Tarpon - guess the weight

[V8_rob]

I caught this the other day whilst on vacation and I've no idea as to what it weighed.

All I can say is that it was 5 feet long and took 3 hours to land. It also broke an 80lb trace trying drag it out onto the shore... I'm just curious as to what it might have weighed :g:

Reel is a Shimano 5000GTE-B for scale, rod a Mike Ladle Surespin

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura3.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura5.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/cura4.jpg

[GrumpyBloke]

Hell of a fish mate ! I,d give you around 120.
Was it taken at night or just dark when you finally won?

[V8_rob]

Hooked it a few minutes after midnight, it came alongside a minute after 3am.. was still dark though the cockerells were crowing :) , though by the time I had it livened up again and swimming away is was 3:30am and it was just starting to lighten up a tad.

[GrumpyBloke]

I bet " for f**ks sake " crept into your mind as your arm started to seize up.
By the way , where in the world did you have it?

[bassed hard]

What a beauty that is I bet that made that rod bend and that reel scream !!
Probably made you scream after about two hours on the hook as well I'd think.
I have no idea how heavy that would be but just wanted to say congratulations on catching it - I've seen people water skiing behind less powerful things than that :clap3:
Well done - where did you get it from ?

[V8_rob]

I visited Curacao in the Netherland Antilles, off the coast of venezuela. I've been there 2 times previously to visit my wifes parents. This time I insisted on taking my tackle :fishing:

I had been told by a couple of local people that they were all small tarpon of 5-10lb in the lagoons.. apparently not.

[GrumpyBloke]

Should think your one ate them!!

[martinw]

estimating weight from length is tricky!
using the formula girth squared in inches x length in inches / 800

30x30x60/800= 67.5
35x35x60/800=91.8

the only tarpon ive measured was 81inches long x 43inches girth=187

length to girth was around 1.9 to 1 all very inaccurate but it gives a rough idea.

Fantastic fish and a real bit if fishing skill!! could you hear it crashing about in the dark.
What end tackle were you using.

[V8_rob]

Mainline was 20lb Fireline with a few feet of 30lb Vanish for a shockleader. End gear was a large weighted foam float (40g) that I picked up in Dubai, a small chemical light was pushed into the top. That allowed a good view of the float up to about 100m. Below that was a 2' 80lb trace with a 3/0 Mustad forged hook. All very simple to be honest.

I must say that I'm chuffed with the two 4-piece spinning rods that I'd purchased prior to going. I can see them being used regularly whether home or abroad. I'd read a lot of articles on here about what reel to mate to the spinning rods. Nearly all didn't really see the purpose of using a baitrunner reel, though it's turned out to be one of my best purchases and really came into it's on with this type of fishing.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/float2.jpg

[TomBettle]

Rob

Great capture from the shore!!!
What bait did you take it on?

[Spitfire66]

well dome - nice fish

[V8_rob]

I think it might be called Ballyhoo??. I bought a bag of about 15 frozen from a local store. Small, long fish with a long bill protruding from the lower lip. Large scales.

I cut a fillet and divided it into 3-4 strips. Originally I tried much larger pieces, generally a whole fish with fillet cut off (and the bill) resulting in a bait of 6-8" which was freelined in slack water. This produced a few runs but no fish.

The small strip float fished 18-24" below the surface into the tidal flow proved very effective. Despite starting the float directly in from of me and letting it run out, most fish were taken 60-70m out when the tidal flow eased.

I tried casting the setup but I regularly tangled around the chemical light so reverted to starting the float at rods length from where I was standing. It took 3-4 minutes for the float to get out into the target area, though some fish were taken as close as 8-10m.

If anyone knows were i can but more of those floats please let me know. I lent my only other to a local chap which resulted in a fish jumping over his main line and all the end gear was lost. Frustratingly I watched this float being hit and dragged around the lagoon for over an hour before it finally went quiet and disappeared into the darkness :sad2:

[TomBettle]

Rob

Have you thoght of making your own. Quite satisfying really.
Purchase yourself a modelling "egg" from any model shop or off ebay.
I have eggs that take 2oz, 3oz and 6oz to cock them and you can get various sizes in between.

The ones I use are simply drilled and have a hollow lolly stick inserted and araldited in to be used as a sliding float for livebaiting for Bass in very deep water, however I am sure that some basic fiddling and a bit of ingenuity will give you a perfect result to closely mimic your shop bought ones.

Set up as a slider, each float costs around 40p (depending on size). Set it up fixed and I reckon you'd be looking at 55p each by the time you had through wired it and attached a swivel at each end etc.

Tom

[V8_rob]

Thanks for that, I like the look of them. If they could be made pre-weighted even better. I'll have a play over the next few weeks and see what I can come up with.

[TomBettle]

Thanks for that, I like the look of them. If they could be made pre-weighted even better. I'll have a play over the next few weeks and see what I can come up with.

Rob

Bare in mind that the ones in the picture are set up for a sliding float.
I feel positive that you could take a fine piece of stainless wire, push it through the central body of the egg.
Twist on a swivel at the top and pull it "snug" into the egg so the barrel and top half is free. At the bottom slide on a ball lead of the appropriate size and then twist on tight a swivel so that the whole lot is nice and snug. If you wanted you could even mould the egg slightly to recess the ball lead into it.
Poke a light stick into the top and hey presto, close mimic of the ones you purchased and perfectly suited to the job.

Tom

PS: The numbers I have written on the eggs correspond with the amount of lead in ounces required to cock the float to the adjacent line.

[V8_rob]

Yes, I definitely like.. I'll see if i can source some off those eggs locally, or off Ebay

[V8_rob]

I found this photo, must be the first one i took. It shows the end rig and length of the snood.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/roberth.appleby/end%20rig.jpg