Outdoors

The ultimate air assault

Finding tarpon by boat takes time and patience, but by helicopter? Just minutes, as Ed Walker found out.

By ED WALKER
Published June 23, 2006

Rob Ahrens is doing all right. As a land buyer for a large development company, Ahrens makes a nice living, has plenty of time off and gets to fish a lot. Because his job takes him throughout the state to view parcels of land, Ahrens' bosses have given him unlimited access to the company's high-tech helicopter and full-time pilot Brent Richardson.

While fishing out of Englewood last week, he mentioned that he had flown in on the chopper and that it was parked on the soccer field at Boca Grande Beach waiting to take him home to Clearwater.

Meanwhile, most of the tarpon population had been driven 10 to 15 miles offshore by rough seas and dirty water left by Tropical Storm Alberto. The waves had settled, but locating tarpon in the gulf was like searching for the proverbial needle in the haystack. As I ran the boat mile after mile, scanning the horizon, I couldn't help but think about that helicopter sitting at the beach.

"You know Rob, if we had the helo we could find these fish a lot quicker," I said, half joking.

To my surprise, Ahrens agreed and offered the aircraft for the following week.

I quickly accepted his offer and for the next few days envisioned a Donald Trump-style tarpon fishing adventure that started with a high-tech helicopter scouting mission. It was something I had dreamed about but never expected.

Sure enough, Rob phoned the next Tuesday and asked us to bring the boat to his beach house on Boca Grande the next morning, an hour before our scheduled trip. I believe many anglers often wonder how many fish are nearby when on the water, and we were going to get to see first hand.

My deckhand, Jason Capra, and I anchored near Boca Grande Beach and waded ashore where Ahrens, fishing partner Lee Nelson, Richardson and the helicopter were waiting. After drying off, we climbed aboard and within a few moments had a bird's-eye view of the coastline.

The gulf was calm and the scenery breathtaking. The first thing I noticed were vast pods of bait just offshore. Huge mats of threadfin herring dotted the surface a mile out. It was not long before we found the first school of tarpon. It was perfectly round in shape in 8 feet. We had seen many "daisy chains" from the boat but never from this perspective. They were oblivious to our presence, and we were able to watch their graceful swirling for several minutes. As we continued down the coast, we saw more big silverkings. Some were in pods and others swimming single file in "strings."

In one particular shallow area, there were many tarpon and no boats. This was where we would fish.

Fifteen minutes later, we were back on the ground and in the boat. The fishing gear was rigged and ready, and there was great anticipation among the group. After a quick stop to catch threadfins, we arrived at our predetermined destination. As expected, there were tarpon everywhere. Because it was only 5 or 6 feet deep and clear, many of the tarpon turned down our initial offerings. This is not uncommon as tarpon tend to be timid in shallow water.

Eventually, Nelson hooked up with a lively 50-pounder that put on an amazing aerial display. After a 10-minute fight, the leader was in hand and we had our first tarpon of the day. We took a fin clipping to provide a DNA sample for the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute's genetic profiling program and sent the fish on its way.

A short time later, Ahrens cast a live crab and hooked up with a giant tarpon. The fight lasted more than an hour as we followed it offshore, then back toward the beach. The battle ended in the spot we had found from the helicopter. As the monster fish was finally pulled alongside, Capra and Ahrens hopped into the water for a photo and helped revive the silverking, which weighed an estimated 180 pounds - one of our largest tarpon this season.

It was an epic end to one of my most memorable fishing days. Flying over the beach to find tarpon, having the boat ready to go and catching such a huge fish was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

[Last modified June 23, 2006, 01:02:06]