Tarpon fishing in Mississippi? Yes, it's a thing and there's a new state record.

Brian Broom
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Fishing for tarpon typically conjures visions of the clear water of the Florida Keys, not the Mississippi coast. But Jeremy McHugh of Stillwater Fishing Charters and partner Mark McDonald are changing that and recently guided a client to a new state record fish.

Colin Jones (left) and guide Jeremy HcHugh (right) stand next to the new Mississippi record tarpon caught by Don Ruiz (top).

Don Ruiz lives in San Clemente, California, but frequently visits Mississippi's coast where he grew up. On a recent visit he and friend Colin Jones of Long Beach decided to do something different.

"He knows Jeremy," Ruiz said. "He knows Jeremy and said, 'What do you think about going after tarpon?'"

Ruiz said he's seen tarpon caught in Florida and has fished for them in Costa Rica, but fishing for them in Mississippi waters wasn't the first thing that came to mind when planning a fishing trip. In fact, it didn't come to mind at all.

"It never occurred to me to fish for them in south Mississippi," Ruiz said.

Ruiz said they had a late start due to storms, but once they arrived at the spot McHugh and McDonald wanted to try, it was only minutes before Jones hooked up.

'I really thought I was going to lose him.'

"We were on the first tarpon in five minutes," Ruiz said. "We released him and it was my turn.

"I got on one in ten minutes. When I hooked up on him he immediately started spooling. I think it was 60-pound test and he went straight out. Line was flying off the reel."

McHugh cranked the engine and head toward the giant fish so Ruiz could recover some line.

"I really thought I was going to lose him," Ruiz said. "Ten or 15 minutes into it I was cooked.

"It was like reeling in a Volkswagen. I'd say it was a good 45 minutes before we got our hands on it. He was just a monster fish."

With the fish still in the water, length and girth measurements were taken and they indicated it was likely a state record. Ruiz initially intended to release the fish, but it was too exhausted from the 45-minute battle to survive. So, the decision was made to keep it.

Once on shore, it was officially measured and weighed. It measured 77 inches from the fork of the tail and weighed 185.5 pounds, beating the old record of 167 pounds that stood since 2001.

McHugh only recently began advertising tarpon trips in Mississippi, but the making of them has been going on for years. McHugh said he did a lot of research on the fish and spent time with guides in Louisiana to learn techniques he could use in Mississippi.

'It's a crazy addiction.'

"I've kept this a secret for the last three years about what I've been doing," McHugh said. "I wanted to learn every part of tarpon fishing before I took people on a charter. I wanted to get very good at it to where I could consistently catch tarpon on a daily basis."

While he may not be catching them every day, he does find them on a daily basis in July and August, which he said is prime time to target them in Mississippi.

"We see them every single day," McHugh said. "The majority of our fish are over 100 pounds. I caught a 150-pounder today."

And it's something he hopes will draw anglers to the coast.

"People fly all over the world to fish different tarpon spots," McHugh said. "It's a crazy addiction."

He also hopes people give tarpon fishing a try for his own satisfaction.

"I've put over ten people on their first tarpon this year and the look on their faces — that never gets old," McHugh said. 

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Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com. Follow Clarion LedgerOutdoors on Facebook and @BrianBroom on Twitter.