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By
Rusty Chinnis
sun staff writer
It’s no secret that tarpon are my favorite species
of fish. In my experience, there is no greater thrill
than watching a 100-plus-pound fish inhale bait, plug
or fly, and burst from the water in a scale rattling
explosion.
The beauty and power of these fish have caused the
top guides in the world to declare tarpon fishing
"the apex of angling." While anglers often
travel the world in search of quality fishing experiences,
tarpon oblige us by swimming right along our beaches
from May through July.
From May 20 through July 2, local anglers can compete
to be part of a tradition that stretches back to June
10, 1930. That was the date of the first International
Tarpon Fishing Tournament, which was sponsored by
the Sarasota County Anglers Club, its first official
year as an organized club.
Powel Crosley, Jr., famed industrialist, inventor
and radio magnate, had been named president of the
SCAC for 1930. Crosley had become a Sarasota winter
resident a year before, after his first tarpon fishing
experience. On May 18, 1929, as the guest of Robert
Ringling, he hooked his first silver king. Infected
with tarpon fever, Mr. Crosley and his wife, Gwen,
decided to buy property in Sarasota. They called their
winter home Seagate.
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SUN PHOTO/RUSTY CHINNIS
Captain Rick Grassett holds a tarpon landed off Sarasota.
The fish took a tarpon fly know as a "toad." |
