So yesterday after my massage conditions were right to visit a tucked back canal by my parents place that used to hold tarpon when I was a kid. Well, saw a few tarpon yesterday but just like when I was a kid, could not connect. I did see something cool. On the far bank was a mystery fish that kept making quick pushes in an almost methodical way. I would see it wake, then dart along the shoreline, flash a few times, slap its tail, go down, just to repeat the circuit several times, just the same way, over the next 20 minutes. It even repeated the same path, which was about 15yrds. Started the same and in the same place and finished in the same place. It was a routine.
This fish was BIG. Like maybe 4 ft big. I don’t think it was a tarpon because it had a more slithering type way of swimming and it would flash by listing its body back and forth. Kinda serpent like but was NOT a snakehead, it had a MUCH wider body.
It kind of reminded me of an Arapaima but don’t know if that’s even a possibility. I did not get a great look at it so I’m going by size and behavior. The other thing I thought of was maybe a knifefish? I don’t think it was a carp but that’s also a possibility. It was swimming with a lot of undulation, that’s why I think it was not a tarpon.
Any guesses? I’ll definitely be back for further investigation. I casted at it but would have been extremely outclassed with my 7wt. Should have taken a video, but could not put the buggywhip down when I saw it
Oh, and I know knifefish are known to be further north than me but I personally saw someone pull a knifefish out of a canal not too far from there…That said if I had to guess it had large scales, but wouldn’t bet my life on that. Just seemed that way (I know knifefish don’t have those)
Edit: Going to throw Arowana in the mix as well. That one kind of fits the bill. After reading about Arapaima they are know to make surface disruptions and gulp air like tarpon. That would also explain the rhythmic way it kept repeating that pattern…
Arowana is a good guess as they are very popular in aquariums. I am not sure if either arapaima or arowana are very salt tolerant so maybe you found a honey hole.
Yeah what’s making me lean to those 2 are the size and the body shape and the slithering quality of the movement. It was fast and aggressive. Was really cool to watch. This thing was rushing at the surface and creating an insane wake and when would go down would end with an aggressive tail flip.
Don’t think it was a catfish either. You could see a really bright “flash” from pretty far away when it would slightly turn its body.
I have seen gar in that canal but don’t think it was one. I suppose it could have been. Never seen a gar behave that way. All the gar I’ve ever seen have been just chillin’ under the surface. This guy was working. But it didn’t seem like it was feeding. It was almost as if it had the “zoomies”
about what location were you around? I live off snapper creek canal by the boat rap there. Caught a tarpon the other day on fly. the trick i found for the tarpoon was a black fly. ive seen aggresive fish work short stretches of the bank before but can not confirm the species. possibly as others have said it could have been some invasive but could also have been a snook.
Probably not the fish you saw - but I can remember seeing big jacks, caught up in freshwater canals (wrong side of saltwater intrusion dam) - behaving just like you describe - looking for an exit back down towards the salt…
Definitely not jacks! Jacks, and tarpon to a certain extent have a very “stiff” way they swim. This thing was more fluid, almost serpent like. More like a catfish, or a shark if you know what I mean. I’ve seen plenty of snakeheads and pretty sure it wasn’t one of those. Plus, it was pretty bright, so either a white bottom or was reflecting what little light there was (was overcast and drizzling).
I got fooled by an Otter a few months back. I was closing in on a good point, big bust, nice wake. Facing the morning sun, more water moving swimming at me, was pumped, dark shadow coming right at me, laughed out loud when the otter surfaced.
