August 2003 - Mighty Tarpon These are the dog days of summer. The air lies heavily over the land like the fecund jungle setting of a Joseph Conrad tale of the tropics, and a mighty prehistoric beast lurks beneath the surface of the waters around Hilton Head Island. This dinosaur of the aquatic universe, known as the tarpon, along with its cousin the bonefish, has survived 125 million years of evolution, making it one of the earth's oldest creatures. That it has survived relatively unchanged for so long is testament to the animal's might, which has enabled it to elude the greatest marine predators of all time. In modern times, its tenacious survival instincts make the tarpon one of sportfishing's supreme challenges. For many years the presence of tarpon in South Carolina waters went largely unnoticed by the fishing community. Florida was the place to find tarpon in the United States. "They were even mistaken for dolphin - the mammal, not the fish," said Steve Kiser of Myrtle Island. A tarpon can gulp air directly into its air bladder by "rolling" at the surface in a manner similar to dolphins. This behavior and the tarpon's size misled many who saw them. Prior to 1978 anglers were hooking a total of about 10 tarpon per year in the waters around Hilton Head, sometimes by accident, according to Captain Fuzzy Davis, one of the pioneers of the Hilton Head tarpon fishery. "People were hooking tarpon while fishing for Spanish mackerel or sharks," said Davis, "but they rarely brought them in because the tackle used for those fish doesn't work well with tarpon." Although the annual catch was small, Davis saw these encounters as evidence that there was a thriving fishery in the waters around the Hilton Head. As a backwater and inshore fishing guide, Davis sought to develop the tarpon fishery to help grow his industry. He focused his efforts on catching tarpon and, before long, was regularly bringing them in. A major milestone in the development of Hilton Head's tarpon fishery occurred in 1987 when Kiser took a 154-pound, 10-ounce monster while fishing with Davis aboard his boat, Jinny. The catch stands to this day as the South Carolina state record for tarpon. Over time, Davis and other local anglers have determined the best techniques and fishing spots around the island. Today, Hilton Head is a tarpon destination for tourists and serious anglers alike, and hundreds of tarpon are reeled in every season in Port Royal Sound, Calibogue Sound, the Broad and Chechessee Rivers and other Lowcountry waterways. "It's the main fish that people come to Hilton Head for," said Davis. These days, Captain Davis, a Hilton Head resident, is fishing director at the Ford Plantation in Richmond Hill, Georgia near Savannah. There, aboard the Gee-chee Gal, he and assistant "Junior" Pollitzer are applying the template learned in Hilton Head to develop Georgia's tarpon fishery. Taming the Beast Tarpon are found in warm-temperate, tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean, both inshore and offshore, preferring water temperatures around 80 degrees. This brings them to Hilton Head in late June, July and August. "The fishery is healthy and it looks like a jammin' season," said Captain Marty Pinkston, speaking of the 2003 tarpon season. "Business is good." Pinkston also noted that the cool winter and spring should have no negative effect on the tarpon fishing because the water temperature is driven by Gulf Stream currents and not by air temperature. "They're intolerant of temperature changes. If the water drops much below 80 degrees, they'll leave," he said. There is no indication that this is likely to happen this year. Tarpon put up a vigorous and spectacular fight, often leaping up to 10 feet out of the water. "It's the king of the sportfish," said Pinkston, who operates fly-fishing and light-tackle charters aboard the Fly Boy and Fly Boy 2. "They're huge, they jump out of the water and they fight hard." Most of the tarpon taken by anglers weigh from 40 to 50 pounds, but fish weighing over 100 and even 200 pounds are not uncommon. A 230- pounder was caught in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana in 1993, and the Florida state record tarpon weighed in at an astounding 243 pounds. Add to that the fact that a determined tarpon will fight for an hour or more, and you've got the ingredients for a classic fishing experience. Dave Harter, president of the Hilton Head Island Sportfishing Club, tells an amusing tale of a tarpon that fought him for an hour and a half some time ago, causing him to be late for dinner. "I wasn't looking for tarpon and didn't expect to be out that long. This was before we all had cell phones, so I couldn't call ashore. My wife was ready to send out the Coast Guard." While their size, fighting spirit and aerial acrobatics make tarpon one of the most sought-after game fish, its immense popularity is also attributable to the fact that tarpon are found inshore in the sounds and backwaters where they can be fished from boats too small to go offshore. On Saturday, August 1, 1987, Steve Kiser of Myrtle Island made South Carolina fishing history when he took a tarpon weighing 154 pounds, 10 ounces near the shoreline of Daufuskie Island. It stands today as the South Carolina state record for tarpon. Not surprisingly, Kiser and his host, Frank Fowler, were fishing aboard a boat named Jinny owned by Captain Fuzzy Davis, the Godfather of South Carolina tarpon fishing. "Frank had invited me to go tarpon fishing on numerous occasions, but I had to decline each time," said Kiser. "I'm glad I went this time." Fishing with live menhaden (pogies) caught earlier that morning, the trio also employed dead floating bait and lots of chum to attract tarpon. "We were drifting on the incoming tide, trying to avoid sharks near the Green 5 channel marker in Calibogue Sound, just off Daufuskie Island. The area is called Barrett Shoals." The conditions were perfect that morning. With his graphite rod and open reel in hand, the tarpon hit Kiser's 30-lb. test line at 10:55 a.m., and it took less than an hour to bring it in. "With tarpon, you can't let up on the rod pressure or you'll lose him, because the hook doesn't lodge in the fish's mouth," he explained. "We knew we had a giant fish, so Fuzzy contacted the South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department by radio. A game warden met us at the dock for a certified weighing and measurement. The scales on this fish were the size of saucers!" The tale of the tape: Length - 84 inches, Girth - 38 inches, Weight - 154 pounds, 10 ounces. Kiser explained the decision to take the fish rather than release it. "We normally don't like to do that, but in this case the fish was put to good biological use. This one went to the University of South Carolina Marine Biology Department for study." Ironically, Kiser has not fished for tarpon in Hilton Head since. "The really funny part of it is that I was the guest, fishing with two professionals, and I'm the one who caught the record fish. I was in the right place at the right time, and I was with friends." Well, that's fishing, isn't it? Braggin' rights: "Anybody can go catch them," said Pinkston. "The tarpon arrive in Hilton Head in late June when the menhaden, one of their favorite foods, start showing up, and then move inshore in late July and August." The brilliant silver body leaping out of the water in the heat of battle is a beautiful sight to any angler, but the tarpon possesses a face that only a mother could love, with its pugnacious, big lower jaw jutting out and up. The mouth is hard and bony and difficult to hook, adding yet another challenging element to the catch, so the right equipment and technique are important. Therefore, it is advisable to seek the guidance of one of Hilton Head's many experienced charter skippers if you plan to stalk these beasts for the first time. Tarpon are most commonly fished with bait, either live or dead, depending on such variables as the tides and topography of the fishing spot. They usually swim in areas where other game fish are not present, so heavy chumming is typically employed to attract tarpon. Also, tarpon tend to shy away from a boat's engine noise, so most are caught while the boat is drifting or anchored. On the Fly Another notable development in the South Carolina tarpon fishery occurred in Hilton Head in 1994. Following his instrumental role in developing South Carolina's bait tarpon fishery, Fuzzy Davis, who is also a devoted fly fisherman, turned his attention to catching South Carolina tarpon "on the fly." For six seasons, Davis and longtime flyfishing buddy Raz Reid fished for tarpon using every fly-fishing technique known to them, but to no avail. Through trial and error, research and experience and tarpon-esque persistence, Davis developed a technique for attracting tarpon that would overcome the unique characteristics of South Carolina coastal waters that make it difficult for the fish to see the flies. On Monday, September 12, 1994, Davis took one of his regular customers, Dr. Bill Miller of Bluffton, out to try his new method. Within two hours, following a one hour and forty minute battle, Dr. Miller landed and released the first ever fly-caught South Carolina tarpon - a 120-pounder. Despite its immense popularity and the longevity of the species, little is known about the reproductive behavior of the tarpon compared to other fishes, and its migratory patterns are a relative mystery. Research programs orchestrated by organizations like Bonefish & Tarpon Unlimited (http://www.tarbone.org/) are under way to better understand these magnificent, ancient creatures. You can visit their website to learn more, but perhaps you'd rather take Fuzzy Davis's advice when he says, "Everybody needs to get out there to experience tarpon fishing."