That photo was 30" Red on fly. Beaufort, SC 2021.
Laid him down to measure. Picked him up for picture and slipped out into water. Beautiful fish, had nice cooper reddish hue.
Used to catch Jacks in 15-20 lb range in 4-6 ft of water under S Bridge in NSB. Absolute brutes. Sigh, what we used to do before cell phones.
A bit of a funny story for you.
At 12 years old, I got to fly to Florida to spend a couple weeks with my big sister. Had a buddy back then, all this kid and his dad did was fish, practice fishing, talk about fishing. He tells me before I leave "tell someone you want to go fishing for tarpon." Me, being the young idiot I was, didn't think to ask any questions, I just wanted to catch this fish because my buddy said to do it.
About three days on, I tell my brother in law that I want to go fishing for tarpon. Something
should have clicked when he looked at me, laughed, and asked me "are you sure you want to do that".....but it didn't. Keep in mind, I was
scrawny in my youth, I didn't start filling out until I was about 16. I told him that I absolutely wanted to go fishing for tarpon, and nothing he could say would change my mind. He just laughed, said okay and to be ready first thing in the morning.
We get on his Dad's boat, go off to a location where they said there would be tarpon, and put lines in the water. Didn't take too long before one of the lines started
SCREAMING out of the reel, it was about that point that the first thoughts of "I think I messed up" popped into my head. Didn't have time to think about that though, because I was quickly thrown into a harness, buckled into a chair on a pedestal, and told "there's your tarpon, bring him in".
I swear on everything I hold dear that I thought someone had mistakenly hooked my line to the underwater version of a rhino. I'd reel, reel, reel, I'd think that the fish HAD to be close enough to pull in, only for that fish to remember that it didn't much like being reeled in, so off it would go on its merry way again. This continued for what seemed and felt like an hour (my BIL claims it was only about 15 minutes), and I was finally able to get the fish to the boat, where it was promptly netted and brought aboard
Y'all, I legitimately cried like a newborn when I heard my BIL's dad utter those fateful words: "we gotta throw it back, it ain't legal size to keep". My arms and legs are complete Jello by this point, I feel like I just went one on one with a submarine, and you're telling me this fish is too small and too young to keep??
Unsurprisingly, that's the first and only time I've ever been fishing for tarpon.
