What a great weekend of fishing we had during the Memorial Day
holiday! All of the inshore fish were biting...trout, mackerel, reds,
cobia, sharks, and even tarpon! The fishing offshore must have been
good also, as Captain Carl Robinson said his clients are regularly
catching a hundred grouper per trip; as well as some huge king
mackerel.
I saw two things this past weekend that I had never seen in the wild
before.
First unreal event happened on a charter Saturday afternoon. We were
"big pole" fishing for large game fish, and the fishing had been good.
We had landed two cobia, more sharks than we could count and even
jumped three tarpon. The fish were on fire and we were in the middle
of it all. As the high tide moved in the water got real clear, making the
bite even better. Well, that's when it happened...my clients had been
taking turns fighting this huge nine foot bull shark and as it began to
tire a little it began circling the boat on the surface. We had probably
thirty tarpon hanging around the boat just swimming and sunning
themselves. I had seen them do this before and they are almost
impossible to catch when they do this. Anyway, this huge bull shark
makes a run on top right at the boat so we are all watching ...and
that's when it happened. A medium sized tarpon, maybe sixty pounds
swims at the shark, within a foot or so, at top speed then veers off
just as fast. Now I figure that's got to mean something in the wild fish
world.
Guess number one: "ha ha! You're on a hook and I'm not so I can run
at you and you can't eat me!"
Guess number two: “I really like the taste of this boat's chum and
don't want you near it!"
Guess number three "Watch the guide in the boat when I buzz this
shark that can eat me in one bite!”
Guess number four: teen tarpon #1 "I double dog dare you to swim
right at that tarpon eater at full speed..." teen
tarpon #2 "hey guys watch this!" Well I have spent a lot of years
around tarpon but I have never seen one challenge a 300 pound bull
shark.
Okay, same day...I am at home and very tired after a busy day of
guiding...so I pour a green tea and sit on the front porch swing to
unwind. My lake has been dry for a couple of years now so I have the
neighbor down the road come down and mow it so I can watch the
deer and turkeys in the evenings. I am not out there ten minutes and
two coyotes come out of the piney woods continuously looking back
over their shoulder, and run out into the mowed area. Kind of unusual
to see coyotes out in the open. I briefly consider fetching my 223 and
popping one of them, it’s only a 150 yard shot. But I am tired and sore
from wrangling sharks most of the day so I just sit still. Then here
come three doe deer doing the hitler goose step with their front legs
right at the coyotes! Holy cow I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The prey was running off the predators! Those two coyotes put their
tail between their legs and took off.
So, that was twice in one day that the prey was chasing the predator.
Must have been a heck of a full moon we had!
That's all for now...the fish are biting so get out and enjoy our
beautiful resources!