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SnatchinLips

My fishing partner in crime and I had been planning a beach run for weeks. Finally the stars aligned and we decided to make the run to the jetties on Tuesday 7-1. Despite every one we had spoke to about driving conditions and wash outs, we were not going to miss the window that laid in front of us. One quick pit stop at roy's for some lures and we were off. Driving was great, still were a lot of sink holes, one of which I found, but most were easily avoidable. There was one wash out at the 56MM that I took the high road through it on the way down and drove the shore on the way back. It was intimidating, but very passable. We arrived to excellent conditions.

I convinced my buddy to go take a look at the channel side before we set up camp. Once we could see over the rocks we saw....Tarpon...Tarpon rolling everywhere. We got all worked up and set up camp rather quickly since Tarpon was the secret mission of the trip. We fished evening with out a hook up. Redfish were everywhere and could be sight casted to. We easily caught our limits for the 3 days we were there, all CR'd. The 2nd morning we were up early and at the tarpon again. I jumped 2 early, but nothing afterward. The usual suspects, reds, skipjacks and jacks were out there but we decided to take a break and beat the heat til the evening bite.

About 4pm we decided to pack up and head up to the rocks. I tied on the 20$ lure I had bought from roys that I told my buddy that i was buying it to lose it. Instantly it was a rewarding decision. My buddy jumped a large tarpon on his first cast. Soon after, I jumped one and the very next cast I hooked up on my very first tarpon. The tarpon was landed in less than 10 minutes using a Curado 100D and waterloo. I did everything I could to lose that fish.

Thanks to the cool people from Mansfield who took pictures and shot footage with my gopro. We partied all the way to the truck, when we saw that my partner's rod with the LX on it take a dip and the reel started singing. He jumped on the rack and drug in a 5-6ft shark. Not sure on species. BT (no distinct markings), spinner or sandbar? this late? I don't know.

After the release we cooked dinner and celebrated a tarpon and shark in less than an hour from each other. The next morning we woke up knowing we had to leave so we gave it a go again. I ended up just watching and getting some footage while my partner jumped 3 large tarpon. After that we packed up and headed off the beach at low tide. This big guy decided to bid us farewell.

I found the sink hole on the way back that almost killed our trip.

Back in Rockport our dads were waiting for us to tell them the tale of the Texas Tarpon, we celebrated and slept like kings. The next day my dad and I went out mid day to try to beat the 4th of july crowds that were taking a break from the heat and I scored this nice 27" spec.

We decided there were too many hooligans on the water to fish during the day, so we switched gears into stabbin flatties. My wife went on her first gigging trip and she is hooked. She gigged her first flounder then gigged her limit.

Packed it up after that and made the slow mozy back to Pleasanton with my head held high. A gaff to the leg, a treble hook in the thighs due to a flounder that had other plans other than my stringer, a broken rod from mangrove snapper fishing and a broken lens on my costas, other than that I had an awesome week of fishing. Beats the heck out of Sharkathon.

magadorm · Horse Mullet Joined: 25 Jul 2012 Posts: 131

Looks like a great time was had by all!
TFTR!

mansfieldjetties · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:20 pm Post subject:

Great report! Looks like y'all had a great time.
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"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."

AZ_squid · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 9:14 pm Post subject:

Nice report looks like you boys had a great trip!
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It's not the destination, the journey is everything.

surfguy · Finger Mullet Joined: 06 Dec 2013 Posts: 20

Good report! Nice tarpon and shark. Cool

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-Ron

lifeaquatic · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 1:22 pm Post subject:

Great report. That is a "Top 10" type of trip.
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kick your shoes off and cast a line

Baffinboy · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:06 pm Post subject:

Nice diversity
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But you ain't got no legs Lt. Dan, I know that

smfiredog · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:50 pm Post subject:

Where'd you find those flatties? Been wanting to put the kids on some but they have eluded me as yet.
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Remember to check your smoke alarms.

AZ_squid · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:01 pm Post subject:

I'm very currious what the secret tarpon bait was! If you don't want to share I dint blame you. But if you feel so inclined I'd love a pm on it!
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It's not the destination, the journey is everything.

SnatchinLips · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:30 pm Post subject:

AZ_squid · Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 9:24 am Post subject:

That's a good looking lure. Thanks for the info. I'd say it definitely deserves it's retirement.
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It's not the destination, the journey is everything.