subject: Florida keys Tarpon the Ultimate Game Fish [print this page] Tarpon,The Silver King,is considered the King of all inshore game fish,they have had a long time to perfect their way of life.They have been around 125 million years,the age the dinosaurs was comeing to an end. The Tarpon's rudimentary lung,the only fish to have one,allows it to gulp air at the surface,and to survive in oxygen-depleted water.They spawn offshore,and their eel-like larvae fight for existence on their journey back inshore. After a few months of rapid growth,the larvae change form and take on the unmistakable appearance of juvenile tarpon,complete with oversize eyes and mirror-like scales.The juveniles head for the estuaries,with predators not far behind,instinctively knowing that they will be safe, only when they reach waters so stagnant that their enemies can't survive there. In the clear waters off the florida keys,you see a school of tarpon headingyour way.Sunlight shines off their mirror-like body,they gulp air with their huge heads,and each fish seems to be bigger than .Sometimes you don't know if you shouldreach for your fishing rod,or a life preserver. You wonder,"Is it possible to land that thing".Yes anglers do land them.Of 10 encounters with anglers tarpon wins probably 9 of them. The average tarpon you will encounter in the Keys is around 75 lbs.,and if it ran straight out instead of exhausting itself with towering leaps,landing it would be nearly impossible. And boy how they jump!Usually ,the tarpon feels the hook,and takes to the air repeatedly.Its jumps are sometimes 10 feet in the air with wild abandonement,a creature propelling itself from its own enviornment,into to a strange one with no thought of the consequences. Heavy tackle,floating a live bait or useing cut bait on the bottom,and a quick-release anchoreing system is the most reliable technique. Anglers in small boats,or from shorecan catch tarpon on standard bait casting tackle.They hit jigs,crank baits,soft plastic baits,and many of the lures used in fresh and salt water. Many anglers would say that the number one technique,both for challenge and excitement,is takeing tarpon with fly rods in clear water.Sight fishing for tarpon combines the most exciteing aspects of hunting and fishing. Many years ago fishing up here in New England for bluefish and stripers,I would always dream of fishing for the silver king down in thekeys. Even after all these years, in my book ;The Florida Keys Tarpon isStill The Ultimate Game Fish
