Where is tarpon alley

Suddenly the fish came bursting from the surface and suspended completely above the foam in a horizontal writhe.

The separation was at least four feet. At this point, I may have panicked a little. The fish jumped once more only to eject my lure from its temporary seat. The show and encore were brief, thrilling and unforgettable. Disappointment rushed into my entire body as my lure bounced harmlessly onto the jetty rocks at my feet. But that feeling was quickly replaced with resolve to do better next time. Some would argue that clever marketing back then stole the title from Florida, where tarpon continue to flourish.

Texas historian John Guthrie Ford suggests that tarpon fishing may have started in South Texas with the construction of the Aransas Pass jetties in the s. More than this, Ford asserts, nonresident project engineers and supervisors, after spotting great schools of tarpon near Port Aransas, may have been responsible for starting the robust fishing guide industry in Port Aransas.

The Tarpon Club, a consortium of wealthy anglers, opened in These fishermen hired local boatmen to take them tarpon fishing, Ford suggested. In , Ford writes, anglers from the Tarpon Club introduced power boats to Port Aransas, sparking a golden era of fishing and boat building on Mustang Island.

Tarpon remain a catch-and-photograph species in this granddaddy of Texas fishing contests, which continues today as the Deep Sea Roundup. But rarely is one caught during the event. Most are inscribed with the date and size of the catch. Few scales are dated after the s. Tarpon decline in Texas The tarpon decline in Texas has been as sad as it is puzzling.

Guides like Mike Williams have advertised since the s that giant fish feed and migrate through a stretch of water Williams calls Tarpon Alley. Tarpon Alley is a traditional migration corridor in the Gulf.

Researchers believe Texas tarpon represent two separate populations, one from Florida and a larger one from Mexico, where traditionally millions of pounds of tarpon are slaughtered annually for human or pet food. Kill tournaments are big in Mexico, particularly near Veracruz.

The rise in these activities coincided with the decline of Texas tarpon in the midth century. A piece of proposed federal legislation called the Tarpon Conservation Act seeks to encourage a coordinated stock assessment effort among Gulf states. The law calls for a uniform regulation plan and development of an international management strategy.

The tarpon decline probably is not completely an international issue. In the s and s, many Texas rivers were dammed to create reservoirs. The resulting reduction in nutrients and freshwater inflow had a negative impact on crabs and other marine life that tarpon eat, biologists believe. This, in turn, makes the estuarine waters of Texas less attractive to tarpon during their migration. Tarpon spawn offshore. Their larvae ride currents into freshwater or brackish estuaries, including rivers, where they mature.

They return to the Gulf after reaching lengths of 4 to 4. Natural or artificial baits catch their share of the big fish, but according to Williams most tarpon chasers prefer natural bait…shad, ribbon, sand trout or a croaker.

Live or dead, both work. Drop the baits out along the boat. Williams sets out four rods with the bait trolled about 50 yards behind the boat much like you would do for kingfish. He uses a 16 Mustad circle hook with no weight. Most of these natural baits are hooked through the lower jaw up through the head. Leader is six feet of lb test monofilament, attached to a swivel, attached to your main line.

He uses 50 lb. Wire leaders when you are dealing with lb fish can cut you in half. Favorite artificial lure is the Coon Pop. Joshua Reid of Seabrook, who was home from duty in Afghanistan, to a great day of fishing.

Reid hooked up with a huge tarpon Saturday morning. The fight lasted almost three hours before the fish was landed, measured, photographed and released. Captain Mike Williams, according to many nationally published magazines, Texas magazines and the largest newspaper in Texas, is considered to be one of the top guides in the state when it comes to catching big Tarpon.

With 35 years experience, he has been interviewed on the subject of trophy Tarpons by every major magazine in the state numerous times - not to mention the nationally published Saltwater Sportsman , Texas Sportsman , Southern Outdoors , Gulf Coast Fisherman , and the prestigious Coastal Conservation Association magazine Gulf Tide.

There are also full of chapters on his guide service in the books The Fishermans Encyclopedia and Texas Hunting and Fishing. Captain Mike Williams considers himself to be the innovative leader in the exploration of Texas Tarpon off Galveston where he single-handedly pioneered Tarpon fishing in the area. As far as trophy trout, Redfish, and Bull Reds has spent as much time pursuing the great fish as anyone and a lot more than most.

For neatly three decades, Capt. Mike Williams has been specializing in guiding anglers to offshore Tarpon". Canada, Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine. Mike Williams of Houston has guided off Galveston for almost 35 seasons. He began tracking Silver Kings in these waters in at a time when most people thought they had deserted the Texas coast. Since then, a number of other guides and anglers have joined in the hunt for this great game fish and, thanks to Williams, the stretch of coast is now known as 'Tarpon Alley'.

Shook, Texas Sporting Journal. The "Tarpon Express", a 25 foot center console Boston Whaler Outrage , is equipped with a ship to shore radio, long distance mobile phone, Furuno Depth Recorder and a Global Positioning unit. The boat carries gallons of fuel with a range of miles, has a top speed of 45 mph and is powered by twin Yamaha outboards. The spacious, unique boat is one of very few made in the world that is totally unsinkable! The air cavities and compartments are filled with a high tech, high density foam and the boat simply will not sink, not even a little bit.

In fact, this is one of the very few used by the U.