G'day 

I recently got back from a trip to the US with the Mrs. As any good fisho' would do I managed to sneak in some fishing in Puerto Rico. I had two full day charters booked before I left, one for Tarpon fishing and the other Bluewater, unfortunately the bluewater charter was cancelled due to bad weather.

Picking the right charter before you leave on an overseas holiday is even more important than it is at home, because you only have one shot at it! I went with Magic Tarpon charters and couldn't have been happier. The Mrs and I arrived at the docks at about 6am, and were quickly introduced to our captain for the day. We were one of 5 boats that Magic Tarpon run for Tarpon fishing, the other 4 boats were full of American Anglers. After a 10 minute ride during a beautiful Puerto Rican sunrise we were at our spot right in the middle of the lagoon. On the way out I was thinking we would be fishing hard up against the mangroves, but this wasn't the case, our Captain showed me the sounder and explained that we were fishing a nice drop off in the Lagoon that the Tarpon feed along. 

Our Captain had already been out that morning to catch some bait, in the way of "sand perch" these were kept live and killed before they went onto a single circle hook and lobbed out. We had been fishing for what felt like 5minutes and one of the rods buckled over, and we were on! You quickly learn what Tarpon are all about, brute strength and stamina. The first run was a good one as you would expect, then the next and the next and the next... It is never over unti the fish is in the boat, every time you think the fish is beat boat side, it will take another 50-100m and your heart will skip a beat as these guys are masters at throwing hooks. By this time, the other 4 boats were close by as well as another couple boats, we eventually got this guy in the boat and I couldn't have been happier, a nice 30kg + Tarpon was in the boat! You beauty, huge smile, high 5's and a fair bit of carrying on to let the yanks know how we do it down under! Felt good to get the monkey off my back before the sun had fully risen. 

For the next couple of hours we saw one more smaller fish landed by another boat and saw plenty of bait fish and Tarpon jumping around the boats, without too much action. For some reason Magic Tarpon have all their handles on the left side of theirs reels, I am used to having it on the right. I asked the Capt' if we could change them over. We started to joke that this would be the time a fish would take off and you guessed it, we were on! only problem was the reel had no handle! After some quick scrambling we managed to get the handle back on the reel and I was on again. This fish played a different game to the first and was all about jumping! which was good to see, but I crapped myself everytime it did scared it would throw the hooks. My Captain exlained that the best thing to do is throw your arms forward when they do to give them some line, so the hooks don't pull. Feels awkward at first and hard to remember while the adrenalin is pumping, but it seems effective as the fish stayed connected. After about 45mins we had our second Tarpon on the boat! Another nice fish of around 30kg! We didn't catch another fish after this but, dropping one more smaller fish and it didn't matter! I couldn't have been happier I had landed myself 2 very nice Tarpon and got to experience what these Magical fish are all about and got to tick another fish off the list. 

We got back to the docks at around lunch time and had a yarn to the other anglers and captains, only one other fish was caught for the day, making it 3 fish from 5 boats, and I managed to snag myself two of them! When it is your day it is your day. Have to learn to cherish those days as these special days don't come around very often and this was a really specials days fishing for me and one I wont forget. Always good givin' it to a couple of Yanks too.

Tarpon have it all. Strength, a never say die attitude, acrobatics and a crazy ability to throw hooks!

Thanks for reading,

Alex