by Vicky Wiegand

On Sunday, August 23^rd, I hooked a monster tarpon.

It was a beautiful day on the water. My boyfriend, Daniel Martinko and I, along with our friends, Mike and Lindsay, were fishing off the small town of Lanark Village in north Florida at around 10 AM. Our target was tarpon, and we were using live pinfish on large spinning rods.

The day started off rather uneventfully, with just a few sharks for our efforts. But the mood suddenly changed as my boyfriend jumped a good-sized tarpon. Unfortunately, it shook the hook as soon as it felt the line. 

About an hour later while I was sitting on the poling platform, my line started peeling from my open bail. My heart started racing! I flipped the bail to set the hook, hoping to see a silver king come thrashing out of the water. My line became very tight and my reel started peeling drag. 

The monster tarpon then made its first appearance, jumping twice out of pure panic. He was trying to shake my hook, but I kept my line tight by lowering my rod each time he jumped. His initial run almost spooled me, but fortunately, my crew was quick to come off the anchor.  I ran to the bow as Daniel cranked the boat to chase him down. We quickly headed the boat in his direction so I could get some of my line back. Finally, after an awful lot of reeling, I had him within a reasonable range to put some heat on him. Daniel turned off the boat, I tightened my drag down a little bit and pulled back. Nothing. Just the slow clinking of the drag as he pulled the boat into the wind. 

Suddenly, the line rose and the fish took another jump and a shake.  I tried to get a pump on him but he took another run. When he finally slowed, I was able to turn his head and began pulling him toward the boat. I could feel him shaking his head in an attempt to resist my lead. Then, the line rose again and the tarpon rolled on the surface taking in a big breath of air - it was like an energy shot of oxygen, because he tuned away from me and took off again.

This fish was wearing me out.  My boyfriend grabbed a water bottle and poured it into my mouth. The rod butt was killing my stomach and I was dripping with sweat. I hoped the fish was going to give in before I did.

The tug-of-war continued; whenever I took some, he took it back. Eventually, after a couple more jumps and rolls, I was able to get him close enough to the boat for Daniel to get a leader touch. As soon as he did, the tarpon flipped his tail and was on the run again. But this time he was pulling us into shallow water where he couldn't hide anymore. I stuck my rod out to my side and pulled the tarpon's head around.  A few more pumps and I had him on his side next to the boat, ready for Daniel to lip him.

The battle was over. Forty-five minutes after setting the hook, I had won! We quickly jumped out of the boat to measure him and take some pictures. He was 74 inches long with a 38-inch girth. I had just defeated a fish that was bigger then me!  He was such a beautiful fish, too. I liked how his big eyes looked around while we were in the water with him, as if he was checking everyone out.

After examining the big fish, we hauled him out to deeper water for a safe release. When he started to fight my hand, letting me know he was ready, I let go and he swam away to continue his travels west, and maybe even to be snagged again on the way.