Feeding the Tarpon

We went down to Key West for the July 4th weekend, with some friends and my brother Bruce and his wife Julie. We all had a great time down there, but early on Monday morning Linda and I and Bruce and Julie had to head back up, so Bruce could catch a 3pm plane. On the way we stopped at Robbie's Marina in Islamorada, because there was a geocache there, and also because we had heard that you can feed the tarpon there.

I was content to just watch, but Linda got a bucket of bait fish, and started tossing them to the tarpon. Then she got more daring, and started holding the bait fish so the tarpon could take them from her hand. There were other people doing it, too, so that's where she got the idea. I had my cell phone camera, so I started taking pictures.



She was lying down on the dock, trying to get her hand closer to the water. The tarpon would cruise back and forth, and then suddenly one of them would explode out of the water and snatch the bait fish from her hand.



In this next photo you can see a tarpon just after it has grabbed the fish. Some of the tarpon were six feet long.



Then Bruce tried his hand at it. Pretty soon he got the hang of it. In the second photo you can see him recoiling from a big strike, as the tarpon splashes away.



Then it was my turn. I wanted to get really close to the water, so I reached my hand down as far as it would go. We had been snorkeling in a school of about 30 tarpon a couple weeks earlier, and they didn't seem too agressive, so I wasn't too worried. Plus it didn't look like they had teeth. The first couple bait fish went okay. Then one of the tarpon lunged up and engulfed my whole hand. Cool. You can see in the second photo where the tarpon has just let go and fallen back toward the water. Thanks to Linda for getting these great pictures with my cell phone's camera.



So I did it again. This time the tarpon really clamped on, and I had to shake him (her?) loose. After I got the fish off, I had some blood on my hand where the tarpon had abraded me. It was as though they have sandpaper in their mouths. I did it a couple more times without being grabbed, but then I started thinking they might have gotten a taste for blood. Plus I had used up all the fish, so we stopped. Another fish feeder who standing next to us got a good picture of the second engulfing, and later emailed it to me (thanks, Dawn!). In the second photo below you can see the tarpon clamped onto my hand.



Dawn also got this great head-on shot of a tarpon. That's exactly what they looked like when we saw them while snorkeling. I wouldn't want to be a bait fish in the water with a tarpon.



Then we went and found the geocache. It was pretty easy. Anyway, I recommend the whole experience, both the geocache and feeding the tarpon. Having one engulf your hand is optional.

Dave Wilson
July 2005