Have you ever put yourself in a position to be a part of something, like a fishing trip or going to look over the city at night on a cliff just outside of town, and then something completely unexpected happens that changes your whole outlook on life? Because same...

So on what seemed to be another normal Friday, we were scheduled to ride out with the LTA crew and some clients of theirs to capture some moments of their Tarpon trip and of course we were stoked to have the opportunity to do so! Now we’ve seen these fish before and we’ve heard that once you hook one, be ready for a long fight. Like a fight that lasts around an hour to an hour and a half. Of course Lionel has gotten plenty of these beautiful fish to the boat in the past so we just expected it to be another day for him at the office. The clients that booked the trip were in for a treat as well since it would be their first time reeling one in(if they got the chance). Basically, the day was set up for great success. Emotions were on high, the weather was freaking gorgeous and we caught enough bait to catch quite a few Tarpon.

As we set out searching for the schools of these prehistoric looking creatures, we were hit with a big ole goose egg. We went some miles one way and didn’t spot much. I’m sure at this point the morale of the boat had gone down(at least for the people who don’t know these Destin, FL waters). So Lionel, the captain of the awesome Lions Tale Adventures fishing charter, turned us around and we started to head in the direction in which we came from. On the way back we spotted some schools who probably moved in behind us but they were already being worked by some other fisherman. We were kind of bummed out but it’s proper etiquette to not invade on someone as they’re working a school out on the water. So we kept cruising. We passed the pass and continued into the sunrise. After about 20 minutes we started to spot A LOT of Tarpon...and the excitement on the boat started to rise!

Side note: One thing about these fish is that they typically travel close to the beaches. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 yards off shore. So at this point in the story we have people watching us, we’re dealing with paddle boarders and kayak lovers. All more detail for the story here...HAHA.

We get rigged up with the rod and then we hook the bait and boom, we are ready for a fight. Well it turns out this school of Tarpon seemed to be fans of teasing us because they were no more than 20 feet from the boat on this first cast. I could imagine them just giggling at us and toying around the bait. After a couple more casts and a few beads of sweat later, a hook is set! The excitement on the boat shot up like a rocket!

Now aboard the boat was of course the LTA crew, the CMP crew and the two clients who booked the trip. They were a husband and wife, both of them were awesome by the way. So the fish is hooked and the adrenaline is racing and the husband gets to fight this first one. Lionel is giving instructions to make sure this Tarpon stays on the hook all while he’s talking to us AND the camera giving us the master details of what’s going on at the moment. “Keep the line tight! Reel down! Don’t pull up too hard! Point! SHE’S ABOUT TO JUMP!!” Thankfully the husband didn’t go into a panic and lose all sense of hearing. Usually at this point a person falls into whatever survival mode is embedded in them and they just begin acting out in the way they feel will work(some of our team members have done this with him...).

So about 20 minutes pass and the ole girl is still hooked and giving us a good fight. A few more instructions pass through the air from the Capt. to the client....than just like that the fish is gone and the reel goes from a screaming bend right back to the linear characteristic of its manufactured nature. Maybe he pulled too hard or pulled in the wrong direction but we were all for sure bummed. But as the old saying goes, onto the next one.

In the gap between the Tarpon spitting the hook out and hooking the next bait, the couple decides the wife wants to give it a try and boy oh boy could you see the excitement and nervousness in her face. We move around a bit to find another school, which we do of course. Then Lionel gets the rod rigged up once more, the bait is on and just like that we’re on the search for another monster.

This time around we seemed to find a fish that was rather hungry because we got hooked up almost instantly. The adrenaline was racing again. And for good reason. Now for the next 30 minutes or so the focus was on Lionel. We wanted to capture his professional excitement AND insight on what was going on. We also happened to have our drone up in the air for some dope footage of the school(we can be some great multitaskers).

Once the drone landed, which was tuff while moving on a boat, and the focus was back on the clients, we figured we had another 30-45 minutes of a fight left with this fish. Nope, wrong again sonny. An hour had passed and the wife was now sitting on the Bird Dog cooler holding the rod with white knuckles showing for everyone to see. She was in it for the win!

Camera pans back to Lionel, “We’ve been hooked up for about an hour now and this fish is FIGHTING!!”

Like we mentioned before, he’s caught plenty of these fish in his career and he knows what they’re capable of doing in a fight for their life(although you can’t keep them or even bring them onto your boat). Nonetheless, this fish had absolutely no thought of letting us get the opportunity to get our hands on her in any short amount of time.

An hour and a half goes by, then 2 hours. At this point everyone, even the people who are just watching and filming are being worn down. Imagine how the wife was feeling. We look to Lionel as if he's the fish whisperer and ask when is the fish going to give up?! No answer...

Two and half hours go by. Lionel is stunned to be a part of this at this point. He understands these fish fight hard but dang...this one is just different. The couple is now using a team effort to catch this monster fish. One is reeling and the other is holding the rod, synchronizing movements with no problem. Talk about patience and teamwork.

Oh, this shouldn’t be left out. As mentioned before, the fish hang out close to the beach and that’s where we hooked her. Not only is she fighting us for this absurd amount of time but she’s also dragging the boat and the crew as if it’s her day job. Again, about two and a half hours into the fight and she’s still bending the rod and darting away as if she just got hooked AND she's now pulled us about two miles off shore AND A COUPLE MILES EAST OF THE HOOKED LOCATION...WHAT?!?!

We look back and see the beach in the distance and contemplate the size of this one. This isn’t an everyday thing and not all fish have the strength to do this of course.

A few more minutes pass and we start to see her. She surfaces here and there but then darts back down. Three steps forward and five steps back until we get her to the boat. But this is all part of the process. You have to love it.

We hit the three hour mark and we’re finally within arms reach of her, quite literally. She circles in pure exhaustion as we applaud her majestic beauty. If you’ve never seen a Tarpon in real life, in the water, it’s hard to grasp the experience and sights. Again, our folks at CMP didn’t grow up on the water or even have the connections to be able to see a fish like this. We were all about 4lbs Bass roaming in retention ponds every now and again. So it was a huge eye opener. Lionel comes down from his tower ready to secure the fish and we operate in organized chaos to give him the room he needs to effectively grab her.

And then just like that the fish is right there. Hanging out with us beside the boat. She’s relaxing at this point but we believe she knew she was in good hands.

Lionel is filled with screaming excitement(literally) and the clients are right there with him, with just a little less energy. The Tarpon turned out to be about 8ft in length and around 200lbs! We couldn’t believe it!

Now aside from the beauty of the fish and the overall excitement of the trip, we learned something on this day. This fish taught us a lesson that can be used for all people at any stage of life.

We like to operate on a level that a lot of people chose not to go down to or maybe just can’t. Maybe it’s just a part of the DNA of our team members here at CMP and LTA but who knows. Before the fish was even released from the side of the boat, we had thoughts of what this catch could teach us. We understood the intensity and awesomeness of everything that had occurred over the last three hours but decided to start analyzing the catch on a much more “in tune with the universe” level.

We came to the conclusion that the amount of fight that was in that fish was, in every aspect of the phrase, absolutely insane. The amount of resilience that the Tarpon displayed during the fight...that is in all of us. We all have the ability to keep the wheels turning and the momentum going as long as we so choose. No matter the circumstances, we all have something inside of us that can send us into a different way of thinking and turn us into these...things. No word can be thought of right now but it’s there and it’s real.

This fish (which happened to be the biggest Tarpon any of Lionel's clients have caught, happened to be the longest fight of his career AND CMP just so happened to be there to capture it all) just kept going and going and fighting and fighting with no end in sight. It went until it literally could not go anymore. And even then, she still kicked as she came into contact with Lionel. The fighting spirit and pure animal instinct was on full display for us all to witness. Goosebumps race across my body as this is being typed out.

We all go through things and we have the option to to quit early or give up or say poor me. If this fish would’ve done that this experience would have been nothing other than another normality. Another “cool” story to tell. The belief that this fish knew what and how it was fighting cannot be overlooked. The way she looked at us once she surfaced. The way she peacefully let us be in her presence as she recovered. To the way she swam away with even more grace was all so powerful to us. The respect she gave us during the long fight mixed with the respect we gave her when Lionel was holding her...it was all too real to be ignored. Even though we were behind the camera we could sense the power of all this.

In the movie “Finding Nemo”(ironic), Dory says quite a few times, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming”. This is the underlying message we’re trying to convey here. No matter what, Just. Keep. Swimming. Don’t let anything stop you from getting to a better position in life. Don’t let life take over and push you into the gutter. Stand tall and keep fighting. And when you think you have no more, keep going. Eventually you’ll get to where you want to go and you’ll have some cool scars with stories behind them. So keep moving forward!

Stay blessed,

A Lesson From A Tarpon

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