CAPTAIN DAVE SUTTON ON SALTWATER FISHING WITH SPIKE-IT
Tarpon with Spike-It
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: Captain Dave Sutton of Homestead, Florida, a fishing
guide in the Everglades National Park, Biscayne Bay
National Park and the Upper Florida Keys, takes anglers
to permit, tarpon, redfish, snook, speckled trout, dolphin,
wahoo, grouper and snapper. Sutton, who has fished these
waters for 16 years and has guided for the last 6 years,
has discovered that using the new Spike-It products
for these saltwater fish pays off for him.
We do a lot of tarpon fishing in my section of Florida
during the summer months and primarily use two-different
strategies for catching them. If you're going to fish
for the really-big migrating tarpon, you know that you'll
see numbers of fish. But getting those fish to take
a bait will be really difficult. Or, you can fish for
smaller tarpon and get more bites and more hook-ups.
Because our area homes big tarpon, I have numbers of
fly-fishermen who come to fish with me that want to
go after those 100-pound plus tarpon. So, I have a specific
point where I go to try and catch these big tarpon.
An incoming tide seems to push the tarpon right up against
the shoreline. So, we have specific ambush points along
the shoreline where we sit and wait for the tarpon to
come by and try to feed them flies.
 On
this particular day, we got up well before daylight
and went out to the point to wait for the tarpon. At
about 6:30 a.m. or so, we have enough light to see the
fish coming. My fly-fisherman had eight or nine really-good
chances to catch those tarpons. He put his fly in the
right place, he gave it the right action, and he did
everything he was supposed to do as a fly-fisherman
to get those tarpon to eat the bait. But, they just
wouldn't bite. Finally one tarpon took his fly, and
he jumped the fish three times before the tarpon spit
the fly out. He was so frustrated that he finally turned
to me and asked, "Is there anything else you have
on-board that we could use to catch these tarpon?"
Because this particular angler had insisted on fly fishing,
I hadn't put any live bait in the boat, which normally
would be what I would use for tarpon fishing. I answered,
"About the only thing I've had any luck with are
these plastic baits made by Spike-It." My fisherman
looked and said in an almost-disgusted voice, "You
mean use a plastic jerkbait?" I said, "Well,
yeah. Fishing for tarpon with jerkbaits is a well-kept
secret down here. If you want to try one, I've got some
on-board and a spinning rod. However, if you catch a
fish on one of these jerkbaits, I'd appreciate it if
you wouldn't tell anybody what you used to catch the
fish."
Since the angler agreed, I rigged up a black Spike-It
soft-plastic jerkbait for him. Because the sun hadn't
gotten high in the sky yet, I wanted a very-dark profile
for the fish to see, and I chose the black Spike-It
jerkbait for my client to fish. I put the jerkbait on
a super-strong 5X worm hook, which I bought from Bass
Pro Shop. Ahead of the jerkbait, I placed a 1/4-ounce
bullet slip sinker so that my angler could  cast
the bait further than he would have been able to cast
a 1/8-ounce sinker. That 1/4-ounce sinker also would
let him control the depth at which he swam the bait,
and it allowed him to let the bait dive faster than
a 1/8-ounce sinker would.
I told my customer, "When you see the lead fish
in the next school of tarpon that comes through, cast
the Spike-It jerkbait right in front of its nose and
start jerking the bait back toward the boat a little
faster than the tarpon is swimming. Whatever action
you're giving the bait when that tarpon turns and comes
after it, don't stop the action. Continue to twitch
the bait as the tarpon comes for it, because if you
stop twitching the bait, the tarpon may turn and not
take it." So, the next school of tarpon that came
through, my client began to cast and retrieve the jerk
bait, but the tarpon didn't pay any attention to it.
Therefore I told my fisherman, "The second school
of tarpon that comes through, drag that bait across
the tarpon's nose." So, when the second school
of tarpon got within casting distance, my fisherman
made a perfect cast and drug that Spike-It jerkbait
right over the tarpon's nose. The big, 110-pound tarpon
sucked that jerkbait along with three gallons of water
right into its mouth. I started shouting, "Sweep
right! Sweep right!" to get him to sweep the hook
into the fish's jaw. "Reel down! Reel down! Reel
down! The fish has it!" I yelled. My angler set
the hook hard three-different times as that big tarpon
started dancing across the top of the water on its tail.
We were using 60 pound-test fluorocarbon leader with
15-pound-test Power Pro main line. I like that 60-pound-test
fluorocarbon leader because the tarpon's mouth is so
abrasive.
 Once
the tarpon finished his aerobatics, the fight became
a tug of war and raged for 58 minutes. When we finally
got the fish to the boat and measured and weighed the
tarpon, I got into the water with the fish and spent
30 minutes supporting the fish and walking it around
to help it recover. I kept the tarpon in shallow water
until it fully recovered. I felt if I released that
tarpon in deep water, sharks might get him. However,
after the tarpon had regained its strength, I released
it, and we watched that big silver king swim away.
For more information on how you can fish with Captain
Dave Sutton, contact him at djsutton@bellsouth.net or
go to www.saltwaterflyfisherman.com.
To learn more about Spike-It's top-quality lures, paints
and other fishing products and the Color-C-Lector, go
to www.ISpikeIt.com
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