This one belongs in the " it’s better to be lucky than good" file. I work third shift M-W. When I get off Thursday am I try to stay awake all day to get back on a normal schedule. For me that means loading up the key west and hitting the water. Was headed out to look for spadefish and ran into a school of huge menhaden, which I considered a sign, so I turned to St Helana and set up on a sandbar. Was fishing one line on top of the bar under a float in 3-4 ft of water, one just off the bar under a float and one on the bottom all on shimano bait runners on 30# braid. Fished for a couple of hours with just a few sharks. Moved less than 100 yards to a little point and almost immediately hooked up on the shallow rod. Fish jumped immediately then took off. Left the rod in the holder and tossed the anchor line and float overboard and cleared the other two lines. Fish went over the sandbar into deeper water and jumped 5 feet into the air. I have no choice but to follow, so I turn the boat straight into the 3 ft waves coming over the sandbar and over the bow while trying to stay tight on the fish. I did neither of these things well but the fish stayed on and we got into deeper and calmer water and settled in for a 30 min tug of war with 4 more nice jumps, the last one right off the bow. The whole time I am steering the boat and running around the center console trying to keep it away from the bow and the engine. Crazy. Finally get the fish to the side and manage a few pics, remove the hook and then watch him swim away. Marked a spot on the side of the boat for length and measured when I got back and it was 70 in give or take. I have been on the forum long enough to know not to ever estimate a weight, but against the chart assuming avg girth it estimates 110#. This was my first tarpon and definitely one of the coolest fish I have ever caught.
[img]http://old.charlestonfishing.com/forum/uploaded/Fortunate Son/201591111922_im
