Homosassa: Home of Tarpon Records

Tarpon have begun staging all over southwest Florida for the move north into famous fisheries like Boca Grande Pass and, for fly fishers, Homosassa. Tim Tucker talks about the special circumstances that may attract tarpon to the area, as well as the events surrounding a 26-year-old Vancouver law student’s catch of the first tarpon over 200 pounds that was weighed and put in the record books. “‘The school of fish came up, Jim Jr. made the cast and, boom, we were up and running,’ he recalled. ‘At the time I knew the fish was fairly large, but I had no idea that the fish was in the 200-pound class. Then for the next two hours we fought the fish and chased a 10-foot bull shark away by using the Mercury motor. Finally we scared off the shark, and Jim Jr. played the fish to perfection. I instructed him how to pull, when to pull and what to do. He did everything right.'” On Gainesville.com.