Set out of the marina, the night was perfect, 5mph out of the East made for a very dry, very calm and soothing ride out to the grounds. When we arrived, there was a lot of activity, it was the top of the incoming right about to start outgoing... I made a comment "These conditions just dont happen bro, perfect tide, moon, wind and time is hard to find." We saw a lot of activity and started to position the boat close to the structure. I grabbed his Penn Baitrunner and hooked a shrimp on a 4/0 circle, with 50lbs leader, the mainline being 40LBS PP.
Tossed him out, and let it fall back, I told Ryan that If I managed to hook something I would give it to him, since he was busy in the trolling motor making sure we kept out of harms way and in the perfect position for a strike.
First drift and as I let line out I admired the night and took it all in, this is heaven, this is what I live for. As the shrimp got closer to the structure I felt him get nervous and try to jump, just then I felt the "tap", that familiar tap that signals that youre about to have a screaming reel. I felt the fish, and handed the rod to ryan, told him we may have a snapper or something small. He grabbed the rod and set the hook, and we were off to the races!!!
We came within a foot of hitting the structure and he managed to both fight the fish as well as drive us out into open water where he led the fish gracefully. I believe it was then when the fish realized it was hooked, that baitrunner was SINGING. We fought it for a while, I would say like 30 minutes, and we didnt see color till about 3/4s into the fight, and when we would shine the light on her she would flip and go again for the ride.
Finally, she came boatside, it was a tarpon, I estimate at 100+, she was at least 5 feet long and I certain pushing 110 or so, but well call her 100 since it was a leader release, I had the leader in my hand and a quick swipe of her tail poped us off. Ryan was yelling and howling about the catch and was truly happy, which in turn made my night, so no matter what happened after that it was Mission Acomplished!
After that we worked hard to get hooked up again, but it seems the fish were simply not feeding on shrimp, and we didnt switch to fishing pilchards so we didnt get any more hits. We did move at the end of the night and made about a 10 mile run, to another spot that yielded 2 keeper mangroves, and a few runs here and there. The trip home was beautiful, as the city skyline graced us and the clear skies caressed us on our return trip.
The tarpon made our night, and I am positive there are many more to come like that, Ryan's boat runs like a dream, and shes stable, as well as solid, not to mention very fast!!!
-sword
Stay tuned ladies and gents, its coming! 
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