For our major saltwater trip this year, we decided to head back to one of our all-time favorite family/fishing vacations : St. George Island. The summer time in SGI and Apalachicola is known for the migratory tarpon run, and we were hoping to get in on the mix. With massive storms in the area, and with fishing being tough thus far in the summer, the expectations were not set for huge numbers of fish, but we did hope to have a chance to hook into a big tarpon or two.

The tarpon played hard to get. Having fished three days for them, we did not get any eats, or hookups until the last day. To be honest, we probably only had two legitimate shots during our fishing periods. But on the last day, in the last hour (this seems to be a trend from the year), we were able to make it happen.

Deciding to call it quits on tarpon, we took the 9-weight fly rods out and decided to go pound on redfish and ladyfish on a gulf side of the island. Upon arriving at a boiling school of fish, we caught mackerel, ladyfish, and trout cast after cast. All of a sudden I looked to my left, and saw a huge shape in the water…a massive tarpon. I threw a perfect cast one foot in front of the fish, stripped the gold flash bunny I was fishing twice quick, and BOOM. Fish on. Finally.

The tarpon took off way into the gulf, and we fought the fish for roughly 30-minutes. Only using a 9-weight, we knew we weren’t going to be able to get this 150 pound fish into the boat, but we were able to enjoy the fight and get a leader touch to count the fish as caught. Unfortunately did not have many photo opps, but my best friend Jackson was able to get some solid footage of a jump.

Although these fish can be beyond difficult, and it doesn’t always end in a picture perfect moment, this trip was a blast, and teaches the lesson as to always being prepared for the unexpected.