i will admit this was from the florida/georgia border area, but the technique will also work for charleston. i took to the beach since it was flat calm and launched my kayak from the sand to chase bait pods running near the beach. it didnt take long until i saw bombs going off in the water that were tarpon smashing bait. me wanting to check tarpon off the bucket list, i snatch a pogy and toss over where i saw the fish. within a second or 2 the bait gets hit and as im tightening the drag to set the hook out of the water comes a 6+ foot tarpon easily going over 100lbs that shakes the bait out of its mouth before i even know what happened, let alone “bow to the king” as they say. i get another bait and proceed to get 4 mono leaders bitten through since the tarpon moved out and the sharks moved it. determined to catch something and get my sleigh ride in, i switch over to a 70lb wire leader instead. i hook up within a minute or 2 and initially whatever i had wasn’t running too hard, but took off like a rocket after i started to work it to the surface. i fully expected some form of shark, but after 10 minutes i saw that it was not a shark but a big jack instead! needless to say i got my sleigh ride in and it measured 38" to the fork, 42" total, and weighed 26lbs. it wouldn’t fit in my cooler so i paddled it back to shore with my lap over it and yup i succeeded. hopefully in the very near future i can cross tarpon off the list and paddle back a cobia in the same manner. needless to say i have plenty of shark bait from that one jack!
I’ll give you credit, you have more nerve than me! I always feel a bit spooked bringing a decent shark to a bigger boat. I’m not gonna throw to one while in a Kayak!
Good luck on your Tarpon and Cobia! I could only imagine the sleigh ride a 40# + would give you.
I’ll give you credit, you have more nerve than me! I always feel a bit spooked bringing a decent shark to a bigger boat. I’m not gonna throw to one while in a Kayak!
Good luck on your Tarpon and Cobia! I could only imagine the sleigh ride a 40# + would give you.
look under my left leg and you will see that i have an attitude adjustment device (ball peen hammer) in the event i get a big cobia or something with teeth that i want (big king mackerel) that wont fit in my cooler. didnt need it for the jack, but its there if needed! the biggest shark ive handled from the yak was a 6.5 foot blacktip that took my buddy for a 27 minute sleigh ride according to my gopro. he did the reeling and i did the unhooking. the biggest one ive reeled in was about 5 feet.
