Headed out on the kayaks yesterday with Michael (aka Jimmy Buffett Jr. or Moustache #2). Surf was not looking good for surfing, so kayaks were the better option. Loaded up some basic fishing gear and headed out around noon. Immediately found some pogie pods near the beach and snagged a choice bait to hook on the big rod, a new Shimano Baitrunner 8000d.
About 5 minutes into the slow trolling we noticed a large tarpon cruising around our yaks, which ended up being the fight of my life for next hour and a half. Tarpon gulped the pogie and slowly took off towards the deep, I picked up the rod and started reeling up the slack… FISH ON! Must have jumped at least 5 times clearing the water completely. Could hear some folks in the water or on the beach yelling about the jumping fish. Wish I had the GoPro camera on board, but that’s usually how it goes when fishing: bring the camera, no fish caught, but don’t bring a camera and the fish are biting.
Tarpon started taking off out to sea, so I asked Mike to head back and grab Cindy’s iphone to try to snap pics for evidence of this behemoth. Cruised out into the deep blue and a Moustachio cameraman followed capturing footage. Never got to see the tarpon again, other than a few rises to gulp some air. After about an hour into it, decided to lock down the drag and try to horse the fish towards the boat. Ended up breaking the line after it tried to sound for about the 20th time…
Snapshot of the beast during a gasp for air
Tarpon Fishing Cocoa Beach from Chris Schaul on Vimeo.
Chris, Cindy, Charlie and Cecily’s Adventure Blog 
That’s crazy!! Way to break in the new rod