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Ethics???????

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Eric 
#1 ·
I have very little experience with Tarpon myself. I have been doing a ton of reading on them and for one lonely week a year I am lucky enough to be in an area that holds resident fish, had four shots, went 0/4, one was a solid hook up. When I was down earlier this year I found it difficult to resist the urge to drop a fly next to the dock one of the two marinas on the island I was on that had what I considered "trained" fish nearby. I had numerous people tell me to try it when I was there, and more have said I should since I returned. The whole thing seemed a bit akin to casting to spawning steelhead, something I don't do.

Thoughts?
 
#2 ·
Hi, Jamey,

At least you've hooked a tarpon. I yet to do that after many repeated attempts at dour fish.

I think if you hooked a marina fish you'd feel a bit ashamed, as if your lust to land a tarpon had gotten the better of you and your standards. You mentioned spawning steelhead -- I think you'd feel the same way you would if you deliberatly fished for and caught one of those spawners you mentined above.

I don't think casting to marina tarpon is necessarily unethical, it's just that doing so would seem to cheapen the experience you're after and the goal you're trying to attain.

My .02

Eric
 
#3 ·
Hi Jamey
I don't think that there should be any ethical problem with fishing in a marina. It is, however, in a lot of marinas that I know of not permitted.

I would draw the line though at fishing somewhere like Robbies in the Keys where the tarpon are fed by visitors.

Pete
 
#4 ·
Interesting question

Something to think about. The very first time I saltwater fished in the late 1990's I threw some flies off the dock in Belize City for snook and had a couple grabs. All the locals were looking at me sideways and I always felt a little wierd about it and haven't done it since. I would tend to agree with the other two posts that it would cheapen the experience, but maybe not quite to the degree of ripping egg patterns through steelhead redds or other spawning fish, which in my opinion should flat out be outlawed.

I wish I could remember the place but a co-worker of mine has a story about how there is a spot somewhere in the Bahamas (I'm sure someone here would know) where there are several large tarpon that are pretty much tame and have been fed from the porch of a nearby restaraunt. My co-worker has a story (may be a fish story, who knows) about someone who hooked one from the deck and got arrested for it. May not be true, but it makes for a good story.

I've always wondered about this issue at a few select boat put-ins as well. On heavily fished places like the Green and spots on the Big Horn, the fish at the put-in are pretty much tame from kids and anglers chucking bread and other food at them. Always wondered about the ethical question of fishing for some of these fish. Once as I was putting in on the Green, I watched a guy tightly wrap some bread around a bugger and throw it in and promptly hooked a fish. Not how I would do it, but to each his own.

Be at Andros in two weeks, I will definitely post a report. Thanks again Josko - you are the man!!
 
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