

He whispered to me to make another toss and give it a little more action (twitch) when working the lure. As my lure approached the light, I could feel my arms tighten up in expectation of a strike. Sure enough, I had a short but quick pull but the line went slack. We didn't expect that kind of reaction and we pondered what went wrong. Bob suggested that we might need to let them take some line before setting the hook. So, I made another attempt. Nothing. Meanwhile, tarpon are exploding everywhere. We even started to see them cruise the shadow line from the overheads lights above. This drove us nuts!

Tarpon everywhere and we can't even buy a bite. I really wanted to hook one to complete the night. We both figured that the tide was moving more, and maybe that had something to do with the sightings. It was around 9:30 and we only had one short strike. So, Bob told me about how he thought the bridge pilings may be a factor and maybe we should tie up to one, climb out off the boat and cast.

The pilings under the bridge had platforms about 4feet above the water line with an 8-foot wide solid pillar (in the center) leading up to support the overhead bridge. What made these platforms so unique was that they were 30 feet x 60 feet long. Watching my step closely, I climbed onto one of the pilings. I certainly didn't want to lose my balance and be swept away in the fast moving current. Seconds later we both were on the platform with the skiff moored next to the piling, giggling like little boys skipping school or sneaking out of the house. I even made a comment to Bob that I felt like a little kid. Bob even felt like a young man again.

All the sudden a huge tarpon busted in the water just in front of us. Bob ran to the skiff to grab the rods. We were near the edge of the light in the fastest part of the current watching tarpon feeding and hanging around three feet in front of us. We were shielded from the fish because of the blackness of the night. We were literally feet away from the fish but they couldn't see us.

I told Bob I wanted to wait and make a cast into the fish to see exactly how they were feeding and what kind of movement they were making in the water. We soon realized that the fish would roll and then dive straight down to the bottom. We would have never seen this if we stayed in the boat. After we watched for a while, I told Bob that in Tampa I often hear that deep jigging for fish around pilings is successful. I decided to give it a try so I held the rod over the piling's edge and opened the bail. We both watched as the huge D.O.A. fell down into the deep, well-lit water.

A few seconds later I felt slack in the line and knew it hit bottom safely. I flipped the bail shut and started to jig the lure. After the second lift of the rod, I had a hit. This one was not getting away. Bob started to shout, "Set the hook" and "make it stick". So, with line peeling from my reel, I hurled the rod upward to get a good hook set. I knew a jump was coming soon.

A 40 lb. tarpon jumped about 3 feet in front of us, violently shaking and trying to get away. I tightened the drag some and let it run. After a minute of hard running, the tarpon stopped running and started pulling. That's when I knew it was time to crank in line and play tug of war. After about 5 minutes, we had the tarpon next to the platform for a quick release. Bob asked if I could lift his head out of the water and drag him over to the boat for a quick photo before releasing him. I lifted the fish over to the side of the skiff; we revived it and took off again to catch another.

Now, it was Bob's turn. He quickly tied a new knot and we headed back to the playing field. Bob held the rod over and dropped the lure just like I had. It wasn't a second later and he had a hit - a short and fast hit resulting in a missed connection. Bob started to tighten up and looked at me and said, "that was a good fish". He cast again and was right on target. The line flew off the reel like a runaway train. The water erupted only 20 feet away! I knew it was a fish we couldn't land from this platform. It might run right into a piling following a break off. I yelled to Bob that I was getting the skiff and we were going to fight it from the boat.

We motored away from the bridge and the tarpon jumped 3 more times before starting the tug of war. Watching Bob fight this fish was like watching Captain Ahab get Moby Dick. After about 30 minutes of jumps and turns, followed by heavy pulls, this tarpon was finally on its way to the boat.

I used the gaff to land the fish because we couldn't see much besides the glowing phosphorous in the water around the tarpon. We guessed the fish had to be around 100-120 lbs. The fight was about 40 minutes total.

After drinking some fluids to regain strength, we headed back toward the piling. Bob told me it was my turn again. After 20 minutes, I got another hook up. This time it wasn't a line peeling fish. Instead, it felt like a big tire on the end of line. It turned out to be a 14 lb. redfish. Bob there after managed to land a 20-inch snook, which is rare up there. About 1:30 a.m., the tide stopped running and we were exhausted. Bob and I were under the Bridge of Happiness and I thanked Bob for giving me a lasting memory.

You can reach Bob Minke at the Salty Feather Fly Shop in Jacksonville @ (904)-645-8998

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